Clowns Without Borders - USA

Clowns Without Borders International responds to earthquake crisis in Haiti

Following the aftermath of the earthquakes of January 12, 2010, Clowns Without Borders international was approached by many organizations working on relief efforts in Haiti. Payasos Sin Fronteras (CWB-Spain) and Clowns San Frontieres (CWB-Canada) immediately sent groups to Haiti in mid-February. In March CWB USA in collaboration with PSF, Plan International, Handicap International and SOS Villages, sent two teams of artists to the work with children and adults whose lives have been devastated by the earthquakes.

Read about these projects!

February 12, 2010:

A letter from Tim Cunningham (CWB USA Board President)
French translation below.

When the tragic events of January 12th demolished Haiti, Clowns Without Borders began to receive phone calls and emails asking “How do I help?” and “What will Clowns Without Borders do?”  We suggested that our supporters donate to ‘first responder’ organizations such as Medecins Sans Frontières and Partners in Health.  All the while we have been organizing our clown volunteers to be prepared to go to Haiti to provide the ‘secondary support’ of laughter and psychosocial health through play.  Not wanting to get in the way of the important and immediate relief efforts so greatly needed, we felt it was important to wait patiently for our partners to send out the call for support from the clowns.

Bring in the Clowns

Recently we have been approached by numerous aid organizations seeking help to bring a spirit of laughter, joy and small moments of emotional relief to those affected by the earthquake.  Our sister organization, Payasos Sin Fronteras (PSF) in Spain is sending their first group of volunteer artists to meet some those needs next week.  CWB has been invited to join PSF starting in March.  We will send volunteer artists from the USA to partner with Spanish clowns in Jacmel, Les Cayes and around Port au Prince.  In late March CWB will send medical clowns with a team from Boston to the northern city of Cap Haitian to perform and provide support at makeshift tent clinics that are serving thousands of displaced and injured children from Port au Prince.

This is just the beginning

In the past, we have learned that by arriving in a community and performing a show or two leads to tidal waves of the “word of mouth effect.”  Other community organizations hear about our work and invite us to perform and give workshops for the children and the community.  We anticipate our efforts in March and early April to do the same, perhaps even on a larger scale now that informal camps are springing up all over the countryside with the million-plus homeless Haitians.

At CWB we are strategically preparing for multiple trips and projects from Jacmel to Les Cayes, from Port au Prince to Cap Haitian with our partners in Haiti.  We are also seeking volunteers from such esteemed groups as the Big Apple Circus Clown Care© program to help us provide the best hospital clowning we can.

Your continued financial support will make this happen

In trying to meet the requests of our partners in Haiti, CWB is facing a new demand for volunteers and funds, much larger than the demands we have experienced before.  We need your assistance through donations to help meet the needs of our partners in Haiti.  Your tax-deductible donations will enable us to send multiple Clowns Without Borders groups to Haiti over the coming year and beyond.

We dream of supporting those displaced and traumatized by the earthquakes that have left over 200,000 people dead.   We hope to bring shows and workshops to children of all ages in Haiti and with that, we plan to train Haitian artists in the circus arts so that when CWB departs, there will remain the capacity to experience joy and laughter through community performance.

Our goals are lofty; you can help us achieve them.

Yours Truly,

Tim Cunningham
CWB USA Board President

To make a donation to Clowns Without Borders Project Haiti please send a check with Project Haiti in the memo to:

Clowns Without Borders
P.O. Box 460523
San Francisco, CA
94146

or CLICK HERE to make a donation online.
We greatly appreciate your support.

French Translation:

12 février 2010 :

Lettre de Tim Cunningham (président du conseil, CWB USA)

Lorsqu’Haïti a été détruit à la suite des événements tragiques du 12 janvier, Clowns sans frontières (CSF) a reçu des appels et des courriels de personnes se demandant « Quelle aide puis-je apporter? » et « Qu’est-ce que Clowns Sans Frontières va faire? » Nous leur avons suggéré de donner aux premiers intervenants tels que Médecins Sans Frontières et Partners in Health. Nous avons aussi préparé nos clowns bénévoles à aller en Haïti et fournir un soutien de deuxième ligne : le rire et la santé psychosociale à l’aide du jeu. Ne voulant pas ralentir les secours d’urgence tant requis, nous avons estimé qu’il était important d’attendre patiemment que nos partenaires nous fassent signe.

On veut des clowns

Récemment, plusieurs organismes d’aides ont demandé notre assistance pour faire rire et égayer les victimes ainsi que leur apporter un soulagement émotionnel temporaire. La semaine prochaine, notre organisme frère d’Espagne, Payasos Sin Fronteras (PSF), enverra son premier groupe d’artistes bénévoles. CWB a été invité à se joindre à PSF à partir de mars. Nous enverrons des artistes de notre pays, qui travailleront avec leurs collègues espagnols à Jacmel, aux Cayes et autour de Port-au-Prince. À la fin de mars, CWB enverra des clowns médecins avec une équipe de Boston dans la ville de Cap-Haïtien, au nord du pays, pour donner des spectacles et prêter assistance dans des cliniques installées sous des tentes improvisées où sont soignés des milliers d’enfants déplacés et blessés de Port-au-Prince.

Ce n’est qu’un début

L’expérience nous a appris qu’en arrivant à un endroit nous pouvions susciter un puissant effet de bouche à oreille en donnant un ou deux spectacles : d’autres organismes de proximité entendent parler de notre travail et nous invitent à donner des représentations et des ateliers aux enfants et à la population. Nous croyons que notre travail en mars et au début avril aura le même effet, ou peut-être plus, car des camps improvisés sont montés partout à la campagne, qui compte plus d’un million d’Haïtiens sans abri.

Nous nous préparons stratégiquement pour plusieurs voyages et projets, qui auront lieu de Jacmel aux Cayes et de Port-au-Prince à Cap-Haïtien, avec nos partenaires en Haïti. Nous sommes aussi à la recherches de bénévoles d’organismes estimés tels que le Big Apple Circus Clown Care© program qui aideront nos clowns à donner le meilleur d’eux-mêmes dans les hôpitaux.

January 12, 2010

NEWS ALERT:
A massive, 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, January 12th. The area has since felt many aftershocks making the effects of this disaster hard to fathom. We are doing our best to keep informed and provide assistance as needed. While smiles and laughter are important, at the moment medical aid, shelter, food and water take utmost priority. We hope that with your support we can raise awareness about the gravity of this disaster and mobilize people to support emergency relief efforts. Please see below for a list of organizations you might wish to support.

At the moment we are still planning to volunteer in Haiti at the end of February, this project will now be focused on working with children and families affected by this terrible tragedy.

PADF
Doctors without Borders
Yele Haiti
Food for the Hungry
Save the Children
World Vision
Lambi
Partners In Health

Read why it is important to donate money!

This is just a short list of organizations we suggest supporting during this time of immediate need. There are many other dedicated organizations who are working to alleviate the challenges of this crisis and with whom we partner. If you have questions about our work please feel free to contact us.  Clowns Without Borders will not be traveling immediately to Haiti as we are not first responders.  We are still planning a project for the end of February to bring smiles and laughter to children and families affected by the earthquake if it is appropriate. We will post updates on this once we have more information.