Clowns Without Borders - USA

Novemeber 2009

Volunteers: Dan Roberts, Adrian Danzig, Oppie Andaresta, and D’dee Purwadi

Adrian’s Journal:

When I got off the plane in Jakarta, it smelt like the whole place was on fire. Disoriented from 32 hours of travel - another 2 hours in the car from the airport was surreal and exciting. Western style billboards and cars and roads - radio stations even, things seem pretty similar and in many ways they are similar to life in The United States, but the feeling of being huge and white and therefore privileged was palpable in every meeting I had with each person. Jakarta is a study in contrasts.

Dan had made a social circus and had told me about it in person as well as through his blogging and it sounded like he’s made something real that might outlast him, and that was serving a web of real needs. Self -esteem, poverty, gender issues, power issues, leadership issues, village life, family structure - a whole compliment of post-colonial issues that I’ve thought about, but never before gotten to wrestle with in real life.

Hidung-Merah Circus is an educational outreach program disguised as a circus arts program. Using totally measurable and definite Circus Arts skills- you can either juggle or you can’t - The program is teaching kids and their communities that they can be powerful agents of change in their own lives. Dan is working with a network of service organizations and is allied with powerful partners such as The Jakarta International School and Save The Children for the benefit of the Children he teaches, their families and villages, as well as his staff. It’s a very impressive operation. The children are ignited, are helping each other, are aware of their success and are getting to be good gymnasts, jugglers and balancers through hours of hard work.

I watched Dan deal with a sticky situation really well. In English class, one of the older students had been asked to make a sentence in English. He chose to make a degrading sentence about another kids’ father. Dan heard about it on the way back from the village and the next time we met with those kids, we sat in a circle together and Dan reminded them that this group was a special group. In this group we support each other, in this group we help each other; we go out of our way to be kind. He also spoke to the student individually and reminded him that as an older kid, he needed to be an example. Then we got out the juggling equipment and learned some new skills. It didn’t feel at all punitive, it didn’t feel too heavy. It had some real gravitas - the message was clear - your actions have power. Your choices have power. You are responsible for what you do in the world

So the level of cultural sensitivity and attention to creating a functional group of aligned individuals, is very high. The care is very great. The plan is sustainable and supportable. I was very impressed and was pleased to be able to help guide the organization objectives, put in my two-cents and identify some necessary next steps.

An important observation for myself was that although the village people had very little furniture, only cold water, no toilets, tarpoline walls and sometimes dirt floors - they are very aware and engaged people. I think, in my mind, the impression was that they would be less functional, more totally in need. I think this idea was fed by my interaction with American poor people, who are often less trusting of offered help in my experience and seem less able to receive the help into a working fabric of their own construction. The people we met with did not seem desperate or bitter. They are consciously improving their situations using the resources around them. Hidung-Merah Circus is one such resource.

All of this would be dryer and less amazing if there was no fun. But there is. The kids are cranked for fun and are inventive players of games. Dan is teaching in a way where he can have fun with them without surrendering his authority and they laugh easily and often. While I was there we performed three improvised shows. Two in villages and one at Save The Children headquarters. The audiences were fantastic. They included a ton of people of all ages, socio-economic levels and village animals. I was excited and nervous to see how effectively clown work crossed all the cultural differences: how bumbling Americans in Indonesia are funny - and it was effortless. Clear intentions, getting into trouble and failing all seem to translate. Imitating chickens and cats and children and smashing into stuff also worked. Being in precarious positions and needing your friend to help you also got the laughs and heartfelt support that it might anywhere. These seem to be universals. Dan and I had never played together before in front of an audience and my usual mode of clowning is more long form and story based, but the trick based structure we used in Indonesia was really simple and after a show or two we really were delivering the struggle of the clown and well as the funny antics and impressive feats. The villages took care of us well and treated us with great respect - After our second show (which was cut slightly short because it was almost call to prayer) one of the kids cartwheeled all the way down the path and out of sight to his home. There may be no greater or full bodied appreciation than that. I count myself fortunate to have been able to participate and doubly so, because the opportunity arose from the work of one of my students (Dan). That’s just such a sweet and powerful experience for me as a teacher.

I’ve been hearing about Clowns without Boarders for years and really admire the work being done in the name of clowning all over the globe. Thanks for the support! I am looking forward to incorporating this work into my practice in the coming years and am eager to learn more about how I can participate.

Sincerely,

Adrian Danzig

The Situation

Over the past year Indonesia has been hit repeatedly with one natural disaster after another. Dan , Adrian, Oppie, and Deddy will travel to Situ Gintung, East Jakarta, Cilincing, and Bandung.

About the Destinations

Situ Gintung: a community who used to live in a valley in South Jakarta. In March of 2009, a large dam broke, due to excessive rain and pour maintenance, and washed away hundreds of homes, schools, mosques and health centers. The displaced people of Situ Gintung are dealing with serious trauma because the dam broke, and within hours everything they owned had been washed away. They are still living in temporary housing (a tent village) about 30 minutes from their old home. The rebuilding of Situ Gintung is happening, but as with everything in Indonesia is taking much longer than you would expect it to. We’ll be performing clown and music shows for these children and adults as well as providing workshops with circus, clown and music after our performance.

East Jakarta: Save the Children has a community they work with who’ve been severely affected and displaced by the continuous flooding in Jakarta.

