|
Clown Bluey
"A Clown For All Reasons"
Hampshire and the United Kingdom's Favourite Fool!
The World Wide Smiles Charity
Clown Bluey is proud to be a member of World Wide Smiles, a small Charity Foundation registered in Amsterdam, Holland. The Charity consists of a small, dedicated group of clowns who commit themselves every year to provide charity performances and clown shows to orphanages, hospitals, special needs schools, and children and adults who just don't have the opportunity to see entertainment in their environment and who are seriously in need of a smile. The WWS Team take SMILES, LAUGHTER and GIGGLES to the WORLD, wherever they are needed!
Full information can be found about World Wide Smiles Tours (including photo slide shows of each tour) at www.WorldWideSmiles.biz.
Below are Reports and a small selection of photographs of the World Wide Smiles Charity Tours that Clown Bluey has participated in since 2003.
Smiles to Romania 2007
Report by Ben Kemperman, Clown Bluey & Conk the Clown
Conk and Clown Bluey travelled overnight by car and by Ferry from Harwich to Holland and arrived at the World Wide Smiles Headquarters in Ulft on Thursday 18th October, where they joined fellow colleagues Masjolie and Ben in preparing for the long and arduous drive to Romania.
Having picked up our VW 3.5 (6-seater) Van from our wonderful transport sponsors, The Car Centre Andriessen (Andriessen Bedrijfswagens), in Terborg, Holland - http://www.andriessen.info/ , and having fully loaded the van with the set, curtains, sound, lights (including our generator for emergency power), props, costumes and personal baggage, we left on the long journey on Saturday 20th October at 7.20 a.m., travelling across Germany and Austria and into Hungary.
After an uneventful journey (Ben, Bluey and Conk taking 2-hour turns to drive and stopping overnight at a reasonably cheap hotel on the Austrian / Hungary Border), and having crossed two time zones, we arrived in Romania on Sunday 21st October, 2007, two hours ahead of British Summer Time. We drove to an apartment owned by the Mother Therese Foundation in Cetariu, a basic two-bedroom 3rd floor flat with lounge, kitchen and bathroom. This would be our “base” for the whole tour. Our initial plans to include performances in Moldavia were not to be because of administration difficulties, and so we found that our whole itinerary had been planned around the region of Bihor by our Mother Therese representative Illy, who is in charge of the Maica Therese Shop in Oradea and also is responsible for all the Mother Therese Social Housing projects for the very needy and the poor, including the Gypsy people.
Monday 22 October:
Our first show was very conveniently in Cetariu just a few yards from the apartment – a Kindergarten with 20 children, so it took no time to unload our stage set into a small room with double doors that opened up into another room giving us and the children much-needed space! After the show, the children received gifts of chocolate bars.
Photo: Masjolie entertains in the small Cetariu Kindergarten. We used two rooms with dividing doors as neither room was big enough!
Lunch was back in the apartment and consisted of chicken soup (which became a staple of our diet, the kitchen being very basic with two hot rings and a microwave – and a free supply of soup from the Maica Therese Shop!).
In the afternoon, we performed at a school in Oradea (which was a very bumpy ride half an hour’s drive from Cetariu) where we were supposed to have a mixed audience of over a hundred children consisting of both children with learning difficulties and those without learning difficulties. However, only about 40 children attended the show. We found out afterwards that there is still a lot of resistance from parents who do not want their children to mix with children with learning difficulties. Some Romanian people still have an uneducated attitute towards children with learning difficulties. Despite this, the children who were present thoroughly enjoyed the show and even those children with learning dificulties had a happy experience and at times were incorporated into the performance .
After packing up, we drove to the Maica Therese Shop which is centrally positioned in Oradea and had fun with children who were in the shop and also the staff who were always delighted to see us. As we stayed in motley most days from morning to night, this became a regular feature of our day. We even did some shopping in the shop – some of the prices for clothing are ridiculously cheap by our standards!
Tuesday 23 October
10.00 a.m. was the time scheduled for our first show in Sisterea, one of several villages around Cetariu. This was to be in the community hall, but it was too cold and we performed in the school instead. This was a mixed audience of 65 prima school and older children. The school was still in poor state with very old loose wooden floor tiles and a wood-burning “tiled”burner for heating.
Photo: The Sisterea School floors were very old and in some places had loose wooden floor tiles.
The performance went very well. Mostly for the Kinder and Prima age children, we presented a one hour show, whilst for older groups we would perform an hour and a half show. We also mixed our programme a little, in order not to become stale, substituting different routines. We took the opportunity to try out some new routines as well. Bluey introduced a new balloon puppet idea and Conk also used a puppet during his magic slot for younger children.
Photo: Hallway in Sisterea School: note boxes of logs on the right for the wood burners used to heat each classroom.
At this venue, we did have the misfortune of getting the van bogged down and stuck in very soft mud and needed assistance from some burly staff and pupils to get out again before we loaded our equipment! Generally, we found the roads to be in very poor repair, despite a reported 330 Million Euro being pumped into Romania for roads from the EEC in 2007 alone!
“Chicken Soup” for lunch back at the apartment!
Then on to Oradea for the second show at 3.00 p.m. at a large refurbished and well-equipped school “Number 45”. Here we performed for 100 infants. We noticed that they had just been awoken from their afternoon “nap”- they have fold-up beds that pull out from the wall which fold away for normal school time – something we noticed in a lot of schools – a type of “day care” that seems to be in operation in Kindergarden schools.
Photo: Masjolie, Bluey & Conk enthrall the children with Bubbles!
As already mentioned, most days, we returned to the Maica Therese Shop in full motley, another reason being that we used the opportunity to have a briefing with Illy each day to discuss the Programme for the following day. We also occasionally took the opportunity to “sight-see”around the city – we looked at a brand new huge Park for children which included an open-air performance area with stage and seating. All ages of children were catered for in different äreas”of the park, including a skate-boarding area for older children. Oradea is a very large city holding several million inhabitants.
Wednesday 24 October:
Our first show is at 10.00 a.m. in Uileac near Cetariu – it is another school we have visited on previous tours. 40 children are entertained here, and again we found the school has been renovated to quite a high standard.
Immediately after this show, we had to move directly to another villiage nearby called Saldabagiu where we entertained infant children together with other children from the village who normally go to school in Oradea. Teachers told us they have a problem in that parents think the schools in the city are “better” because they are bigger and have larger classes and don’t realise their children would be better off with smaller classes. However, the parents were very appreciative of our coming to their village, and heaped plates and plates of assorted cakes on to us!!!
On the way back, we stopped to meet and greet at a Social Housing project funded by the Mother Therese Foundation. The newly-built basic 2-room houses are mainly inhabited by Gypsy families and access was by extremely muddy unmade paths – but all the inhabitants were pleased to see us and the children were very happy to receive balloon animals from Bluey whilst Conk and Masjolie clowned around – the dreary setting was not helped by a drizzly rain – one of the few days it rained on us.
Photo: Conk and Bluey keep the Gyspsies near Saldabagiu laughing!
We returned to the Oradea shop for the next day’s briefing before cleaning up and having dinner in a local restaurant. Illy’s daughter, Ann-Marie, who also acted as an interprater for us and who also works for the Maica Therese Foundation Shop, has a boyfriend who works at this restaurant as a Chef, so a good meal was had by all - and as usual Conk and Bluey entertained with pocket magic and balloons!
Thursday 25 October:
Up very early on this day to make-up – we leave at 9.00 a.m. for a 40 kms drive to Siniob where we perform at a very old and unfurbished community hall. Conk shot some good video of all the 100 schoolchildren walking in a line along the muddy road from the school to the hall. It was so dark we used our portable lighting rig for the first time with great success, but didn’t need the generator. Although the hall was quite large, the stage proscenium itself was very narrow and we could only just squeeze our set in!
Photo: Our portable lights saved the day in the dark old Siniob Hall! Note the narrow stage proscenium arch entrance!
Our second show was in the same village at the Kindergarten School, whose 30 children were waiting for us already (it was too cold for them to attend the first show in the hall), so we opted not to put up the set for this show as the room was quite small and we could use a room off the main room for entrances and exits and start the show without too much delay.
On the way back, we stopped to meet and greet at another Gypsy Social Housing project – however, it was so muddy, that we stayed on the actual road and all the inhabitants came on to the road to be entertained! Despite the appalling conditions underfoot, many of the children were barefoot and very, very dirty overall!
In the evening, we had been invited to Dinner by Kevin Hoy, Founder and Chief Executive of The Smiles Foundation [ http://www.thesmilesfoundation.org/ ] (not related to World Wide Smiles), whose Centre is located in Cihei. They are a charity registered in Leeds, U.K., which is involved in many projects in the area around Oradea and nearby Tileagd. It was a very pleasant evening and good contacts were made. We also agreed to perform a show for them on Sunday 28th at their new community school in Tileagd as we had no programme scheduled on that day.
Friday 26 October:
A very early start again as our first show is scheduled for 9.15 a.m. at the same school “Number 45” we were at in Oradea on Tuesday afternoon. This time we were performing for another set of 100 infants, but in a large room on the ground floor which also had the “fold-a-way”beds in the walls.
Photo: Conk performs at the beautifully refurbished school No, 45. Note the orange cupboards along the back wall - each one are individual pull-down beds for the children.
We lunched at the Shop (hurray – no chicken soup!) but lovely hot rolls!
A long drive meant that a scheduled 12.00 p.m. show didn’t start until 12.30 p.m. at our next destination, a school and orphanage combination in Popesti, to a group of 200 children. It seems Romania no longer have “orphanages”- such were the concerns of the EEC over the state of their orphanages, the Romanian Government closed them all, or simply renamed them as “schools”- hence there is no longer an orphanage problem……!
Photo: Children queue for the Popesti Show
On the way back, we stopped at an Old Peoples Home where we mixed and mingled and Conk and Masjolie had fun with an old lady and a large balloon! Old people are not very well looked after in Romania as a general rule, and we found this “home”, despite the obvious love and concern of the carers, very basic, unkempt and a little smelly.
Saturday 27 October:
After our usual early breakfast and make-up routine, we left the apartment at 9.00 a.m. and remember this morning particularly for the van being stopped by local villager’s cows. Most houses seemed to have one cow. One man using the sound of a large bull whip to call the cows which come out of their various back yards to join him on walking to wherever they grazed each day. Their behaviour were more like pet dogs than cattle!
