The CEO of a children’s charity that has sent 19 clowns to Europe to provide “emotional first aid” to young Ukrainian refugees said the work is about telling children: “I see you, and I care what’s happening to you.”
Clowns Without Borders UK sends clowns into war and disaster zones to provide “critical emotional first-aid through laughter and play,” by delivering performances, providing workshops, and training local clowns.
The clowns, who have operated in conflict zones such as the Lebanese-Israeli border and the Turkey-Syrian border, were deployed as part of Project Laughter, a mission that has supported 1,850 Ukrainian refugee children since September 2022.
“We’re so lucky because, basically, the work is about human connection,” Samantha Holdsworth, Chief Clown and CEO of Clowns Without Borders UK, told the PA news agency.
“The question we get is why clowns, why isn’t it something else?
“The point is that you get to say to a little child, through play, I see you, and I care about what’s happening to you.”
Ms Holdsworth said it is not a case of just turning up, but that Clowns Without Borders works with smaller charities, grassroots organisations, big NGOs and “everything in between” to distribute the clowns.
“They will ask, ‘Can the clowns come?’ (and) very, very rarely do we say no,” she explained.
“Then we try and figure out how to do it.”
The charity has visited refugee centres in Poland and Moldova, where the victims of the Ukraine-Russia conflict are being housed in temporary shelters.
“We’ll go into a refugee shelter and be normal people, but playful, and do a show,” Ms Holdworth explained.
“Through the show, the children get to know the clowns and get to know that the clowns are okay. They’re grown-ups, but they’re not really grown-ups – so they get to know us as friends.
“After the show, there’s no disconnect, and that’s when we do more different activities… So that might be making bubbles, or doing magic and juggling.”
Ms Holdsworth said what inspires her about the process is that the children “are thinking about other people.”
“One little boy in Moldova, after the show we’re making paper planes and he hadn’t made one before and he says, ‘I’m going to name this after my sister, because she’s not with us anymore,'” she said.
“And he was just there with his mom, I don’t know when it was or what had happened.
“That’s the point of our trauma-sensitive approach, he can share what he wants to share whenever he wants share it.”
“Another little boy drew a picture of the clowns and told us he was going to send it back to his dad and grandad who were back in Ukraine to cheer them up.”
Project Laughter has been funded by Plan International, a humanitarian organisation working to advance children’s rights and equality for girls.
Ms Holdsworth said training local artists in humanitarian clowning is an important part of Project Laughter.
“Local artists have performance experience, but it’d be very surprising if they have experience in humanitarian clowning,” she said.
“Humanitarian clowning is really about being trauma-sensitive and understanding the environment you’re going into… It’s very complex.
“The training is about supporting local artists in how best to respond in a way that’s best suited and appropriate to children who have just, in some cases literally days before, witnessed death or are carrying all of their worldly belongings in a small bag… That’s very difficult.”
Humanitarian clowning is really about being trauma-sensitive and understanding the environment you're going into... It's very complex— Samantha Holdsworth, Chief Clown
According to a report by Save The Children UK, an estimated 3 million of the war’s child refugees will be spending Christmas away from Ukraine and 1,000 children are expected to arrive in the UK without their parents following changes in Government policy.
Global Humanitarian Director for Plan International Dr Unni Krishnan said: “Wars, conflicts and disasters often leave lasting impacts on young minds… Play, fun, art, and theatre help children heal in humanitarian crises.
“The big idea behind this collaborative initiative is to allow children to express themselves.”
Ms Holdworth added: “In a disaster, people very understandably, need to get shelter and water very quickly.”
“But for children, play is so critical for the longer term.
“Those moments of light you get when you’re with little people fully engaged, they will tell you phenomenal things… (They are) so kind and so caring.”
To find out more about Clowns Without Borders, visit https://clownswithoutborders.org.uk.
