tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45393775656660196402024-03-05T11:10:49.358-08:00Circus of SmilesInspiring Smiles One Red Nose at a Time.Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-73426687221716169282015-12-18T15:45:00.000-08:002015-12-18T15:45:04.634-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 19.9733px;">A special thanks to <a href="http://www.breadandroses.org/" target="_blank">Bread & Roses</a> for this </span></b><b><span style="line-height: 19.9733px;">Essence Story </span></b><b><span style="line-height: 19.9733px;">written by Larry & Noreen Brewster about our most recent outreach show.</span></b></span></div>
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Childhood innocence and pure joy were on full display as the young children watched and interacted with Circus of Smiles clowns, Tyler and Paula, a husband and wife team. The thirty children ranging in age from 5 to 8 chose to wait outside on a brisk December afternoon while Tyler and Paula set up. As one little girl said with great anticipation, “we don’t want to ruin the surprise!”<br /><br />The children could not have been more excited and willing to interact with the clowns. They would, for example, shout warnings to Tyler when Paula was about to pull the chair out from under him. Or, they would encourage Paula to sneak up on Tyler while he juggled. There was constant laughter, and the energy and enthusiasm of the children was infectious. Tyler and Paula involved the children from the very beginning to the end of their show. When they asked for volunteers, almost every hand went up every time. One trick involved two of the staff and two children, resulting in building a human pyramid.<br /><br />The clowns cleverly and subtly shared life lessons with the children through their routines. For example, they taught the importance of teamwork, and that violence never solves problems. Their ability to be funny, interactive with the audience, and impart valuable life lessons truly make Tyler and Paula very special performers.<br /><br />The children were treated to dancing, singing, juggling, acrobatics, and even karate. There was lots of laughter, applause and shout-outs from the children as they eagerly and quickly became part of the act. The laughter wasn’t limited to the children. The staff enjoyed themselves almost as much as the children. Toward the end of the show, a few parents arrived to take their children home. After some pleading, they agreed to let them stay to the end, and it wasn’t long before the parents were laughing too. After the performance, all of the little girls came to Paula and asked questions about her costume, and how she was able to do the things she did. Some even shared their favorite tricks.<br /><br />There is no doubt that Tyler and Paula—Circus of Smiles—in their brightly colored costumes, and through their antics, transported the children and adults to a magical place. It could have been in a big circus tent anywhere!<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
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Beautiful Photos by <a href="http://www.petermerts.com/breadandroses/galleries/507-circus-of-smiles-at-bcv-m/" target="_blank">Peter Merts</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10700389291319721539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-29263141380132780702014-11-04T20:30:00.000-08:002014-11-04T20:30:41.860-08:00Our community partner: Bread & Roses<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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An excerpt from the <a href="http://www.breadandroses.org/blog/interactive-clown-workshop-at-oakland-s-24-hour-childcare-with-circus-of-smiles">Bread & Roses blog</a>:<br/><br />
We are making a special effort to bring more interactive programs to audiences across the board, especially to children and youth. Many talented performers excel at putting music and stories together in an interactive way with magic, movement, puppets, juggling and other performance art. Recent efforts include a wonderful clown workshop with much audience participation by Circus of Smiles at 24-Hour Childcare in Oakland. <br /><br />
Host Barb Withers reports: “At first, the 30 young children quietly sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor with anticipation in front of the two clowns - Paula Greenspan and Tyler Parks - who are known as Circus of Smiles.<br /><br />
They began their show with a hysterical juggling act with Tyler wearing a fake mustache <i>[Paula Edit: While we appreciate the compliment, I have to point out that his mustache is real.]</i> He and Paula tried to "wake" each other up, each time unsuccessful, and were met with peals of laughter from the children. Tyler noted while juggling that it was tickling his mustache and the kids giggled along. Juggling, tumbling and physical comedy reigned in the room, much to the delight of the children and their teachers. Giggling, bashful volunteers loved being part of the act and many eager hands shot up when the call for volunteers went out.<br /><br />
The show was a seamless fest of smiles and at the end Circus of Smiles admonished all the kids to "give yourselves a pat on the back." They gave each other pats on the back that cause the kids to dissolve into further laughter. The show caused 30 kids to stop for 45 minutes and just enjoy being light-hearted. Circus of Smiles provided the best medicine for all of us attending this fun show!” <br /><br />
The children at this daycare center for low-income families in Oakland would not have access to this kind of positive interaction without the generosity of Bread & Roses volunteers and supporters.<br />