The first show was in a home and school for street children (not an “orphanage” you notice) and we performed in the Dining Room. They did have an outside stage at the end of a sportsfield and the weather was quite sunny, but unfortunately the roof over the stage area was too low for our set. The ages ranged from 8 to 20 but they were all extremely well-behaved and seemed to enjoy the show immensely. They were also extremely helpful in helping to lug the set and props in and out of the venue from and to the van – much appreciated by us clowns tired by the exersions of the show and constant travelling and loading and unloading for each show!
Lunch at the Oradea shop – again no chicken soup – hurray!
In the afternoon we had a long 100 kms drive east to Remeti, through the mountains. Beautiful views of steep cliffs and valleys all glowing in autumn reds and golds. The venue was a home for 40 mentally handicapped children of various ages up to 21. A slight administrative hiccup was encountered here as they had no knowledge of our coming – it transpired that the Director of the Home was on holiday and had ommitted to pass on the information of our coming to her Deputy. Some frantic ‘phone calls rectified the situation, and we were given permission to continue with the performance. However, no room large enough was available, but the weather being beautifully sunny and still, we performed outside. We built the set in front of the Home’s steep and wide entrance steps which our audience used as seating. A Good show, but one or two times we had to hold the set framework when the breeze decided to gust!!! The children were very good and loved the music and being involved and taking part in the show, and where necessary, the Carers were utilised in the show as well!.
On the way back, near the Home, we visited a huge dam and lake used for hydro-electricity production - there were wonderful views over the Dam and the lake it had created. There are many holiday homes and chalets in this area – apparently used by Oradea’s residents for holidays.
Photo: The Dam in the mountains near Remeti
Sunday 28 October:
Bliss – change of clocks back to winter time, so we have an extra hour in bed!! Today we have the morning free and lazed around.
In the afternoon, we arranged to meet Kevin Hoy, the Founder and Chief Executive of The Smiles Foundation, on the Oradea – Tileagd road and he showed us the way to their new Project, a brand new Community School in Tileagd. The School itself is finished and children are being taught, whilst an Optical Eye Centre is also open. A huge Gymnasium/ Sports Hall is under construction and further projects on this site include a Medical Centre and a Church.Our performance of one and a half hours took place for about 80 children plus many parents in the Computer and Library Room (and also temporary Church Service Room) as this is a non denomination Christian Charity. Here we had a fantastic translator in Maria who is the Project Manager for The Smiles Foundation. The performance was very successful with much laughter.
Photo: Masjolie entertains in the Tileagd Community School Library/Computer Room
After the show, Kevin Hoy took us back to their main Centre in Cihei (outside Oradea) to have much-needed showers as we have been without water for two days (a problem generally in the village of Cetariu – we believed constructioin work on new houses nearby had damaged the water mains – the problem persisted even up to the time the tour finished). Future plans for the Cihei Centre site include a Nursing Home and a Disabled Centre. Please see the Foundation's website http://www.thesmilesfoundation.org/ for further information.
In the evening, Kevin generously took us all for a meal in a nearby restaurant and a fun-filled evening with balloons from Bluey and pocket magic from Conk enthralled all the patrons!
Monday 29 October:
This morning at 10.00 a.m. we revisited an old favourite, the community hall at the village of Salard, where we orginally saw our first gypsy settlement some years before and where Mother Therese’s first Social House Project began in 2002.
We fully expected to use our lights and generator at the Community Hall, but again we were pleasantly surprised: the Hall has been completely renovated with new wooden flooring, new stage, new dressing room (with carpet!!) and new audience seating. We are amazed!
Photo: Conk performs with magic on the newly-refurbished Salard Community Hall stage. Note the new flooring and painted walls.
100 children with some parents were in attendance: village children and Gypsy children from the above-mentioned Social Housing project. A good show and extra pleasing to perform on a real stage in comfortable surroundings. Our hour long show quickly extended into an hour and a half show which was enjoyed by all of us. At the end gifts of a toy and chocolate bars were given out to all the children from the Mother Therese Foundation.
After packing up and loading the Van, we stopped at the Filadelfia Old Age People’s Home, much to their delight. Bluey played Banjo and made balloons whilst Conk danced with the lady residents and performed with his dog puppet and Masjolie entertained with bubbles and her walking puppet animal. This was a nice home, sponsored by a Dutch Company, and the Home also provide meals for old people in the village. It also had additional rooms where people could be accommodated for the night. The first Old Age people’s Home we visited on Friday had been very basic in comparison.
Photo: Bluey & Conk entertain the old folk in the Filadelfia Home for Old People
On the way back, we visited another Gypsy settlement, which currently is in it’s original terrible state. The families still living in home-made huts amid thick mud and rubbish alongside a stagnant drainage pond with no sanitation or clean water. Conk, Bluey and Masjolie played with the Gyspy children on what little grass area they could find, mainly using bubbles and physical clowning. Many of the children were wearing very little in the cold and wet and some had nothing on their feet in the thick cold mud.
Photo: Masjolie entertains children and adults by their home-made 'houses'
Photo: Conk leads an impromptu 'Conga' at the Salard Gypsy settlement
On the opposite side of the road to the Gyspys settlement, we could see the latest Mother Therese Social Housing Project – new basic two-roomed houses where these gypsy families will eventually be rehoused and where a communal shower and water premises will also be constructed. From what we understand from Illy, the Gypsys sign a type of contract and that they must keep the new houses clean and that if they fail to do so, they can be evicted. We do not know if they pay a nominal rent or receive the benefit of using the houses for free on a “loan”basis from the Mother Therese Foundation.
We return to our apartment in Cetariu and find we still do not have water, so have to use bottled water for washing as best as we can and for tea/.coffee!
Tuesday 30 October:
Our Programme for Tuesday did not materialise due to permissions not being able to be obtained in time to perform and so we made the decision to leave a day early to start on the long journey back to Holland. After thoroughly cleaning the flat as best we could, we returned to the Maica Therese Shop in Oradea for the last time to say farewell to all our friends and Bluey presented a bouquet of balloon flowers to Illy from us all in appreciation of her hard work for the Tour.
Photo: Illy from the Maica Therese Foundation, our Tour Organiser and co-translator, receives a bouquet of balloon flowers from Clown Bluey on behalf of World Wide Smiles
Then we started the long two-day drive back to Holland. We stopped overnight at the same Hotel on the Austrian/Hungarian Border. On the way back, Conk was stopped in Hungary by Hungarian Border Police (documents check) whilst Bluey was pulled over by German Police on the autobahn for a Licence check. Otherwise, apart from being delayed with numerous road works and heavy traffic, we arrived safely in Ulft after a 21 hour drive from Romania via Hungary, Austria, Germany and Holland.. Conk & Bluey continuing their travel two days later via car and Ferry for a further 9 hours (after helping to clean the van and return it to oue Sponsors, The Car Centre Andriessen in Terborg).
ooo End Of 2007 Tour Report ooo
Smiles to Poland 2006: Report by Conk the Clown
This year’s project in Poland started back in July 2006. Conk, that’s me, Clown Bluey, Masjolie and Ben were performing a show in Borculo, Holland for Pax Aid for sick Polish children. After the show we were sitting around talking with the Pax Aid organisers and the children’s Polish Carer’s and they asked what our big annual project was for 2006. At the time we had not made up our mind. So the Polish carer’s invited World Wide Smiles to their country. We agreed provided they arranged our accommodation and itinerary tour for us. So that is how this year’s major tour came about.
Sunday 15th October 2006
I had to perform a show in Kidderminster, England in the afternoon about one hour from my home and had to leave Birmingham by 5 o’clock - it was one mad rush because I had to meet up with Clown Bluey at Dave Tawney’s (Clown Yo-Yo) house where I was to leave my car for the ten day trip. Our Eurotunnel Rail tickets were booked for 22.20 (10.20 p.m.) By the time I dropped my car off and transferred my props and costumes into Bluey’s car, we arrived at Eurotunnel with only 10 minutes to spare. After an uneventful 30 minute trip to Calais, France, the time was 23.50 (11.50 p.m.) European time and a long drive of over 4 ½ hours saw us eventually arrive at Masjolie and Ben’s home in Ulft, Holland at 04.45 a.m. where we thankfully fell into bed.
Monday 16th October, 2006
After a short lie-in (up at 10.00 a.m.) we started get everything together for the trip. At 4.00 o’clock we picked up our loaned Volkswagon Van from our generous Sponsors, Car Centre Andriessen (Andriessen Bedrijfswagens), Terborg [http://www.andriessen.info/] to whom we owe a huge vote of thanks. Than it was back to Masjolie’s to pack the van with all the stage set and our props and costumes ready for the early start to Poland next day.
Tuesday 17th October, 2006
We departed from Uft at 6.00 a.m. for the 1150km drive to Jaworzno in Poland. We (Bluey, Ben and myself) took turns driving, changing every two hours. After fourteen hours on the road, we arrived in Jaworzno at 8.00 p.m. and met up with our Polish contacts and friends from Pax Aid - Ewa and Bokdan Tabot, their daughter Sabina and her boyfriend Michal Burdzinski. Michal and Sabina speak good English, whilst Ewa spoke a little and Bokdan only one or two words. We followed their car to the place that was to be our home for the next seven days on the outskirts of Jaworzno. What a sight when we arrived: the Osrodek Wypoczynkowy is a holiday park by the side of a large picturesque lake with wooden swiss-style chalets situated on one side of the lake’s shores. As the Park was closed for the winter, we are to be the only people in residence! The Chalet was very nice with a kitchenette/dining room, bathroom (toilet and sink), a double bed downstairs and three single beds upstairs and our own separate shower block nearby. It also had numerous electric heaters which proved very beneficial in the days to come. It was near a rail network, and we were very aware of constant rail movement, with very long trains moving through the nights.
