November 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and the first day of our current tour in Haiti. Clowns Without Borders’ primary audience is children, but we also perform for their adult caregivers. The UN estimates that over half of the world’s migrants and displaced people are women and children. Too often, the experience of displacement or war includes sexual- or gender-based violence (SGBV).
Bonding over Bubbles
Camilla Rud, who joined our 2016 tour to Haiti, shares this story from a tour to Bangladesh with Clowns Without Borders – Sweden:
“Our mission was to work with the bonding problematic between mothers and children due to the fact that the kids were a result of rape. We had to do really small simple games to start with. We placed all the mothers in a circle with their children in front of them.
We started with just bouncing a balloon between us. No one can resist hitting a balloon that comes towards them. Then the bubbles came out. The clowns started blowing bubbles and the mothers and children tried to catch or break them. After a while, we let the mothers blow the bubbles for their children. Everything started very gentle and soft but at the end we were all laughing and playing together.”
UN Day to End Violence Against Women
2018’s International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women coincides with the start date of our tour in Haiti. This tour, led by Clowns Without Borders – Canada, focuses on reaching victims of SGBV and raising awareness about the issue.
