By sabine choucair | artistic director
Thank you
After the devastating earthquake hit the South of Turkey and North of Syria we couldn't but organise a clown tour. And it was possible because of your support. So thank you.
We teamed up with CWB Sweden and sent three of our performers - Sabine Choucair, Ramy Abi Khalil and Riwa Houssami to the earthquake zones to provide laughter, joy and emotional support to the affected communities.
In costume, we were constantly driving amid the destruction. We would see small camps and big camps. We would stop, get out, turn the camps upside down with our music, bubbles and positive silly energy. Enjoy the small precious encounters and then we would say goodbye. leave. And start all over again.
We toured 6 days and offered more than 50 shows and parades. We reached a total of 5420 between Turkish, Syrian, Kurdish and Armenian communities. We performed in camps, community centers, and public spaces.
One of those days, we focused on smaller camps where a lot of Syrians were gathered, piling up trauma after trauma. It’s absurd. You run away from war thinking now you’re safe. Then you get hit by an earthquake.
Many kids were not speaking anymore. It was horrifying. And many lost parts of their bodies. That day, one of the clownsdid a lot of one on one interactions while the other clowns were entertaining the crowds.
She did a small magic trick to a kid who lost speech and a leg and was watching some videos on his phone alone in the tent. She managed to get his attention for few seconds and he agreed to watch the show with everyone else. A show in a space surrounded by crushed buildings and by god knows how many dead people under that rubble. It was so intense and humbling to be there. To hear laughter of kids and adults. When we were leaving, all kids ran behind the clowns to the bus. That one clown stayed behind interacting with adults and when leaving a woman’s voice echoed in that empty space … “how beautiful you are”.
Her voice will stay with us forever.
Thank you
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