Wednesday 18th October, 2006
A good night’s sleep was had by us all after the long journey from Holland, but we were up fairly early as we had our first show at noon. It was wonderful when we looked out of the bungalow to the lake in the early morning light, it was just like a picture on a Christmas card: there was a very heavy frost and the whole area was covered with sparkling ice. This initially caused a problem as we didn’t have an ice scraper with the Van, but credit cards did the trick until Bokdan loaned us his ice scraper. We found that it was generally cold and icy in the early mornings, but we were lucky in that the skies remained blue and clear and the sun warmed up as the day progressed. That first morning we had breakfast in Jaworzno’s huge Sports Centre, the HalaWidowiskowo-Sportowa Miejskiego Centrum, a venue where our hosts had arranged for us to have the majority of our meals during our tour in a small cafe/restaurant. After breakfast we were off to perform our first show at 12.00 p.m. noon at a Care Centre for Handicapped Children (Osrodek Rehabilitacyjno Wychowawczy Dla Dzieci Niepelnosprawnych) in Jaworzno, accompanied by Michal, Ewa and Bokdan. About 40 children attended the show which was in their gym: they could not stop laughing and it was great to get the first show off to a good start. The only downside was our video camera failed but Bokdan offered to use his own and for future shows became our official videographer! After the show we had a look around the Centre and were much impressed with the facilities.
Ewa and Bokdan invited us all back to their apartment where they presented Bluey with a Birthday cake and a bottle of Polish Vodka (it was Bluey’s birthday and he was both surprised and grateful for this unexpected kind gesture). We all enjoyed the cake and sweet cookies! They were able to show us a DVD of the Pax Aid Week where we had performed back in Borculo, Holland in July for the sick Polish children - it was the first time we had seen it and was another pleasant surprise. Before we returned to the Sports Centre for our evening meal, we did some shopping, picking up cornflakes, milk, bread etc for our breakfasts which we would eat in our chalet from this point on. Then it was back to the chalet for an early night as we would be leaving early the next day.
Thursday 19th October, 2006
Because Michal, who is a medical student, had to attend college most of the week, Ewa and Bokdan were our guides. They arrived at 7.30a.m. to take us to Katowice for the first show of the day at 10.00 a.m. The drive would take over three quarters of an hour, because of the early morning traffic. We had early starts most days, because schools start at 8.00 a..m. and finish at 2.00 p.m. (some kindergartens at 12.00 p.m. noon). The Szkola Podstawowa Nr.7 is a Primary School. It had a great stage in the meeting Hall area, but the School Director insisted on putting us in a large classroom and only allowing two classes to see the show. By the time the show started the word had got out that the clowns were performing and we did the show to over 80 children.
We would have loved to have performed a show to all the school on the stage area but it was not to be. That particular School Director was the only negative person we came across during the whole tour.
After lunch in the sports centre back in Jaworzno, we had an impromptu sight-seeing tour around the town on foot and enjoyed the little market. We were all quickly aware of the constant smell of smoke in the air: most people it seems still burn coal for heating, something we no longer experience in our own "smoke-free zone" countries. Jaworzno is famous because it’s where Pope John Paul 11 was born and on Saturday we were to do a show at the local children’s hospital named after him. But we were unable to look inside his large modern-looking Church in the town centre as the doors were locked.
Our next show that day was at 5.00 p.m. in another primary school (Szkola Podstawowa Nr.14). As the school had closed for the day at 2.00 p.m., we didn’t know how many children would return for the performance. However, Sabina had produced and circulated some excellent Posters for the whole tour and we were pleasantly surprised when well over 200 children and a lot of parents turned up. The performance took place in the school gym and we planned on a two hour show. There was no stage which caused some problems from time to time as more and more children encroached on our performing area, and there seemed to be a constant "coming and going" of children using the toilets which necessitated children walking past our "backstage" area. However, the show seemed to go well and a plus was that Bokdan videoed the two shows for us.
After packing the van and cleaning up, we returned to the sports centre for our evening meal before returning to our chalet for a well-earned sleep.
Friday 20th October, 2006
Today we wake at 6.30 a.m. for breakfast, because we leave by 7.30 a.m., the first show of the day being scheduled for 9.00 a.m. at the Szkola Podstawowa Nr.7 primary school in Jaworzno. The performance took place in a super arena-style round hall with the stage surrounded on three sides by tiers of seats. 450 children watched the show and because of the glass roof the noise was deafening with the children laughing so much.
After the show Michal turns up and helps load the van and we travel to our first Kindergarten. Here, we have lunch with the School Director and some of the teachers and have some lovely soup, salad and a "typical" Polish dish of stuffed vine or cabbage leaves with dumplings in a rich sauce.
As these are "pre-school" children, we adjust our show to one-hour show, because they were so small. It was very successful and to see them laugh so much, even at that young age was great.
After a short tour of the school with the director, we cleaned up. As we were loading the van the parents were arriving to pick up the children and we were told that the children could not stop talking about the show. It was a lovely feeling know you have made someone happy.
On our departure, we had time to look around a large Polish indoor market before we met up with Ewa and Bokdan’s son and girlfriend. We were joined by their daughter Sabina and we all had a meal at the sports centre together, talking about the shows and having fun comparing English and Polish words and sayings. Before long we ended up doing some close-up magic and having an impromptu balloon workshop! On our return to the Chalet, Ewa and Bokdan presented us all with a book about Jaworzno, given as a small token of their appreciation for World Wide Smiles travelling to their town to bring smiles and happiness to the children.
Saturday 21st October, 2006
Up at 6.45a.m. for breakfast and again Ewa and Bokden came to guide us to our first show. This one was going to be special, because as I mentioned earlier this one was at the Samodzielny Publiczny Szpital Kliniczny Nr.6 Children’s Hospital in Jaworzno named in honour of the late Pope John Paul 11 and also it is where Ewa works as a full-time Nurse. About 60 children of mixed ages, some of whom were in wheelchairs, turned up, as did the press. It was a good show, and the children, along with the press, could not stop laughing.
After the performance, we were requested to visit some wards to see the children that were too ill to attend the performance. I think we made their day by just being there to see them and we all had fun with bubbles, balloons and magic. The Hospital authorities kindly provided lunch for us before we were left again on our travels, this time still in motley, to our next show at an Orphanage. About 30 children lived in the home as one big family and they seemed to be a very well looked after and happy bunch of children of mixed ages. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy our one hour show and sang us all a song after our Finale. We took the opportunity to have a photograph taken of all the children in front of our Tour Van for our sponsors.
Sunday 22nd October, 2006
This morning at 7.30 a.m. we were treated to a special Polish breakfast by Bokdan who arrived with fish plus fish plus fish. Roll Mops, pickled herring, another pickled fish, plus sliced red peppers and onions. It was the first time I had so much fish at one time and for breakfast too!
Then it was off to do our last show of the tour (the final Monday morning show having been cancelled due to the death of the Director at a Special Needs School). On the way we pick up Michal - he is looking a little heavy-eyed as he had been to a all night party! Sabina (who had been working at her own job all week) would turn up to see the last show at a Children’s Hospital in Chorzow.
The performance took place in a second floor Vestibule / Concourse to about 60 children, some of whom had to wear masks and were in wheelchairs. The venue was very warm with bright sun coming through the windows. The children enjoyed the one hour show after which we visited the wards to meet the children too ill to leave the wards. In some rooms we had to wear protective masks, coats and hats to see the children, but again our visit seemed to cheer them immensely and many bubbles and balloons were made.
This hospital also laid on a lovely lunch for us which was much appreciated. After we cleaned up this time, we loaded the van more carefully for the long journey home, as it would not be unloaded again until we returned to Holland.
We could not leave Jaworzno without saying a big thank you to Bokdan and Ewa for all their help. We found out that Bokdan had worked down a mine for over 20 years and he retired in 2000. He had never been to the silver and lead mine museum near Tarnowskie Gory, so we took them to see it and we could not have picked a better location as Bokdan really enjoyed the treat.
Back in Jaworzno, we had time for a last walk around the town before our last meal together in the Sports Centre where Michal and Sabina also turn up to say goodbye.
The team were all-together for the last time. At most of the shows a Teacher or Carer did the translating for us as Ewa and Bokdan could only speak a little English. But they are wonderful hospitable people who made a great job of organising the tour and accommodation for us and we cannot praise them too highly for their support, help, kindness and hospitality. After the meal we said our goodbyes to them all and it was off to the Chalet by the lake for the last time.
Monday 23rd October, 2006
We were up at 8.00 a.m. for our last breakfast and were ready to leave at 9.00 a.m. for the long drive back to Holland. Ewa, Bokdan and their son came to see us off and after final hugs all round, we said our final goodbyes and we finally started on the long trip back to Ulft, Holland at 9.30 a.m. The return journey was 25 kms shorter than coming (1122 km) as we returned via Berlin, but unfortunately it was a lot longer time-wise as we were caught behind a bad truck accident for nearly an hour on the autobahn. However, we arrived safely back in Ulft after nearly 15 hours on the road at 12.45 a.m.
The complete return trip mileage was 2269km (not counting Bluey’s and my mileage in and from the U.K. and return!).
Tuesday 24th October, 2006
After a well-earned lie-in, we unloaded the van, transferring Bluey’s and my gear straight into his car for our trip back home. After cleaning the VW, we returned the Van to our sponsors, Andriessen Bedrijfswagens in Terborg. The Van had performed valiantly and was very comfortable and reliable. We were very pleased with both the van and the generosity of our sponsors, the Andriessen Car Centre [http://www.andriessen.info/] to whom we gave our heartfelt thanks. They really made our day by announcing that they would sponsor a van for our next tour in 2008, which is superb news. In the evening we had a farewell meal in Germany (the border is only 15 minutes drive from Ulft). World Wide Smiles succeeded once again and we can be pleased and satisfied that we took a smile to nearly 1,000 needy children.
Wednesday 25th October, 2006
Bluey & I had to be up at 6.00 a.m. for the long journey back to England. It should have taken us four and a half hours to return to Eurotunnel in Calais, France, but we lost over an hour because of heavy traffic and a mis-direction on the AA print-out that I was navigating from. However, we arrived at Eurotunnel again just in time for our train at 12.20 p.m.
I picked up my car from Dave Tawney (Clown Yo-Yo), had a cup of tea and said a big thank you for letting me park my car at his home. I also said goodbye to Bluey. I arrived back home in Birmingham at 5.00 p.m. tired but happy in the knowledge that we had performed a great tour in Poland and we are all looking forward to taking more smiles somewhere in the world in 2007.