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</div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-83044600220968357672013-10-25T17:59:00.001-07:002013-10-25T18:16:00.462-07:00Juggling lesson in Lujan, Argentina<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Something a little bit fun today!</div>
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We just received some incredibly nice words from Cydney, our partner in Lujan, Argentina.<br />
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"Circus of Smiles is truly amazing. Paula and Tyler came to Lujan, Argentina last year, where I had the pleasure of helping them coordinate shows all over the municipality. They brought joy and love to some of the most underserved populations in the province of Buenos Aires. These two amazing clowns traveled to and from Lujan for a month, extending their energy and joy to every child and adult they came in contact with. They happened to be in the area during some extreme flooding that left many communities devastated. Instead of staying away, safe and sound in the capital city, these two packed their scarves and juggling balls, took a bus to Lujan and headed for the relief shelter where about 400 people were staying. They provided the comic relief so necessary in moments of such distress, giving the children an evening of play, pure joy and an opportunity to be children again. It was beautiful. The word spread fast and before we knew it, school principals and organizers were calling to see if they could have these two beautiful clowns visit. In total, we visited around 10 different establishments. This was a truly inspirational experience and I will never forget it. They are so talented... but most importantly, it all comes from their hearts."</div>
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Thank you Cydney! And to celebrate, here is a video of that amazing first day in Lujan.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/54392576">
<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/54392576" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/54392576">Circus of Smiles- Juggling in Lujan</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/circusofsmiles">CircusOfSmiles</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Within a few days of a major rainstorm in </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Luján</span></span> that caused citywide flooding, we were invited to entertain/distract the 30 or so children staying in a temporary shelter.
We arrived that afternoon to some very anxious and excitable children
who were thrilled for something to do. We did our audience participation
heavy show and then handed out </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/OjosDeGirasol#%21/video/video.php?v=10101829030779476&oid=296572223754377" style="font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">juggling scarves to all that wanted to learn a bit of juggling</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">.
As that lesson ended, it became very clear that these children needed
to run out a whole lot of energy. We reached into our circus teacher bag
o´ tricks and played a lot of silly games... watch Tyler and the kiddos juggling.</span></span></div>
</div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-20055127898871615452013-04-11T00:23:00.001-07:002015-12-18T16:05:02.835-08:00Que Sería? A visit to Queseria's Migrant Labor Camp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Que Sería? </div>
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Roughly translated, the question begs: What would be? Or what could be? </div>
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Or possibly even, WHAT IF?</div>
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Quite aptly named, the town of Queseria sits at the bottom of an active volcano. A volcano that constantly spewed a combination of ash, lava, and smoke throughout our entire time in Mexico- a constant reminder of just what could be...</div>
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Arriving to our third Mexican show, which happened to be in a migrant labor camp in the above mentioned Queseria, we were greeted by about 50 of the most curious and dirt streaked small faces I had seen in a long while!<br />
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Quesería is located high on the slopes of the Colima Volcano. The
surrounding hills, composed of ancient volcanic soils, provide ideal
conditions for growing sugar cane; therefore a large sugar refinery is in operation. The workers who burn and cut the sugar cane on the mountain are
indigenous peoples who speak Nahuatl or Zapoteca and are brought up
from the Southern regions of Mexico by labor bosses. These families often live in what could be called a
ramshackle box- at best. The housing generally consists of one concrete room per family, with an attached lean-to for a kitchen. Though material possessions were few among the local children, delight and curiosity were available in abundance. This was easily one of our most delightful audiences to date!<br />
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<a href="http://www.projectamigo.org/" target="_blank">Project Amigo</a>, the organization that arranged and supported us through our visit, has been active in this camp for many years. Over time, Project Amigo has
built two classrooms, a kitchen, children's bathrooms, brought in playground equipment, and hired three
