By Ruben Elsinga

We were waiting at the airport, where one of the clowns from Clowns Without Borders was picking up the stilts that had gotten lost in transit from his native Seattle to Lebanon. Upon his triumphant return at the car loaded with clown props, accordions and red noses, he told us:

“At the security check I first pulled out a rope. The guard looked strangely and thought there was something wrong, so he told me to empty my pockets. I pulled out a couple of magic eggs and as the guard exclaimed “what are you doing?!” I could only quickly say “Ana Muharit!” “I am a clown!” Which magically even made a smile appear on the Lebanese border guard’s face.”

It was in Jab Janine, in Bekaa valley, Lebanon, that we found out more about the true magic of these clowns. At Jusoor’s new school (Jusoor is a local NGO providing education services to Syrian refugee children in Lebanon) –– children gathered at the improvised schoolyard with the fields of Bekaa and Mount Lebanon in the background. It is in this valley that a big portion of the more than a million Syrian refugees, among which 400,000 children, are to be found…..

For the rest of the article and 2 wonderful photo essay slideshows,  please click onto the Syria What Will Be page…