Tsunami and It’s Aftermath: Sri Lanka
A World Wide Smile Tour 2005: Report by Clown Bluey
Sunday, 16th October 2005
The World Wide Smiles Team are waiting for me at London Heathrow Airport, Terminal 4 when I arrive. Masjolie & Ben have flown in direct from Holland to Terminal 4 which is handy, whilst Conk has been given a lift from Birmingham by his son. We all have “overweight” baggage but after explaining our “mission” to the Check-in, our luggage is waived through without excess luggage charge, much to our delight and relief! We leave at 10.45pm, an hour late, for the eleven hour flight to Columbo in Sri Lanka. The plane is full and we feel like the proverbial sardines! Service is excellent on the Sri Lanka Airlines and the food of good quality, although being served Dinner at 00.30 a.m. in the morning weighs heavily on my stomach (or maybe it was just the very hot and spicy fish curry I chose!). Whatever, most of us did not get any sleep, so we arrive a little bleary-eyed at 1.45p.m. in the afternoon of 17th October (Sri Lanka is 5 hours ahead of the U.K.).
Monday, 17th October 2005
After getting through immigration and Customs with no problems, it takes us a little while in all the confusion, noise and heat at the Arrivals Gate to finally meet with our contact, Guide and Translator for the trip, Ajith Abeyatunga and his charming wife Husha who will also be touring with us. Ajith is employed by Ton Willemsen, a Dutchman who runs an insulation company in Sri Lanka called Tonzon, but who is also the founder of Kids4Kids, the Charity who arranged the itinerary for us in Sri Lanka and who arranged the invitation from the Sri Lanka Director of Education to tour the schools in the Tsunami-hit areas.
We pay for a mini bus to transport us and all our luggage to the Tonzon Office (a converted house) in the capital city, Columbo, which is 25 km away. We are assailed by two things immediately: the heat and the noise. The temperatures in Sri Lanka remain steady in the 30's centigrade and never seems to cool down even in the evenings. At those times when we had a tropical downpour, it just made the atmosphere very humid. The noise was something else. The traffic was like the M25 motorway on a busy morning, but everyone uses their horns non-stop and everyone overtakes everyone else regardless of what’s coming the other way! This took us some time to adjust to, although at least there was one thing left from Britain’s occupation of the country when it was known as “Ceylon” - they still drive on the left!
Arriving safely at the house in Columbo, we go for a walk to stretch our legs. Most shops are shut as it is a religious holiday today, but it is still interesting to walk around and get our bearings. It is a typical city - large, sprawling, polluted, noisy, hot and dirty and reminds me of Deli and other far eastern places I have visited. The roads are pretty poor and the pavements almost non-existent with little or no street lamps at night.
We decide to eat in a Chinese Restaurant which is open and have a nice light meal. Prices we soon realise are very cheap by our standards - the bill for the six of us is less than £15.00! We found that wherever we went, normally we could have a two course meal with beer or fruit juice or tea/coffee for under £3.00 each. We are all tired and as we have a long six hour journey to the South of the Island the next day, we retire to bed fairly early, Ajith and Husha returning to their own home. We make do in the office using sleeping mats. Conk and I have brought our portable mosquito nets which Ben and Masjolie don’t think are necessary, but they are bitten during the hot night, so we feel vindicated! We are all on Malaria tablets as Sri Lanka is in the Malarial belt.
Tuesday, 18th October 2005
Conk and I rise early due to the sticky conditions and have a shower. It’s my Birthday, and Jenny has hidden a card in my luggage whilst Conk and Masjolie and Ben also have cards for me. We are all feeling a lot better for a few hours sleep. Conk brings back some very hot and spicy fresh rolls from the Railway Station for breakfast, whilst the live-in “house” boys who look after the house for Ton make us nice Ceylon tea.
There is a coconut tree in the small garden, so one of the boys climbs it to cut down a bunch of green coconuts so we can all try fresh coconut juice direct from the kernel using a straw - very tasty!
Ajith arrives with a newish 9-seater Toyota Hiace Bus and our driver Perra who will be with us for the whole tour. Perra doesn’t speak English, is very shy but is very nice and a good driver. The World Wide Smiles Mission pays 60,000 rupees (£420) for the hire of the bus and Perra for the two weeks - pretty good value we thought.
All loaded up, we take our leave of Columbo, and after an hour we are clear of the city and heading South in the countryside. En-route, we stop to say hello to the Dutch Manager who runs the Sri Lanka factory of the firm that Ben, our Dutch Ringmaster, works for in Holland near his home village of Ulft. We are taken on a quick tour of the factory where we see drawings made by and with Ben’s name on!
We make good time, and Ajith decides that we have time to detour through one of the National Parks - Uda Walawe, on the way south, where we might see some elephants and other wild life. We agree and for 1500 rupees each (paid from our personal finances - about £10 each), we get an open-top landrover complete with Ranger and driver.
We spend an excellent two hours driving around parts of the huge Park and count over 70 elephants, some of who are blocking the road, so we switch off the engine and enjoy watching them and taking photographs. We also see loads of water buffalo, a white eagle, a fox, dozens of peacocks and I was lucky enough to catch sight of two black panthers slinking off into the jungle. There were also hundreds of colourful birds - it was simply wonderful to see all this wildlife all living wild and free. Sri Lanka has in the region of 10 - 12,000 elephants living in the wild and it was a great thrill for us all to see them in their natural habitat - and a super Birthday present for me as the rest of the World Wide Smiles Mission team have clubbed in to buy my ticket as a present!
We arrive at the Tissa Inn Hotel in Tissamaharama at about 6.30pm, a basic hotel, but cheap at £7.00 per en-suite room (food extra)! A nice meal and entertainment for the staff by Bluey & Conk before we all retire to our beds: we have our first shows in the morning to look forward to.
Wednesday, 19th October 2005
We get changed and made-up at the hotel as we are staying here for the next three nights. Much amusement when we first appear in our motley and slap! Clowns are unheard of here!
We travel about an hour to the St Mary’s College in Hambantota, in a tsunami-hit area. Devastation everywhere you look. We performed outside to about 400 children using the Bus as a backdrop. As the ground is just clay and mud, the children stand for the whole hour and a half show. Conk gets very dirty so we make a note to buy some matting to carry with us for future shows. The boys and girls love the show.
They are all attired the same: Ajith explains that all school children in Sri Lanka wear the same uniform which is supplied by the Government (three uniforms each per year). The boys wear blue shorts with white shirts whilst the girls are in all-white dresses and white blouses, some wear shoes or sandals but quite a few are bare foot. It looks very smart against their dark skin, although they must have difficulty in keeping them clean in the conditions we saw. All washing is done by hand, sometimes in shared open wells, sometimes in muddy rivers etc - most of their homes don’t have electricity or running water. Most seemed to have well water.
There was a Headmasters’ Meeting from all the local schools going on as we performed, and all the Headmasters tried to get Ajith to add their schools to our itinerary, which of course was impossible.
We did do an extra show that day at the Samodagama School - a new building built by the “Friends of Holland” to replace one destroyed by the Tsunami. It was in the traditional Sri Lanka style: all classrooms are “open” to the elements with just a thatched roof to keep out the sun and rain and “open” walls all round. It was good to perform inside out of the relentless sun to about 300 children who thoroughly entered into the spirit of the show and there were huge white smiles everywhere.
Afterwards, still in motley, we drove around some of the devastation caused by the seven huge waves that hit the island and took photographs. The fifth wave apparently was the largest and most ferocious, 50 foot high and travelling at an estimated 200 mph. It had flattened everything in it’s path, although amazingly, some of the younger more supple trees and palms survived. Other huge trees were just ripped out of the ground. Some houses were razed to the footings or ground floor, whilst others looked like a monster had taken a huge bite out of the side of the building, leaving a scarred shell behind. Out in an estuary, we saw many people out in the mud, digging, still looking for bodies and for lost valuables. We saw a USA Red Cross Unit at this place.
We could not fail to be troubled by these sights of utter destruction, knowing that whole families and villages had been wiped out within minutes. It was a very sombre and reflective team who returned to the hotel that afternoon, each one of us deeply moved, but determined to fulfill our mission to put a smile back on the faces of all the children who had suffered such a momentous tragedy in their lives.
We had planned a show at a nearby Orphanage in the afternoon, but sadly it could not take place because they could not obtain permission from the authorities for us to do it. Ajith finds out later that last year, a foreign “entertainer/visitor” had interfered with one of the children and as a result, the Government has banned all foreign entertainers visiting orphanages. This upsets us but there is nothing we can do to change it, so we clean up and go swimming at a nearby hotel’s pool, for a small charge. It was either that, or use the nearby lake (as the locals do) but we don’t fancy taking a chance in meeting one of the local crocodiles......
In the evening, we decided to try some local “fast food”, so Ajith takes us to a “Hopper” café. These specialise in hoppers, a type of savoury pancake “shell” made with rice flour and cooked in a specially shaped hopper pan. They fill the resultant “shell” with fried eggs and there were also dips of spicy hot pickles and sauces on the table to dip into. We all liked them, although I’m not sure that my stomach agreed! On the whole, we found most meals we were served were very hot and spicy, reflecting no doubt the ancient relationship with India and Pakistan, from whence the Sri Lankan descendants originated.
We finished the evening by buying some refreshments and sitting in the Bus by the side of the Lake whilst a spectacular storm with sheet and forked lightening and a monsoon rain storm passed over.
Thursday, 20th October 2005
We have another early start - after a hasty breakfast of toast, jam and cold fried egg and bananas (not necessarily in that order) we get changed and made-up. Both Conk and I reduce our make-up in view of the heat and sweat. We have two schools today, both in nearby Tissmaharamaya. The first is Gemunopura School where we perform in a large classroom. We note that the children are well disciplined. Because of lack of room and facilities, it is not unusual seeing three or four classes all using the one room at the same time, so I guess the teachers really have to insist on quiet and discipline so as not to disturb the other classes - we were very impressed!
All the schools we visited had very little equipment - old cracked blackboards on the wall, old desks if any, old and decrepit seats. There were no computers, games / sports facilities etc., apart from rough clay cricket patches.
The show, as always, is very well received. The second school we visit, the Ellagala School, appears to be even poorer than the others we have visited so far. Both shows are watched with joy and laughter by over 400 children at each. We are finding that our shows are going down very well with both the children and the teachers with little adjustment having to be made to our normal acts.
