Refugee Camp Pictures!

YAY!! I received the pictures that were taken at the Kara Tepe refugee camp in June on the island of Lesvos, Greece!

And check out my new carry-on suitcase! It matches my socks!

They aren't the best quality, but they are pictures. Remember, the clown show was in the evening because it was Ramadan, and the event was in the yurt/party tent/ amphitheater. This was also a good time for the Movement On The Ground volunteers to be available to help me with controlling the children before they had to prepare food for distribution at midnight.

The event went well. I was happy that I got to clown for the kids. I had been dragging my clown supplies with me for a month and was grateful that I had a reason to be lugging them around. You know what I mean! Normal humans might think, 'what is so heavy about a costume and some makeup', but they forget about balloons, pumps, props, puppets, etc. If you can help me 'travel light', let me know! It is like packing for a whole other person. 

We only had an hour, so I took the dance songs out of the show. Actually, we had time in the party tent the previous day for dancing to songs.

I was surprised when I saw the pictures and videos. I remembered the kids being a lot more active. It must have been later in the show that they were up and around. The volunteers were great at keeping the kids under control. They started by having the children come in one at a time. They each received a smiley face sticker as they came in and sat down. I think that helped set the tone for the show.

I will be back on the island of Lesvos for three weeks in September to help with a women and children's center that is opening close to the Kara Tepe camp. I will be able to clown, hopefully more than once.

Maybe this will be a good time to try playing the balloon games in costume and makeup as a separate event. Oh, and dancing to the songs at another time. A clown leading games and dancing just makes things more special and fun! And it is definitely more pleasant for me in the lite-auguste makeup that doesn't take an hour to put on.

However many times Chahloula gets to show up, the children are worth the effort!