Sichuan Quake Relief

The following is a journal entry from Becky Priebe, who, as Becky Hoops took part in the recent ‘Clown Trauma Tour.’
See also this blog entry for a report on Clowns Sans Frontieres’ tour of Sichuan.

Clown Trauma Tour, Part 1
Chengdu, Sichuan, China,

I am going to start with my impressions of the city.  These are coming from a very honest, western point of view and I’m sure my impressions would alter and soften, if I were to spend more time here and have a better understanding of the language and culture.  But for right now… I think that this is a city that needs clowns and it needs color, vibrancy… it also needs fresh air, clear skies, clean water, more living space, indoor heaters, insulation…. but the latter problems, that most major Chinese cities are grappling with, have no short term solutions.  It took me the first couple of days here to accept the fact that buildings here, even schools, hospitals and circus schools, have no heating…. I am slowly getting over the constant chill, but still find myself daydreaming of warmth.  It is amazing what human beings can adapt to, and if the 12 million inhabitants of this city can function in this brain-numbing chill… surely so can I.  The excessively spicy food and my even more excessive green tea drinking are helping.  I do have to say that the Chinese are among the hardiest, resourceful, determined people I have ever seen.
Performances:  Our 4 person show including: David Fiset, Becky Priebe (Canada) , David Bernbaum (USA) & Pipat Suwapat (Thailand) is comprised of contact juggling, juggling, hula hoops, clowning and duo acro.  We are also blessed to have David Bernbaum here as he speaks Chinese and is our link to verbal communication with the children.
Each show we have done and will do are drastically different from one site to the next.  This keeps us on our toes and very sensitive and attentive to the needs and limits of each school, hospital or orphanage.  The first show we performed was about 1.5 hours outside of Chengdu in one of the hardest hit areas of the earthquake at the Xinxing Compulsory School in Pengzhou. The school was quite literally reduced to rubble and the kids now attend classes in temporary blue, corrugated metal boxes.  There were about 700 children waiting for our performance when we pulled up.  The were really excited to see foreigners in their remote village and just our presence caused a fury.  We performed outdoors with huge piles of mangled school desks and tables for a backdrop.  The children loved the show, proving once again that laughter can transverse cultural and language barriers.  During this hour of our performance we hope that the kids forgot for an instant the trauma that they have lived through, the hardship they will inevitably have to endure and that the smiles will stay with them, spreading to their families and villages.  For me… I forgot, for that hour, that I was freezing and upon greater reflection … I am beginning to realize the reasons we have come so far.
The next day of performances included a hospital and an orphanage.  Although it was not heated, the hospital was an impressively clean and modern building.  We perform for about 120 handicapped children.  The children really enjoyed the show and we were happy to perform indoors with a real sound system.  Following the hospital we pulled up to an orphanage where about 150 kids were waiting for us.  They were between the ages of about 2 to 17.  Most of the children’s parents were dead (in a country with a one child policy… most families do their absolute best to look after their only child… the children of the orphanage were therefore for the most part parentless…. they are also ironically among the rare children in China to live a “sibling experience”).  The kids were tough and weren’t afraid to yell and attempt to steal our material.  In the end they enjoyed the show and were very quick learners in the workshop afterwards.
Tomorrow we are off to Mianzhu, north of Chengdu, a more remote, mountain city.  I will send a new update when we return.“