Friday, 21st October 2005
We have only one school to do today as the second school has failed to confirm. The Janadaipaya School is the nearest one to our Hotel, so Conk, Masjolie and myself decide to use the hotel’s Tuk Tuk (3-wheeled scooter taxi) to arrive at the school, much to the amusement of everyone as we tuk-tuk’d our way along the main road and into the school, followed by our bus. And what a sight to behold as we turned the corner: there were the whole 3,000 children of the school packed around an outside concrete stage waiting for us. It’s the biggest audience any of us has ever played to - what a thrill! Luckily, the school even has a basic amplifier, outside speaker and hand mic set up, as our own small portable PA wouldn’t cope with this size of audience. The huge audience goes mad when we Tuk Tuk into view. We again use the Bus as our “backstage” to the rear of the staging. We had made friends with a Swedish family of four who were staying at our hotel, and we have invited them to this performance. Our Hotel Manager/owner also attends to see the show. It is a resounding success and a real experience to perform to such a huge audience. We bring the two Swedish children up on stage with us together with six other local school children for our Band Entree and they thoroughly enjoy themselves. One of the school girls gave a lovely speech of thanks in English afterwards - beautifully enunciated - sounded just like “BBC Overseas Radio” - she must have spent hours rehearsing it! I made her a heart within a heart balloon as a thank you from us. Many photos were taken and the Swedish family had their photos taken with us all before they departed on their long journey home.
As the second school show has failed to materialise, Ajith suggests he can get us a Ranger Friend who will take us to the Ruhunu National Park in his friend’s jeep, to which we readily agree. We travel for about an hour to the park, where we tour around until dusk - about four and a half hours altogether. My back is killing me because we cannot stand up in this jeep. But it was worth it to see some more wild life. We see more elephants, crocodiles, iguana lizards, buffalo and snakes (but no cobra, which Sri Lanka has) and loads more birds. We are just leaving the park after Conk has finished hand feeding a baby buffalo (which looks like a big red deer) with our waste banana skins when we spot an old bull elephant in the bushes - a “Tusker” as he has his tusks. We stop to take photos as they are rare to see - there are only 12 in this national park and we are very lucky to see him at close range - they are very solitary creatures and only seek out one of the family groups when a female comes into season.
After the hour’s drive back to Tissamaharama, we are just driving through the village when we are forced to stop because we have a puncture. Conk helps the Ranger to change wheels before we return to the hotel, exhausted but happy to have seen such an abundance of wildlife.
Saturday 22nd October 2005
We book out of the Tissa Inn Hotel this morning. Very friendly staff and a happy atmosphere - we all have our photograph taken together, although we will be returning again for one night’s stay in three days time. We leave Hambantoto for the four and a half hour drive North East to Aragum Bay near Pottuvil. Here we stayed at a typical beach “hotel”, the Galaxy, where the eating and social area is just an open outside concrete area over which is built a thatched roof and furnished with tables and chairs . We each had a rough wooden chalet which consisted of one room with basic furniture and a bed (complete with hanging mozzie net) and a second room “outside” toilet and shower room, which was surrounded by a wall for privacy, but open to the sky.
The owners are an Australian (Wayne) and his Sri Lankan/British wife Sri. They had bought into the original hotel at the beginning of 2004 and had just finished renovating it when it was smashed to pieces by the Tsunami. They were both caught in the wave. Sri was pregnant at the time. Wayne was severely injured and was airlifted out, but both survived and today Sri has a bubbly little baby boy about four months old - a real miracle Tsunami baby. The hotel has just finished being rebuilt from scratch and re-opened on the 14th October, so we are only it’s second visitors.
It has a lovely location right on the beach, and we lost no time in putting on our 1920's clown swimming costumes, painted on latex clown noses and down to the pounding surf for a frolic in the lovely warm waters. This is a heavy surf beach and the undercurrent was extremely strong, so we soon exhausted ourselves as well as gathering up tons of sand in our cossies! But it gave the onlookers a few laughs!
After showering and changing, we lazed away the evening whilst waiting for our Dinner. We soon found that the Chef, a Sri Lankan, was an excellent cook. But everything, even toasted sandwiches, took at least 2 hours to prepare, something we noted for our future breakfasts as we would be having early starts again from Monday onwards. However, as it was the weekend, we had no school shows to do and looked forward to a decent relaxing break over the weekend. A chance to do some washing and clean up our gear. We did try to arrange additional orphanage visits at this time but failed due to the aforementioned ban.
Sunday 23rd October, 2005
Relaxed today, but did take a walk along the seashore early, watched the fisherman emptying their fishing boats (all of which appeared to be new and sponsored by various countries or private companies). We saw two boats “presented by the British High Commission”. It was the only thing “British” that we saw during the entire trip. We were approached several time by young boys, orphans who wanted help and money. We explained who we were and what we were doing and suggested they see the relevant authorities for the help that they require. Went swimming further along the bay in quieter waters in the afternoon. Excellent R & R!
Monday, 24th October 2005
It’s a busy schedule today - up at 6.30 am, breakfast at 7.30 am (and Chef is on time, miracle of miracles!). We leave fully made-up at 8.30 a.m. for the first of three shows we are performing today. We travel for an hour further north to Thambiluvil in a Tamil populated area and perform at the Akkaraipattu Thirukkovil School for 500 odd children, in the open. It is extremely hot and we all suffer a bit, but Conk really feels the heat and needs a lot of bottled water to recover.
Because of the ongoing Tamil Tigers terrorism campaign, we have been accompanied today by a specially trained “Special Forces” armed Police Unit in their jeep. They are specially trained for jungle fighting and anti-terrorism. There was an indiscriminate grenade attack nearby just two days before our arrival. Foreigners are a special target, especially valuable as hostages. The show is enjoyed by all, including the armed police!
We are asked to do a further show at a nearby nursery/kindergarten, but unfortunately we don’t have time as we need to be at the Thambiluvil Sawaswathy Vidyalayam School ten minutes drive away. Schools in Sri Lanka close at 2.00 p.m., so we need to be at the school, set up and do the performance before school finishes. This show is in a hall and it is much better out of the direct sun, again the show being very well received - huge smiles and laughs all the way through by the 500 odd children.
Afterwards, the Principal asks us to his office and begs us for help for basic equipment for his school. They have no paper, pens, pencils: only old cracked blackboards and he dearly would love a second-hand computer. He will not be the first Headmaster to beg for help during the tour. It seems to us very sad that whilst millions of Pounds was collected by the people of Britain (and other European countries) after the Tsunami, it appears that it just sits in banks whilst the politicians argue over what grand project or other they will or won’t approve. Meanwhile, we encounter people still living in emergency tents or temporary tin or wood huts and their schools cry out for basic equipment......
Our Special Forces bodyguard invite us back to their Officer’s Mess for lunch. Which of course, is, chicken, vegetable or fish curry with rice. Very nice too, but I don’t eat much as I normally don’t bother with lunch. One giggle is that they traditionally eat with their right fingers, but Masjolie, Ben and I asked for a fork or spoon. It was panic stations as it took a long search to find any! Normally, I would have been happy to use my fingers, but we still had another show to do and it’s difficult enough eating with your make-up on with normal utensils - I could see me spreading food all over my chin using my fingers..... They serve us with glasses of hot, yellow well water (it’s been boiled to kill the bugs) but I can’t face drinking it and wait till we get back in our bus to have some bottled water! However, we are very grateful to them for their kind hospitality and for their protection in this dangerous area. Before we leave, they show us photos of some of their colleagues killed whilst on duty in recent months.
We take our leave and drive the hour back to our hotel. Here we have an hour’s break, before we take off again, travelling just 10 minutes down the road to give an hour’s performance for the AMI (Aid Medicinal International) who run a Kid’s Club. The premises, built right on the beach, resembles a round Bandstand with a small hut at one side which houses various games that have been donated for the children to play with. We use this as our “backstage” and do a shortened one hour show for about 30 children and adults. We needed to finish by 6.00 pm as it is Ramadan and they are all Muslims in this area. The show goes well although we are all starting to feel drained by the heat.
We return satisfied with our efforts and celebrate a long hot day by cleaning up and showering and then having a special fresh seafood Dinner: fresh lobsters, crab claws and King Prawns with salad and a strong garlic and lemon sauce. Full marks to the Chef - absolutely superb. Conk, Ben and Masjolie haven’t eaten lobster before, so it is a new experience for them. We feel like Kings and Queens!!
The local sandflys also like a meal, and we are all getting eaten alive (one of the drawbacks of having an open outside living area on the beach!), but it’s share and share alike -so it’s on with another dose of mosquito spray and a dive under the mosquito nets for sanctuary for the night!
Tuesday 25th October 2005
We are due to travel back down south today. But first AMI arrive at 8.45 a.m. Can we do an extra show at the local school at 9.00 a.m.?! We settle on 9.45 a.m. and all rush off to get the motley and slap on. By the time we arrive at the Akkaripathu Pottuwill Tamil Mixed School and set up and wait for the teachers to organise the 600 plus children, the show actually starts at 10.10 a.m. We get a special request from AMI to do the “Whipcracker” entree which we hadn’t included in the programme today, so Ben is despatched to get the props from the Bus and we add it to the programme whilst the show is on. Kids ecstatic. Big smiles all round. We are pleased to have made the effort to add in this show at the last moment. We return to the Galaxy Hotel, clean and pack up, have a toasted sandwich for lunch, before saying goodbye to our hosts Wayne and Sri and start the long journey back down south where, after 4 ½ hours, we arrive at our original Tissa Inn Hotel in Hambantota, where we stay just the one night.
On our journey south, we stop to look at a Sikh Temple. I have a very uncomfortable night with a bad stomach and by 6.00 a.m. it is evident to me that I have contracted the dreaded “Deli Belly”, with vomiting and diarrhoea. I take Immoden from my first aid kit but I am not looking forward to the forthcoming two shows and I give breakfast a miss.
