clownswithoutborders.org

CWB is continuing its partnerships with clowns in Colombia. Our partnerships began in 2009 with teams of clowns, performers and organizers. This year, after an amazing trip to Risaralda, we are returning to share and collaborate at Encuentro 2012. David is representing us there, stay tuned for updates.

Tim Cunningham will be working with Barnaby King and the Pasos providing teacher trainings and workshops. The collaborative team will create a touring performance with local children and from it, they will develop a sustainable training program for the next three years. The team will also consist of hospital clowns from Manizales and a social worker from Bogotá. This project marks new directions for CWB as we work towards bringing the joy and developing systems so that the joy can sustain itself everywhere we go. Follow us at this page for updates and stories from the field!

We might soon change the name of “Barefoot and Smiling” to “Miles and Smiles.” Tim has run 400 miles in the last two years raising funds for CWB-USA by running barefoot as a way to honor the thousands of barefoot children the clowns work with each year. He’s putting on shoes now though. And Oct 21, he will have run over 450 miles as he runs a 50 mile ultramarathon for CWB-USA. Can you help him as he runs these ultra races in honor of the children we serve? Read more about these crazy races!

“Nou mange la lune!” exclaims Jo Jo, a hyperactive seven-year-old who jumps all over our shoulders, backs, necks, and wraps around our hips with fervent energy. He tells us that we will eat the moon as he laughs out loud. Jo Jo hangs out with a crew of young people who have been building juggling balls with us out of sand, balloons, and sandwich bags. They were all very good at making 130 balls with us in less than and hour, but now we’ve been having trouble keeping the balls out of their mouths. Jo Jo is a leader in the ball deconstruction business as he sucks on the plastic and rubber as if he is trying to eat the sand. He eats the sand, he wants to eat the moon–there is so little food.

We performed numerous shows for small crowds, mostly mothers and their children; we got to hold newly orphaned infants born with drug addictions. We saw the beauty of the Texas skies and the trauma of many reeling or recovering from domestic violence and of the war. The smiles and laughs were universal and plentiful.

Fears going to a new place…Almost getting ripped off in the airport…My incredibly bad Spanish…Rudi’s incredibly bad driving…Traveling by boat from one town to the next…Hiking to the next village…Local residents opening up their homes to us… Eating delicious homemade rice and beans…Huge piles of drying chilies…The heat…Sweat incurred from a performance…Washing our costumes daily and hanging them to dry in the sun…Tim’s (nevertheless) smelly pants…Getting attacked by ants during a show…Performing at the intersection of two streets in a village, alongside turkeys and stray dogs…Staying with lovely sisters in their convent…Experimenting with new ways of performing…Watching Tim and John get on local people’s bicycles during a show and ride them around…Alexandra’s lovely house in San Cristobal de las Casas…Evening music jams…John’s dog Peaknuckle and his wonderful tricks…Giving awards to each other our final night in Chiapas…Not wanting to return home…