Clowns Without Borders - USA

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.

In fourteen days we did 18 shows plus two workshops and entertained almost 5000 children!
This was a follow-up to our trip to the same region in 2006 when we toured communities that had been devastated by Hurricane Stan, killing over 1000 people and cutting off nearly every road in the country. The highlands of western Guatemala are heavily populated by Indigenous Mayan people, most of whom live in extreme poverty. The area is also plagued by a high level of violence left over from a genocidal war waged by the Guatemalan military (with US support) from the 1970’s through the early 1990’s.

Clowns Without Borders USA is fresh back from a trip to Guatemala. This trip was launched with the idea of bringing smiles to children and adults in the communities most affected by torrential rains and mudslides caused by Hurricane Stan in October 2005. Clowns Without Borders is an International organization that brings laughter and relief to people affected by war and disaster all over the globe.
Over 1,000 people were killed in Guatemala, mostly by tremendous mudslides that drowned houses and whole villages. Rebuilding and replanting are still very much in progress in these poor indigenous villages and many people are still on emergency food aid and in temporary housing.

The Payasos Mural Project in Guatemala lasted 3 weeks, and during this time, we worked at three different locations: ìEl Refugioî and Nujuju ( homeless street boysí shelters, administered by Casa Alianza) and el Basurero (the dump, working with Cuarto Mundo, a human rights organization) in Guatemala City. We created 5 different murals with the street boys and children of the dump in this sort time. This is an incredible amount of painting, but can be justified because it filled the need for a healthy and expressive activity for these children, the poorest of the poor, who had such a strong desire to paint.