Wednesday 26th October 2005
We have two very important shows today as the Director of Education is travelling with us to witness both shows. I am feeling very bad with stomach cramps and feeling queasy all the time. When we reach the Hungama National School, the planned outside show for 3000 children has to be moved inside as a torrential tropical downpour starts. Even though it stops in time for the show, the outside is a quagmire of clay and mud. Unfortunately, the hall can only hold about 1000 children, but we estimate they squash 1500 in to the hall. It was extremely hot and the humidity is very high because of the rain. I had to run for the toilet before we started the show, but managed to get through the show without throwing up or having to run for the loo again, and the cramps started to ease off - the Immoden is taking effect, much to my relief. It was extremely noisy, and we didn’t have a PA. We found generally that we had to replace the batteries in our PA and CD player every day as they just didn’t last in the heat. We ended up doing a lot of mime! We became concerned during the second half of our 1 ½ hour show as some of the smaller children up against the front of the stage were getting crushed by the older children pushing at the back of the hall. As the teachers didn’t seem to be able to control the situation or realise that there might be a problem developing, we took the decision on stage to cut the last 10 minutes, in the interests of the children’s safety, but a very successful show, none the less and the Director of Education, who had sat with the Principal of the school on chairs on one side of the stage was very impressed.
We then continued straight to the Hatgala Nilwala College in Hungama, where another huge gathering of over 1000 children are waiting for us. I am still poorly, but the show goes well thanks to the great support and encouragement from Conk, Masjolie and Ben.
Afterwards, the Director of Education thanks us ‘for bringing smiles from across the world’ and hopes we can come again and for a longer period of time.
We clean up and change at the school, re-pack our bus before heading on the coast road north west. We stop at the Green Garden Hotel, a short walk from the beach, but I am so ill I go straight to bed after a shower and sleep for twelve straight hours whilst the others swim and have chicken noodles for Dinner!
Thursday, 27th October 2005
I don’t hear Conk come in at all and wake up the following morning feeling a lot better, but still with a tender tum, but I am well enough to join the others for a pre-breakfast swim in the lovely bay. The water seems colder this side of the island, and we have to watch where we tread in the water as there is still a lot of debri on the seabed from the Tsunami. I have scrambled egg and toast for breakfast and feel a little better, but get a bit squiffy (queasy) in the bus on our way North. We have our last two booked shows today. We drive to the Somowythi Primary School at Kagglia where we perform in a school hall to about 450 children who thoroughly enjoy the show.
Then we travel only 5 minutes away to our first Orphanage! Hooray! Although we have not been successful in getting permission to perform at any other orphanages, this one is a new orphanage built immediately after the Tsunami specifically for Tsunami children made orphans by the tragedy. It was funded, built and staffed by the Dutch: “The House of Hope” is a lovely purpose-built home, beautifully furnished with every home comfort, and the Dutch Matron is thrilled to have us there. It currently only houses 29 children, there being another 120 due, but still being processed by the authorities (this being 10 months after Tsunami!!!).
We find out that 12 of the children were at the school where we performed this morning, so we insert three new items and do a shortened one hour show, after which Bluey and Conk made balloon animals for all the children for another hour. These children have been severely traumatised. They have lost all their family and their homes and their pets. They fear water, and the staff have started playing games with them in paddling pools to try and overcome this fear. We soon have them all smiling and laughing, and we have no difficulty in getting volunteers up for our various acts. Even a couple of the deeply traumatised kids ended up playing with Conk and Bluey with spinning plates and juggling scarfs. At the end, when we finish with our bubbles routine, they all act as normal kids, all up and chasing the bubbles with glee and much laughter! We are overcome to see these homeless toddlers and children who have lost everything they know - their Mothers, Fathers, brothers and sisters, their homes and friends and neighbours. It really brings home to us just how much they have suffered in their short little lives. We are both humbled and uplifted that we had the opportunity to bring some smiles to them, even if for a short while.... It really is a House of Hope!
We clean up and travel a further two hours north along the coast, seeing around every corner more devastation. Every part of the coast has been affected - sometimes only by 20-30 metres, but mostly up to 2,000 metres. We stop to film a train wreckage. It was a large train with many carriages, yet it was bodily lifted by the wave and smashed down 800 metres away inland from the original line. Over 1,000 people lost their lives on this one train alone, the largest train fatality Sri Lanka has ever known. Conk places a British Legion cross on one of the carriages, which have been left as a permanent memorial (later we cross a bridge and see the original train line washed down the gorge and in the river). We are surrounded by women, young and old, carrying babies, crying out for help. They are mostly still living in temporary tents and hastily erected wooden shacks. We feel helpless because we cannot help them - we cannot build bridges or rebuild their homes and we have insufficient budget to give them money - there are so many begging for help wherever we stop.
Wake up Sri Lanka Government - your people are crying!!! Again it appears to us that there is little evidence of quality housing being rebuilt - just many wooden shacks, tin huts and the inevitable ragged tents.
We cannot find a suitable hotel at Galle, so travel on to Hikkaduma and book in to the Nippon Villa. The Villa is on the seafront and was hit by the Tsunami - but it basically survived and has been refurbished and repaired where required, but we all feel that our rooms are still very damp and a little smelly. It is too late for a swim (there is no twilight here in the Southern hemisphere - once it is dusk, it becomes pitch black). We go across the road and find a reasonable Sri Lanka restaurant (our hotel does not do food). The food is good so we order breakfast for the following morning there as well.
Friday 28th October 2005
We pack again and travel the last 3 ½ hours back to noisy, smelly, crowded Columbo and return to the Tonzon Office/house where we take a welcome shower and change. Then we have time to do some souvenir shopping before re-packing everything for our long flight home tomorrow. A last meal together at a Indian restaurant with Sri Lankan musicians playing bongo drums and a one hand organ (the other hand used to pump the bellows).
A time to reflect and reminisce on the last two weeks tour. We had travelled over 1500 km to the S, SE and SW of Sri Lanka and performed for just over 8,000 children affected by the Tsunami in hot, sticky conditions - but we all agreed that it had been worth every sweaty minute. The people had been wonderful: polite, courteous, gentle and charming, always with huge bright white smiles; and the children - at once so shy and yet so responsive to our smiles and humour.
We gave them our hearts, and they gave us theirs. And we left behind many, many smiles. Over 8,000 in fact. Mission accomplished - until, perhaps, next time ......
Members of World Wide Smiles would like to place on record their deepest thanks to all those whose generosity and help made this tour possible: the many sponsors, the Centrum Festival Committee in Ulft, Holland, and to all those clowns who freely gave their time and performances in Ulft to raise money for this mission.
Smiles to Kosovo Tour Report by Clown Bluey
In 2004, we decided to take a smile to the children of Kosovo. Kosovo is a self-proclaimed independent state in Serbia Montenegro (part of former Yugoslavia) and is presently under UN administration since the Civil War ended in 1999. Serbia do not recognise "Kosovo" and tensions were still rife, particularly near the border areas. The British Home Office's advice at the time was to "stay clear of the area".
However, contact had initially been made to Clown Bluey from the Centre for Children's Theatre Development in Prishtina, the "Capital" of Kosovo. This is a small theatre group who are struggling to take theatre to children in Kosovo and get children generally involved in theatre. They were delighted to accept World Wide Smiles offer to bring a small mini clown show/tour to the area and readily agreed to organise an itinerary and accommodation for us. This was helped by the fact that World Wide Smiles were underwriting the costs of travel, food and accommodation, the Children's Theatre Development having very little budget themselves. It took a year to put all the details of the tour in place and even at the time we left for the tour, there were still many details that still had to be finalised such as where we were to be accommodated and details of the actual itinerary. However, we accepted their explanation that no plans were ever made so far in advance in Kosovo and that everything would be in place by the time we arrived. We accepted their word and, in the main, they kept to their promises apart from a couple of minor hic-cups.
The team for this year's tour was the same as last year's to Romania: Conk and Clown Bluey from the U.K. and Clown Masjolie from Holland made up the clown performers, ably assisted and supported by Ben, Masjolie's husband who is our able Ringmaster/M.C.
World Wide Smiles is a registered Foundation that relies on sponsorship from various sources including companies and private persons in order to fulfill its objects to take smiles to children and adults wherever smiles are needed. All the clown artistes donate their time and performances free of charge as their "donation in kind". The funds donated to World Wide Smiles are used to help with travel costs, food and basic accommodation whilst on tour. This year, the group were very thankful to Eurotunnel plc who sponsored Clown Bluey's car in addition to himself and Conk plus all their clown gear to France via the Channel Tunnel and also to the Car Centre Andriessen [http://www.andriessen.info/] in Terborg, Holland which so generously sponsored a Mercedes Sprint Van for the tour.
Clown Bluey's Diary Notes:
21.10.04
I had performed at the Eurotunnel Terminal at Cheriton, Folkestone many times over the last three years, but I had never actually travelled through the Channel Tunnel. Conk had travelled to my place from Birmingham the evening before we were due to leave and we left at 6.00 a.m. in the morning to ensure we missed the peak-time traffic and arrived at the Channel Tunnel Terminal on time. Hence we arrived a good hour and a half before we were due to leave at our booked time of 11.00 a.m., to be promptly put on an earlier train. I must say we were both extremely impressed with everything to do with our Tunnel experience. We only just had 25 minutes to pop into the Terminal shopping area to say hello to some of the people I had got to know during my working gigs, before we were called back to the car to drive onto the "closed" car rail carriages, and 35 minutes later we were on the motorway driving away from Calais in France. An uneventful four and a half hours drive through France, Belgium and Holland saw us arrive at 4.00 p.m. at Masjolie and Ben's house in Ulft, a small village in Holland just 15 minutes from the German border.
This was excellent timing, because we had a newspaper interview with a reporter from the "Gelderse Post", one of the Dutch newspapers at 5.00 p.m. followed by a photo-shoot the next morning.
The "Gelderse Post" Article 27.10.2004
22.10.04
Ben had managed to find a generous Car Centre (Car Centre Andriessen in Terborg - http://www.andriessen.info/) that was willing to sponsor us with a Mercedes Sprint Van for the tour. He and I collected the van, signing all the required paperwork including the Green Card Insurance. Insurance was to be a future headache on the tour as it would not be recognised in Kosovo and we knew we would need to buy additional Kosovo insurance at their border: but more of that later.
