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 2010 we were planning four projects in Haiti. These projects would have focused on performances for large and small audiences, workshops for street children in and around Port Au Prince, peer educators who go into their own communities to bring awareness to HIV and AIDS and local performing artists with hopes for empowering Haitians through physical theatre, clown and social circus. After the earthquakes that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010, our focus shifted. We are now working with our international partners and local NGOs working in Haiti to bring small moments of relief to those affected by the trauma of the earthquakes.

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. After the earthquakes that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010, our focus shifted. We are now working with our international partners and local NGOs working in Haiti to bring small moments of relief to those affected by the trauma of the earthquakes.

Sarah, Tim and Suzanne, along with Dianna and two filmmakers, are now in Cap-Haitien for one week and then off to Port Au Prince for the second week. The project will consist of performances and workshops. Sarah and Tim are thrilled to be returning to Haiti, this will be their first trip back since December 2007. This will be Suzanne’s first project with CWB.

Still in awe of the harsh living conditions that most in Haiti live in, Deven’s blog of Clowns Without Borders project to the poorest country in the western hemisphere attempts to capture some of the experience.

Sarah, Brendon, Elisa and Moshe spent the first week in the Les Cayes area in the southwest of Haiti. This was CWB-USA’s third visit to the area. The group spent the week performing shows, doing walk-around performances, and teaching stilt, juggling, balancing and clown workshops to local kids. We saw a lot of old friends – adults and children in the community who remembered some of us, our previous shows, and even some circus skills they were ready to build on. We also met a lot of new people and made some new contacts – for example, we visited a nearby orphanage and did a lively show under a metal airplane hangar for about 600 kids.

Here’s a little about our expedition so far - more will follow when we get back to the states later this week. We leave 40-something degree weather in the states and step off the plane in Port-au-Prince into air that was about 95 degrees but felt like 107 with the humidity. Extreme heat, great joy and sorrow, hope and desperation: Haiti sometimes seems like a collection of extremes. When we arrive in Torbek we are met by a mass of children. They remember the group from CWB who visited last April, and we are greeted with smiles and shouts of “Tim! Tim!” and “Nou pedi!” which means “We’re lost!” - the theme of the April clown show. Kids come and watch as we prepare for our performances around the area; an outdoor rehearsal ends in a long improvised clown show with a bunch of local kids.

“Nou mange la lune!” exclaims Jo Jo, a hyperactive seven-year-old who jumps all over our shoulders, backs, necks, and wraps around our hips with fervent energy. He tells us that we will eat the moon as he laughs out loud. Jo Jo hangs out with a crew of young people who have been building juggling balls with us out of sand, balloons, and sandwich bags. They were all very good at making 130 balls with us in less than and hour, but now we’ve been having trouble keeping the balls out of their mouths. Jo Jo is a leader in the ball deconstruction business as he sucks on the plastic and rubber as if he is trying to eat the sand. He eats the sand, he wants to eat the moon–there is so little food.

By our second week in Gonaives people begin to recognize us and wave to us as we drive through the streets. We see people riding their mopeds wearing clown noses. People start to know who we were and why we were there. Adults sometimes thank us after a show for providing a means for the children to laugh and forget some of their recent trauma. We call what we’re doing an “anti-stresse” mission, because in Creole the term “anti-stresse” signifies fighting against trauma, grief and hardship. The mission feels like a success: the children running after the truck as we drive away from the schools are laughing, waving, making silly faces. We have also left them with an experience of white people who were not proselytizing or in some kind of official role, but who were there to play and engage with them.