Cilincing: a fishing village in North Jakarta, whom I currently work with 4 times a week as part of Hidung Merah Circus. These people live in very unhealthy, poor conditions and the children rarely continue schooling after 8th grade due to extreme poverty. The average income for a family with three working persons is approximately US$1.

Bandung: Bandung is a town in West Java, who has recently been affected by the consistent streak of Earthquakes. With Save the Children, we’ll be visiting these communities still rebuilding their lives after having them destroyed by last months earthquake in Java.

About the Volunteers

Dan Roberts, Founder and Director of Hidung Merah Circus (Red Nose Circus) and Clowns without Borders volunteer.

Adrian Danzig, a professional clown from Chicago who’s performed all across the US and studied clown across the world. He previously taught at Chicago College of Performing Arts, teaching physical comedy and acting.

Oppie Andaresta, a popular recording artist in Jakarta. Her records have been top of the charts since 1996 and she continues to sweep the countries popular music scene today. She is also a noted advocate for women’s and children’s rights in Indonesia.

Deddy Purwadi, a musician and vocalist for a popular rock band in Jakarta. His band has two selling records and tours the country performing at festivals and large venue shows. He is also the Director of Educational Outreach for Hidung Merah Circus, teaching English to our students, as well as following their progression in school and helping convince the families to allow their children to stay in school.

Winter/Spring

Volunteer: Dan Roberts

Updated Blog for June 2009
Jakarta Globe article

The past two months have been filled with great successes, generous donations and a few disappointments.  All in all things are going smoothly and quickly.  Some exciting news is that I’ve decided to stay in Indonesia longer than my original 6-month plan.  With the help of two new members of Hidung Merah Circus, David Gaida and Panji Herlambang, we are working towards becoming an official 501c(3) Non-Profit here in Indonesia. There have been so many people and organizations generously supporting this project and we couldn’t do it with out you! Thank you.

Check out what we’ve been up to, read journal entries and see pictures at our blog!  http://rednosecircus.wordpress.com

I’ve been in Jakarta for over two weeks now and things have been quickly beginning to roll.  Aside from being out of commission for several days due to illness, I’ve been busily meeting with different groups and creating a schedule for the next few months.

Unfortunately, my first visit to Cilincing was canceled due to the severe flooding of the village and roads leading to it.  Cilincing was hit bad this month.  The ocean shore village lost over 40 homes to flooding and wave surges.  The families in these homes are now living with friends and relatives around the village as well as camping out in the Masjid prayer room. 
My second attempt to visit Cilincing was more successful than the first.  It didn’t rain much last week, so the roads had cleared and we were able to reach Cilincing in a little over one hour.  When I arrived at the village, I was immediately reminded of the strong fish aroma and the wandering goats and dogs.  The kids were all very excited to see me again.  I met a few of them at the front and they said hi and immediately ran to get the rest of their friends.  We held class in the living room of a family whose house hadn’t been damaged by the flooding.  As we walked back to the home in which we’d be having our lesson in, I was astonished at the devastation of the homes on the shorefront.  The houses that we once held class in, were now filled with rocks, their shells torn away, leaving only rubble and bamboo frames standing.  I ask one woman, who was showing me the remains of her home, if she was able to get everything valuable out before it was all taken to sea.  She said that luckily, they didn’t have much of value to be washed away, but they were able to get the majority of things out with only minimal water damage.

After about fifteen minutes of surveying the destroyed homes, all the kids had arrived from different parts of the village and were waiting for me in the living room down the alley.  When I entered the room, I was welcomed with warm smiles, a few hugs and one of my favorite sounds, “’Kak Dan!”  I asked the kids how many of them remembered some of the circus skills that we’d learned last year and a few spoke up with positive reactions.  However, the overall consensus was that it had been too long ago, and they couldn’t remember how to do anything.  It was at this point that I wanted to use the old metaphor, “It’s like riding a bike”, when I realized most of these children probably had never rode on a bike.  So I skipped the metaphor and told them that it would come back to them quickly and to just give it a try.  Sure enough they were shouting for my attention to show me their most recent success within five minutes of the beginning of the lesson.

The kids had all grown up a lot and quickly remembered the way I run class, not allowing kids to quit before they try something and insisting that all students show a mutual support for each other.  I noticed about half way through class that the girls were still standing in a line in the corner.  They were intimidated by the boys and didn’t want to be laughed at.  At this point it was too late to separate the class, but I will definitely do this for next week.  After an hour or two of spinning plates and juggling, we all sat down and discussed a few things.  I explained to the children about a Sunday circus class at Jakarta International School in south Jakarta.  I told them that I could arrange a vehicle to take them to and from their village and if they wanted to join, all they had to do was come with a smile and not be afraid to meet the other students who will be attending.  Several of them were very excited about the idea of training circus with other kids and some of them were just excited to leave the village and take a ride to south Jakarta.  I explained to the kids that this program would start in a few weeks and they were all welcome to join if they wanted to and if they got permission from their parents.  We ended class and several of the older boys offered to haul my trunk of circus equipment out to the car for me.  Then the kids very respectfully shook my hand and touched it to their forehead and ran off shouting excitedly about a number of different things.

I’ve booked visits to an orphanage, JIS, Cilincing and homeless shelter for kids next week.  My schedule is filling up more and more each time I check my email and I can’t wait to continue all the work!

Continue reading Dan’s latest blog: Red Nose Circus