The WWS Team ready to leave in the Mercedes Sprint Van kindly and generously supplied by the Car Centre Andriessen in Terborg [http://www.andriessen.info/]
We arrived back in Ulft in time for another press interview, this time in motley and slap (costume and make-up), and two photo sessions for two different newspapers, the "Gelderse Post" and the "Ijsselstreek Vizier" (On our arrival back from the tour, we found one paper had a large colour photo on the front page supported with a good factual article, whilst the other had a small colour photo on the front page referring to two large articles inside accompanied by a large black and white photograph - so the effort to get into motley and slap was well worth the effort to publicise World Wide Smiles and the tour).
Whilst we were still in motley, we decided to visit a school for children with learning difficulties where Masjolie works part-time and were well-received by all the children and teachers. We couldn't stay long, as we had lots to do including packing all our gear and stage-set into the van. We also had to buy some petrol and a petrol can for our new petrol generator and lights which Conk and I had purchased in the U.K. and donated to World Wide Smiles.
23.10.04
We set off on the 2,400 km journey at 6.15 a.m. The aim was to drive for at least half that distance before we stopped for the night. As we had no idea whether we would have any hold-ups at borders or on the road, we had not bothered to book any accommodation in advance: we intended to take pot-luck on the night. Conk, Ben and myself took turns at driving, each doing two hours before changing, sometimes stopping for a coffee break or something to eat. Masjolie at this stage still had the remains of a nasty flu-type bug, and spent a lot of the journey sleeping - she was certainly not well enough to drive. We drove all day through Germany, Austria and Slovenia (arrived at the Slovenian border at 7.00 p.m.) and arrived at the Croation border at 8.00 p.m. After 14 hours driving and 1130 km distance covered, we decided to call it a day and found a reasonable small motel in Krapina which had two rooms available. It also boasted an all-night bar and restaurant, so we had a good-value meal before retiring: we had at least the same mileage to do the next day, if not more and we expected the roads would get progressively worse near our destination!
24.10.04
After a simple continental breakfast, we left Krapina at 7.15 a.m. and after an uneventful drive, crossed the Croatia border at 11.20 a.m. We were stamped into Serbia-Montenegro at 11.50 a.m. - rate of exchange was excellent: 1 Euro = 75 local Dina. This is where we had to make a crucial decision. Do we enter Kosovo from the North (where we were at this time) which was much more direct and a shorter route, but which might or probably would give us a problem if there were no insurance brokers at the "border" (a border which does not officially exist as Serbia do not recognise "Kosovo") or play safe and drive south through Serbia to Macedonia, which did recognise Kosovo and had an official border? We chose to play safe and headed south through Serbia, because our van was sponsored and did not belong to World Wide Smiles. If we could not obtain adequate insurance at the border, we could arrange to leave it in a safe place in Skopje in Macedonia and our Kosovo contacts would have to arrange alternative transport for us for Kosovo. We were duly stamped out of Serbia-Montenegro and stamped into Macedonia at 6.30 p.m. After passing through Skopje, we arrived at the Kosovo border at 7.30 p.m. where we had to wait for our contact, Jeton Neziraj, Director of the Centre for Children's Theatre Development to come to the border to meet us and help with the insurance problem. He arrived after an hour's wait and after taking 3rd party insurance at a very inflated price (80 Euro for one week! - Kosovo is still rated by insurance companies as a "War Zone" even though hostilies ceased in 1999) we eventually made our way into Kosovo at 8.45 p.m.
We stopped for an evening meal and were struck by how cheap everything is by our standards. They use the Euro in Kosovo. Average wage is 150 Euro a month. We found we could have a two-course meal for a total of 13-14 Euro for six of us (approximately £2.00 per head per meal!) We were still 16 km from Prishtina and it was a pitch-black drive to the city, often hitting huge pot holes and sunken unused railway lines en-route - thank heavens for the Merc's excellent solid build!
Jeton put us in a student flat in the centre of the city: all four of us shared a sofa and two armchairs that pulled out to make a double and two single beds in what was the lounge of the flat. The room was ours for the duration of the tour and we shared the bathroom with the four students who occupied the flat's two bedrooms. The flat generally was a little decrepid by our standards, but probably fairly respectable by local standards. There were many electricity cuts and all water was routinely turned off for the whole city every night after about 7.00 p.m., so we stocked up on bottled water.
Part of the agreement for the Van for the extra insurance was for it to be parked in a "guarded" compound/park each evening which entailed the van being driven about 15 minutes further into the city to be parked each night, with Jeton bringing Ben back to the flat in his car afterwards. I won't say much about the general state of the driving over there - let's just be kind and say it was chaotic! We had arrived at the flat at 11.55 p.m. and it was gone 1.00 a.m. before Ben and I returned from parking the van that first night: we had gone to three so-called guarded parks before finding one with a guard! We paid 3 Euros a night but we weren't convinced all our stage stuff would be safe ......... However, the insurance company had insisted that provided we had a "receipt" from the guard at the guarded car park, we would be "covered". We all hoped we would never have to claim ......... You can bet your boots that we all slept pretty soundly from the long journey - and with our first show the next day!
25.10.04
We soon got into a routine: up nice and early, all take turns in the bathroom, then up to a nice little coffee shop on the main road. Jeton would meet us there, then after a coffee he would take Ben to collect the Van and on his return, we were off to the appointed location for our show. We were extremely lucky with the weather. It was beautiful and sunny for the whole week, temperatures during the day 21/22 degrees C. The first three days for our shows, we were accompanied by Vizar, a Professor from the University who would be our guide and interpreter. We were also accompanied by Lindy from Sweden who was something to do with the Swedish Delegation of the UN, but she was also an excellent photographer and was keen to have the opportunity to take photos of our clowns, shows and children.
Our first show was in Gjakove, a two-hour drive away near the Albania border at a Christian Centre. We left at 10.00 a.m. for the 2.00 p.m. show. It was interesting looking at the country-side and spotting war-damaged buildings. The thing that struck us all that wherever we looked, there were new buildings being built or had already been erected. Very little war-damaged buildings were to be seen. The railway was not in use, but we noticed various rail bridges being repaired or totally rebuilt, so we assumed that rail travel would soon follow......
The Christian Centre was quite modern. It had been built on the site of a dump where they had found starving orphans living and sleeping. It was to these children, plus the children of a nearby gypsy village, that we gave our first show, outside on a stony gravel courtyard. It was a very hot, but successful show - the children and adults loved it. One side of the courtyard was bounded by a small road and after a while it was filled with curious passers-by who stopped and stayed to watch the show, including horse and donkey carts laden down with straw and hay. It was an hour and half long show. Initially, we were told that the audience would consist of 75 children, but this appeared to grow considerably as the show went on!
Conk & Bluey performing at Gjakove
After cleaning up and re-packing the Van, we returned to Prishtina at 6.15 p.m. Needless to say we enjoyed ourselves at our first evening meal and it wasn't long before Conk and I were entertaining the restaurant with balloons, magic and general clowning around - something that happened on most nights!
26.10.04
Today we travelled at 10.10 a.m. to Klina - about a 1-1/2 hour hour drive from Prishtina. This was like a Youth Centre with about 75 children ranging from the very young up to teenagers and we performed inside for the first time. The show was very well received - even the teenagers became very involved. Many wanted autographed photographs afterwards. We returned to Prishtina at 6.00 p.m. and after cleaning up went out for a well-earned dinner at a Turkish restaurant. The owner has two restaurants and employs five dwarfs (who are apparently not very accepted in that part of the world). The one we met was delighted to have a drink with us. His boss invited us to his other restaurant on the following Friday. We then spent the evening in a French Bar, where we kept everyone amused for a couple of hours.
27.10.04
Another early start as we have a show at 11.00 a.m. at Kazonik, near the Kosovo border with Macedonia. In the event, we start at 11.10 a.m. This was a Kindergarten / Orphanage with about 50 children. The show went very well, again outside, it seems the whole village was there by the time we finished the 1 ½ hour show. We could hardly move by the stage area! The only downside for me was that someone damaged my alto sax whilst we were inside getting changed and made-up and I didn't find out until I made my third entrance where we do the "you can’t play here" gag. Could only get three notes - so I certainly couldn’t play there!!! Unfortunately, there were no sax repairers in Kosovo, so I have to rely on my banjo and musical saw for the remainder of the tour.
We had lunch on the way back at a restaurant which was new. Next to it lay the ruins of the original restaurant: the owner had been killed in the shelling/bombing and it had been left as a memorial to him. Again, we remarked on the cheap food: beautiful soup and fresh bread 1 ½ Euro (about £1.20), a beer 1 Euro. We arrived back in Prishtina at 3.30 p.m. and had a deserved break. After a shower, we took a look around the central shopping area. Loads of shops and "Huts" selling everything. We found a huge undercover market. Bought some fruit (Bananas 50 cents for a Kilo - packs of well-known cigarettes 200 for 10 Euro!). We are delighted to find we have made the two Kosovo newspapers (black and white photo taken from the first show in one) with good write-ups.
We meet up with Jeton and several others of the theatre group for a meal, but what with my sax damage and hearing from Jenny that Scamp (our Westie dog) has had to go in for a biopsy rather puts me down and I have lost my appetite tonight.
28.10.04
Today, we perform for the first time in Prishtina, at a combined Orphanage, Shelter for abused women and Day Centre for children. It is run by an Austrian charity group. The show was due to start at 12.30 p.m. but due to our new translator being late, it actually starts at 1.10 p.m. Our new translator is writer Doruntina Basha (Dorrie to us) who is with us for the next two days. We find the atmosphere at the centre quite strange - we can’t put a finger on it. The show itself, outside, goes well, about 50 children and adults. We eventually put the strange atmosphere down to perhaps some of the women being traumatised and not receptive to strange men (e.g. me, Ben and Conk). A Kosovo T.V. Channel crew were also in attendance and filmed excerpts, plus interviewed Masjolie and myself after the show. We decided to have a quiet night tonight and the four of us went to a local bar and had a quiet drink - also watched some Italian football that happened to be on. Tomorrow, we have another early start as Masjolie and I are appearing on TV21 in the studio at 8.30 a.m. and we have a show following that at 10.30 a.m.
29.10.04
The live interview at the TV21 studio goes well. TV21 ask permission from us to come to the show at 10.30 a.m. to film us making-up and film excerpts from the show.
