Today, we finished our first day of clowning here in Turkey for earthquake survivors. I woke up in Istanbul at 4 o’clock this morning to meet the rest of the team for our flight to Gaziantep. We performed in five different locations from the morning into the early evening.

It’s such a pleasure to perform for these audiences. The audiences are full of young children and their parents eager to play. When they first saw us, they shouted “palyaço” which means clown. Laughter is a universal language. Joy lifts the spirit. I traveled halfway around the world from Georgia to Gaziantep. Yet here in Turkey, I’ve seen the familiar faces and reactions I see back home. I see the stoic faces of parents who are beaten down by the circumstances of the world. Parents who live a hard life and struggle just to get by. Yet, the same parents are eager to surrender a smile when they see their child, jumping with joy as they dance to music played by clowns.  Some of these adults are doting parents who look after every need of their children. They check to make sure that their child has the best spot in front of the audience, where they can see what the clowns are doing. These parents are often eager to play along, especially when they know that if they enjoy the clowns, their children will follow along and enjoy the show and laugh and dance too.

We have six more days to perform here with Clowns Without Borders, USA.  We will continue to tour the area here, doing about six performances each day. I will continue to do regular posts of our tour.

You can support the work of Clowns Without Borders at the fundraising page below. Every amount matters from $5 to $500.

https://www.facebook.com/1564937303/posts/pfbid02LrQwkNQxFN7jXe58Jqvx6tNzW16SSjR5T6tk9bmEUVQP6Tiw23SrtbCQBmQCbC31l/?mibextid=jf9HGS

Thanks,

Meredith