Clowns Without Borders
Ambassadors for the right to a childhood
Clowns Without Borders (CWB) was founded in Spain in 1993 and now consists of 15 national chapters active on five continents. Its aim is to bring laughter and hope to children living in challenging circumstances worldwide. Here is an overview of some of the projects initiated by the French chapter, Clowns Sans Frontières France (CSF), and which demonstrate cultural diversity in action.
Bringing joy and poetry to children in humanitarian crisis zones may seem like an unattainable goal, and yet, Clowns Without Borders (CWB) has been doing just that since it was founded in 1993 by Catalan clown Torell Poltrona.
With 27 years of experience and some 15 teams in different countries, CWB bases its action on two pillars: the right to a childhood; and cultural diversity.
“The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Fribourg Declaration on Cultural Rights serve as our reference,” says Emilie Georget, who was Delegate General of Clowns Without Borders France (CSF) until September 2020. “Our goal is to see the right to a childhood written into international law! We wish to emphasize the importance of wonder throughout life where laughter is a moment of respite, a momentary break from trauma and insecurity.”
CSF operates in conflict zones and refugee camps, and works with street kids and imprisoned children. The choice of a mission is based on the urgency of the situation, on requests from social partners and NGOs, and on the absence of artistic activity in the area.
Projects last an average of three weeks, and include on-location show development, touring and workshops. Three weeks might seem short, but in countries such as Madagascar or Myanmar, CSF has been going back for more than a decade.
The organization works routinely with local artists. “CSF’s objective is to share our tools with them, and to encourage NGOs to use the arts in their programmes. Ideally, our organization should wind down its involvement and let local artists take over,” says Emilie Georget.
Finding the child within
India is an example of the empowerment of local players. Arpana Gopinath, an actress based in the southern Indian city of Chennai, trained as a clown with Doriane Moretus and has toured with CSF since 2011, working with street children from slums in both rural and urban areas.
“The first show, in 2011, was ground-breaking. We would go to slums, knock on people’s doors, and say "Come and see us!’” she says. “We don’t have a clown tradition in India, and this taught me how to interact with children. The connection happens through sign language rather than speech, and it’s magical. Sometimes, the children get a little scared, but then a smile lights up their faces, and finally they burst out laughing! We also teach them to be creative. Every year when we come back, the children have grown, but they still remember us and replay the scenes!”
These experiences led Gopinath to launch Clowns Without Borders India, in 2017, with two other actors. In 2018, the team participated in the International Clown Festival in India, started by CWB Sweden in Mumbai.
Those who come and those who stay
The strong links between local teams and CSF is also evident in Senegal. In 2018, at the request of the French Embassy, CSF launched a three-year programme for talibe children with three French circus artists and three Senegalese: Modou Touré, the tightrope walker; Mamaïdou Aïdara, also known as “Junior”; and Patricia Gonis, puppeteer and clown from the Djamara association.
Acrobat, juggler, clown and trainer, Modou Touré was one of those “talibe” children corralled into so-called “Koranic schools” and was forced to beg. At the age of 14, he discovered the circus thanks to CWB Sweden, with whom he later trained. He started “Sencirk’”, the first circus company in Senegal, whose aim is to offer to children in difficult circumstances a path to reintegration through the circus.
“We didn’t use the word ‘circus’ in Senegal, but many of its elements, such as magic, acrobatics or fire-eating were already present in our traditions. We came up with a specifically African circus by integrating traditional dance and music,” he explains. Both the Senegalese and French circus artists worked perfectly together. “In its body language, the clown is quite universal,” comments Servane Guittier, one of the French artists. Modou, Junior and Patricia included Wolof phrases in the show, and the French artists made the effort to learn at least one song in the language. “Our bad pronunciation of Wolof made the kids laugh! Many of them were seeing a show for the very first time and got into it right away.”
Now, how to turn the successful cooperation between CSF and local associations into a long-term project? Training people to work on these cultural projects is vital. A day of workshops brought together cultural players from all over the country. In Dakar, Sencirk’ performs social circus work all year round, and Djamara has developed a project for an alternative mode of living, combining environmental requirements and emancipation through art and culture.
Working with traditions
Long-time CSF France member, and now on of its board of directors, Marik Wagner launched in 2000, together with the association MAD’AIDS, the first project in Madagascar.
The CSF reached out to different audiences, including children in prisons, and those suffering from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or affected by a taboo against twins.
The taboo on twin children highlights the underlying issue of cultural rights. In one ethnic group in Madagascar, when a woman gives birth to twins, the twins are rejected by the community and end up in refuge centres. “We had one guiding principle,” says Wagner, “and that was not to pass judgment on these parents. On stage, we played with the theme of doubles, pairs who are inseparable or one who seeks the other. People would say: ‘It looks like we are being shown twins’, when usually that word is never uttered! One day, a man became angry and said we had come to criticize them. A woman answered him: ‘You haven’t seen anything or understood anything, these people have come to show us our life’.”
In Madagascar, CSF developed a tool based on the traditional tantara game played by children, where they tell each other everyday stories using small stones. CSF replaced the pebbles with cards showing characters, emotions and situations, which children use to collectively tell a story, illustrated on the spot and then interpreted by an actor.
“The characters allow the children to dissociate themselves from what they are saying; it is the zebu who is sad, not them! It is on their stories that the show ‘Sétoiquisoizi’ (You choose!) is based.” In order to share this practice as widely as possible among Madagascar’s communities, CSF published an illustrated booklet.
Building memories over the long term
The projects in Myanmar and Thailand are just as long-term and target several different populations.
One recurring project has focused on the conflict between the Karen ethnic group and the central governments on both sides of the border between Myanmar and Thailand.
Guillaume Grisel, an actor with a background in street theatre, has led several projects aimed at refugees from this forgotten war, refugees which are gathered in huge camps in Thailand.
“We collected music, storytelling and dance traditions from the Karen community, and created a little show, where we performed Karen and Burmese songs while learning snippets of the language. We often impose the use of English, but I like to do the opposite and put the white man in a situation of ridicule! The show is free, is open to all communities, and takes no sides. We are in a context of war, and it’s a question of being aware and of not endangering either the people who come to see us or those involved.”
In these camps, performing sometimes in front of 8,000 people, the welcome is always very enthusiastic. “This is our vocation! Like the air of excitement when the circus came to town in the fifties; that excitement still survives today despite all the hardship in the camps.”
Every year, the children are left with indelible memories, they replay the scenes from the shows, and develop critical thinking, to the point of declaring: “it’s good, but last year was better”. This is proof that hope and laughter leave their mark on minds and hearts, and can sometimes even counterbalance the most challenging hardship.
Valérie de Saint-Do
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