Conk is in the VIP TV21 Lounge whilst Bluey & Masjolie are interviewed in the studio.
The orphanage is another run by an Austrian concern and it is an excellent modern facility. We perform indoors, and what with the T.V. delays, we start the show at 11.00 and must finish by 12.00 p.m., so for the first and only time, we do a shortened one hour show. These were mainly pre-schoolers, 3-4 year old who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show. Another T.V. crew from another station arrived as we were packing up, so we agreed for them to come to workshops and lectures we are giving in the afternoon at the University.
We went to the Turkish Restaurant owner's other restaurant at lunchtime, and did some impromptu entertaining. The owner was delighted and gave us all a free lunch!
At 4.00 p.m. we were at the Prishtina University Drama Room, where we gave a make-up demonstration and some circus skills workshops including balloons and spinning plates, Dorrie translating for us. We finished by doing two example sketches: the tooth entree performed by myself and Conk whilst Masjolie performed her Barber Act. At 5.15 p.m. I gave a live telephone interview to BBC Radio Two Counties which was a great note to finish the afternoon on.
As tonight is our last night before starting out on the long drive home, we went to the French bar/restaurant we had enjoyed earlier in the week and had a great meal with most of the Children’s Theatre organisers. Needless to say, many toasts made, and balloons circulated before we made our way back to the flat.
30.10.04
Jeton, as promised, arrived to take Ben to collect the Van at 6.15 a.m. and we left Prishtina at 6.45 a.m. We had asked around and nobody thought we would have any problems if we took the shortest route, travelled north and exited Kosovo into Serbia. Unfortunately, this advice turned out to be wrong - we were turned back at the border!
We were turned back at the Serbian North Border!
The Serbs just hate Kosovo. They said our papers were out of order and as we had entered Kosovo via Macedonia, we must leave the same way. Hence we had to turn around and drive all the way back down south (after the farce of re-entering Kosovo’s border and having to unlock and show them the contents of the van, even though we had only just been waved through to the Serbian border!), through Prishtina, over the mountain range to the Kosovo/Macedonia border. To add salt to the wound, Police had closed off the main route through Skopje due to road works. It was a nightmare trying to get back on the autobahn. There were lorries, including artic- lorries and buses actually driving on the pavement and the wrong-way up a dual carriageway without a policeman or any diversion signs in sight to sort out the mess. We got ourselves pretty lost for a while, because even though we seemed to be headed in the general right direction on a minor "B" road, all the villages we came across were so small, they weren’t on our map. However, we finally got back on to the autobahn (although Conk seemed determined to take us all the way to Greece for a short while....). All in all, we estimated that we lost three hours drive-time before we were able to get back up north to the Macedonia - Serbia border and resume our return journey proper.
After 15 hours driving, at 9.45 p.m., we had to concede defeat and stop in a motel in Croatia, still some 100 miles short of our original hotel at Krapina. But we had a good meal and had a good laugh about it! The fact clocks went back an hour that night helped as well - an extra hour in bed!
31.10.04
We left the Motel at 8.00 a.m. after a good breakfast. It started raining during the night and it rained heavily all day as we drove through Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria where we stopped for lunch. Incidentally, on this route we passed through 28 tunnels, some of which are tolls. Most of the motorways were tolls - a cost to our charity of nearly 200 Euros overall. We finally arrived in Holland at 10.00 p.m. after 2,393 km. Total mileage both ways was 4,787 km. Conk and I would also need to add 430 miles each way to that for our journey to and from England!
01.11.04
We spent the morning unloading and cleaning the inside and outside the Mercedes Sprint Van - excellent van, stood up to the journey very well and very comfortable for an extremely long journey. Gave a nice bouquet of balloon flowers to the Car Centre Andriessen lady owner and entertained her children for an hour in the afternoon as a way of showing our appreciation for their kind and generous sponsorship. Tomorrow we rest, then we go home ourselves!
03.11.04
Conk and I left at 08.30 a.m. Thick mist all through Holland, but no problem in arriving at Eurotunnel almost two hours early. Left on the 1.30 p.m. train instead of the 3.00 p.m. as booked which was great as we missed all the peak traffic around the M25 and were home in Southampton by 4.30 p.m. Conk left at 6.30 p.m. after a quick meal with us. He had a 3 hour drive to Birmingham.
Conclusion:
Overall, we felt that the children of Kosovo, generally, were better off than those we found in Romania. However, they have gone through a terrible civil war and the smiles and good memories we left with them, and the smiles they returned to us made the long journey worth every penny!
Was it worth the journey? Definitely.
Would we do it again: Absolutely.
You only have to look at the photographs of the children’s faces to see the joy and happiness. The World Wide Smiles Tour accomplished its objective once again, on a shoe-string budget.
We would like to place on record our grateful thanks to Arben, Dori, Jeton and Visar of the Center of Children’s Theatre Development for all their help, generosity and goodwill, and Lindy for some wonderful photographs.
Smiles to Romania: October 2003 by Clown Bluey
David "Conk the Clown" Vaughan and I flew from Birmingham, England, to Amsterdam in Holland where we were picked up by fellow World Wide Smiles members Ben and Maria "Masjolie" Kemperman. After a day in their charming house in Ulft, where we prepared for the long trip and agreed on the show programmes, we loaded up their van with the small proscenium arch, curtains and all our stage and personal gear and set off on the first part of our journey. Taking turns at driving, we drove 1500 kms for fifteen hours through Germany and Austria and crossed into Hungary where we stayed at a small hotel just across the Austrian/Hungary border. As it was my 60th Birthday, we had a celebratory evening dinner at a nearby restaurant which turned out to be a very nice evening meal indeed! The oxtail soup turned out to be more oxtail than soup and could have fed twenty people! The following day saw another five hours driving across Hungary before crossing the border into Romania and within half an hour we had arrived at an apartment owned by the Mother Therese Foundation in a small village called Cetariu. Wilfried, a charming Dutchman who helps run the three Mother Therese shops in Cetariu and Oradea, lives in the apartment which he shared with us for the three nights we were in Cetariu. He had also arranged the tour schedule and accompanied us on the Tour which was extremely helpful as he speaks some Romanian!
The first afternoon, we didn't have a show, so we were taken by Wilfried to see the Gypsy village in nearby S'a'lard. 
A Gypsy woman cooking on her outside fire in front of her homemade "home" in the Gypsy village near S'a'lard.
There were literally hundreds of adults and children living in absolutely appalling conditions in home-made "abodes". Some of mud, others of scrap timber or what can be found laying around in rubbish tips. Many with tarpaulin or plastic sheeting roofs held down with old tyres or bits of iron. Typically, they are less than ten foot square, one room, obviously no electricity, heating, water or sanitation. They huddle together at night, including the dogs (to help keep the rats out) and cook their meals on outside bonfires. Many of the children have bare feet, even in winter. The Mother Therese Foundation has been active in the area for some time now, supplying clothes and other needy equipment, and providing wells for clean drinking water. We viewed eleven very small (one up, one down) two-room concrete houses that have just been built (but not yet completed) by the Foundation for the gypsy families most in need.
The first eleven two-roomed houses built by the Mother Therese Foundation, sponsored by companies and individuals.
They are equipped with two beds, a table and chairs and a wood stove in the one room downstairs, whilst the room in the roof space, accessed by a small wooden stairway through the ceiling hatch, will contain two further beds. They are extremely small but are no doubt luxurious to what the Gypsy's currently live in. There is neither electricity or water, but planned future projects include a communal bath house where clean drinking water will also be available. Each tiny two-roomed house costs 4,000 Euro (approximately £3,000) to build, and these first eleven are being sponsored by Friends of the Mother Therese Foundation who purchase them in their own name, but hand them over to the Foundation who in turn will choose which needy families they will be given to. Despite the squalor in which they live, the Gypsy children are typical of children everywhere: noisy, nosey and boisterous!
The Gypsy Children in the Gypsy Camp, S'a'lard
And they couldn't wait to be entertained as they remembered the previous time the World Wide Smiles Mission had performed a show in the village - but they would need to wait for another four days to see us in our arranged itinerary.
The next day, we drove for another five hours over the mountain ranges to Deva, a quite large town, where we stayed at a Catholic Monastery. The Monastery is run by a Monk, and here the difference between the Gypsy children of Cetariu and the Monastery children couldn't have been more apparent: here street children and orphans are taken in, accommodated, fed three times a day, clothed and given an education. The Monk has found monies and sponsorship from various countries, and the children are well looked after, disciplined, happy and extremely polite. In some instances, children are being brought up in "family" groups in apartments owned by the same Monastery, with a foster "Mum" who typically has children of her own who also attend the Monastery school and eat with everybody else.
We were given one of the young girl's dormitories (the girls were moved elsewhere for the two nights we were ensconced) which had it's own bath/shower/toilet room, and we ate with the children in the school Food Hall. There were so many children that the meals are on a "shift" basis, and the kitchens seemed to be on the go all day and late into the evenings. The meals were basic but adequate.
Our first show was that very afternoon in one of the large schoolrooms, so we barely had two hours to unload, put up the set and get into motley and slap. We started each show making a grand entrance singing along with our ukeleles and also finished the show with a song and ‘ukes. In between, with Ben as M.C./Ringmaster, we performed our separate acts, and performed together for several spots. We had planned our programmes so that we could perform a choice of one, one and a half or two hour shows depending on the age of the children and the time available. The children loved us!
That evening, after having packed away the set as the schoolroom was needed, and having nothing better to do (there being no T.V. or radio) we walked into the town and celebrated in a nearby bar where there was a resident singer backed by a duo playing sax and keyboards. Pretty soon, Conk and I were entertaining the tables with magic and balloons and we were promptly invited back by the management the following evening!
The following morning, we had two one-hour shows in the School Food Hall for pre-school children and they were lovely to entertain - all big dark eyes and huge smiles. I wanted to pack them all up in my suitcase and bring them home! One thing we became quickly aware of was how the children wanted to show their affection and thanks by hugging and kissing you, even the little boys (there apparently is none of the "political correctness" currently so prevalent in the U.K.) And it made such a wonderful change to be able to reciprocate without having the worry of whether someone would misinterpret your actions by giving a simple hug back.
We soon had our own "clown groupies" who followed us everywhere and copied everything we did, funny walks, trips and facial expressions! They were all ab |