Clowns Without Borders spread laughter where it's needed most

Aid agencies like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders have already poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the relief effort in Haiti.  Those dollars from overseas, translate into medical supplies, clothes, and water on the ground, but what about laughter? 

That's the main export of crisis response group Clowns Without Borders USA, an organization dedicated to relieving the suffering in conflict zones and refugee camps.  KALW's Colin Anderson sat down with the founder of the organization, Moshe Cohen and regular volunteer, Adrian Mejia.  

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MOSHE COHEN: My name is Moshe Cohen and I do humor. And I clown in various places around the world, both in theatres and festivals as well as refugee camps in crisis zones.

COLIN ANDERSON: I meet Cohen at the NOHspace Theatre, in the mission, where he’s performing his stage show, “Mr. Yoo Who’s Holiday.”

Cohen’s clown alter ego is joined by a traditional Japanese stage assistant, a Koken, for a performance that combines adventure story with a circus-y array of juggling, acrobatics, audience interaction and even a spot of yodeling.

Cohen tells me how he first came to clown in a refugee camp, 23 years ago.

COHEN: I met a woman from Chiapas who worked with Guatemalan refugees in Chiapas, which is in Mexico, and er, she was telling me about the work she was doing and I was saying, “Oh, wow – I’d really like to help out. What could I possibly do? And she just looked at me shaking her head and like, “Dude.” And she said, “Clown?” And I was like “Ohhh!” 

Next year I went down to Chiapas and I went and performed in these refugee camps where she worked. When you realize the value that they put on it, you just want to do more of that, and so I did.

ADRIAN CERVANTES MEJIA: The motto or the mission – it’s very simple. It’s “No Child Without a Smile.”

That’s Adrian Cervantes Mejia, another member of Clowns Without Borders, who first got involved with the organization as a student and has volunteered regularly ever since. He says it’s no coincidence that the U.S. group came out of the Bay Area…

MEJIA: Some host for a variety show or something actually a few months ago here, was saying that in San Francisco you can’t walk down the street without tripping over a clown. And there’s definitely some truth that the Pickle Family Circus was really, really big, has a long tradition, lineage, including the Clown Conservatory, which has been here I think four years now, maybe a little longer. So there’s an actual two-year professional clown training. Then there’s also, once a month, cabaret – the clown cabaret, which happens here in the SOMA. 

Clowns Without Borders send regular touring shows to areas of crisis around the world; places like Indonesia, Myanmar and Haiti.  The volunteers meet at their destination country, plan out a show, and then tour it around town squares, sports fields, and any other public space they can find.

COHEN: It’s for the children, officially, but really it’s for everybody. Especially in refugee camps where they’re not exactly happy campers, and often refugee camps, it’s a lot of monotony more than anything else.

MEJIA: It’s just to make people laugh. There’s nothing else to it. It’s that simple. What we’re offering or providing is ephemeral in that sense. You know? It exists in that moment and from there it’s a memory. 

But how do the clowns fit into the aid and relief effort? Their work is mostly funded by benefit shows aimed at covering some of the costs of travel, as for everything else…

COHEN: We’re not the type of organization that can go out and buy Land Rovers or local staff, etcetera. We do what’s called “piggybacking.” So in other words we’ll work with Save the Children, or we’ll work with Doctors Without Borders, or work with a group of different organizations who have projects in the country where we’re going to and therefore populations and ways to connect and communicate and if they are refugee camps they have, you know, permission to go into those camps and you need that logistical support.

MEJIA: We had this one big van for a couple of days, it was a “Transporte Don Quixote.” It had like a picture of Don Quixote holding a lance on his horse. And I thought it was the most appropriate thing.

But both Adrian and Moshe say there’s more to the expeditions than just the performances.

COHEN: The moment you’re there, you’re communicating with people, I’m doing magic tricks, slight of hand type things for the people as I’m getting ready to play.

MEJIA: It’s not just the show, it’s being there. If you’re this odd, funny person, then any time you’re there you’re this odd, funny person. Whether you’re wearing your costume or a nose or not, it doesn’t matter to them. The shows not over just because you stopped performing.

ANDERSON: Is that kind of tough to leave them behind? To go away?

MEJIA: Sometimes it is. I feel like it’s not enough sometimes, you know? You do a show and it’s great, everyone has a good time…

ANDERSON: But you’re coming into town and becoming everyone’s best friend and then going, “Sorry”…

MEJIA: Yeah, “See you later, I’ll see you when I see you.” Yeah, that’s a little tough. The times that we have enough space in the itinerary at least to sit down and have a meal. Or to take a tour of the facilities with someone explaining to us what the basic needs of the group are. But that’s the other side of the work, to bring back stories and impressions, to share the impact of the work.

When the earthquake hit Haiti, Clowns Without Borders was contacted by people wanting to help. They suggested these callers donate to “first responder” organizations like Save the Children, not wanting to get in the way of the immediate relief effort. 

Among the continuing efforts to supply tents, clothing and food, Clowns Without Borders say they hope their “ephemeral gift of laughter” will soon be bringing “small moments of emotional relief."

For Crosscurrents, I’m Colin Anderson.

This story originally aired on February 25, 2010.