Joyful Jordan

From October to December 2023 we delivered 64 sessions with 7266 children attending and on our second visit, from March to May 2024 we delivered 67 sessions reaching 6505 children.

The main focus of our work was visiting the camps in Hatay, a region which borders Syria and severely affected by the earthquakes in 2023. Over a year later there is still much destruction with the aftermath of destroyed homes, schools and public buildings.

We visited Turkish and Syrian camps and schools and were told multiple times that we were the first international organisation to visit those places for years and that most of the kids had never seen a live show before. Visiting a school in a refugee camp, very close to the border with Syria, there was a large military presence and security due to the location. The response to the three shows we delivered here was incredible – each had upwards of 1000 children in the audience, and the level of excitement and anticipation felt like this was a monumental event for the community. We were later told by a teacher at the school that nobody had been in to visit these children in over two years. Even the older group of teenagers were totally entranced.

We spent one week each in two camps in Gölbasi, seeing the same children for four to five sessions. This allowed us to deepen our connection with them as well as with the managers of the camps, increasing the liklihood of being invited back. We were able to see the change in the mentality of the kids throughout the week, becoming calmer and more trusting.

The children with disabilities at Nizip benefitted so much from our sessions, and with 20 children who all have very different needs it is difficult for the centre to find activities for them all together. There were children in wheelchairs, a neurotypical boy with one arm, children with Downs Syndrome, with severe Aspergers, with cerebral palsy, with ADHD, all together in a room the size of a large living room. Every activity we offered was received with such delight and there were enough Seagulls to ensure everyone had a moment adapted just for them.