teachers to educate the migrant children. There was an interesting glimmer of western influence in the donated clothing the children were wearing; and there is nothing more ironically heartwarming than seeing a shy and tiny dirt-streaked face framed by a Superman pajama top.<br />
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Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0Quesería, Colima, Mexico19.3864069 -103.5716282000000219.3564504 -103.61196870000002 19.4163634 -103.53128770000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-20338223372749487032013-03-31T16:06:00.000-07:002015-12-18T16:05:31.000-08:00Casa de los Ancianos. A home for the elderly, part 1.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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“Some people are old at 18 and some are young at 90... time is a concept that humans created.” Yoko Ono</h3>
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<span lang=""> </span> This past Thursday, we arose bright and early with the roosters and headed to Comala, Mexico to spend the morning with an often forgotten segment of the population– the elderly. We were nervous about this show since it is a very different audience than we are used to. "Will they laugh at our jokes?" "Will they be lucid enough to get the nuances?" "Will they just fall asleep?" // We were surprised to find that our days of worry were for naught. We were greeted by three nuns and about 20 day residents. They whveled their chairs into a U shape, and were instantly charmed by the youthful energy of our circus. They seemed to really enjoy the show, laughing and clapping throughout. One particular grandma became so fascinated by the sound of her own clapping that she would often forget to stop. Fortunately, she had a friend nearby who was kind enough to redirect her focus to all that was happening in front of them. There were other visiting youngsters we nicknamed the miniClowns who jumped up after our performance to belt out some very... homemade tunes. One boy hit the strings of their guitar while the other one belted out random words at the top of his lungs.<br />
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We, of course, came prepared with a pocketful of clown noses. At the end of the show, Tyler coaxed the mother superior into donning a red nose, which inspired everyone present to do the same. Ten minutes later we had the sweetest 30 person circle of vintage clowns. We were so relieved to have this show go well, since we have one more performance lined up at a Colima home for the elderly.<br />
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Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0Comala, COL, México19.3208333 -103.7602777999999819.2608953 -103.84095879999998 19.3807713 -103.67959679999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-34595263785094665892013-03-29T14:13:00.000-07:002015-12-18T16:06:03.677-08:00Town Square Smiles ‒ Cofradia, Mexico<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Tuesday night in Cofradia, Mexico is community market night. When you wander into the tiny town square you are instantly greeted by the smell of a street vendors tacos, the sight of locals selling everything from spatulas to silly string, and the sounds of whole families out on the town. The sight of dozens of children hanging around inspired us to run home to change into our clown attire and give an impromptu show. On our way back from changing we heard that news of our show had found its way to the town’s loudspeaker system‒ “we are announcing that all children in the vicinity should come to the town square because Circus of Smiles has arrived from the United States!”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyler, always the ham, gets excited when he hears the announcement that clowns are coming to town.</td></tr>
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Cofradía de Suchitlàn, known
as “Cofradía” for short, is a typical country village in western Mexico with a
population of about 1,700 people. It is located about 20 km (12 mi) north of the
city of Colima on the west coast of
Mexico. Tiny rural town only begins to describe the charm. There are cobblestone roads, artisan shops built into family compounds, and delightful children everywhere you turn. We performed that evening to one of the most enthusiastic audiences we have come across. I am not sure who was more delighted... them at our performance, or us at their reactions!<br />
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Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-78962882038125479812013-03-02T21:27:00.000-08:002013-03-02T21:27:43.641-08:00Clown Nose Project 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We are excited to officially announce our next social circus project will be in Colima, Mexico! We'll be headed down at the end of this month to work in partnership with the local nonprofit <a href="http://www.projectamigo.org/" target="_blank">Project Amigo</a>. This means I just put in an order for over 100 juggling scarves and am on the hunt for a great deal on clown noses. <br />
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I am sad to report: "Toto, we're not in Argentina anymore." Whereas in Buenos Aires we were able to buy 300 clown noses for $20, here in the states the best I am able to find is noses for about .80 cents each. In hopes of finding some support from local sources, we have launched the 2013 Clown Nose Project! We are searching for circus and party goods supply companies interested in donating noses for free or very cheap, and generous folks who would want to purchase some clown noses for the children. $1, $10, $20... any amount will inspire a lot of smiles!<br />
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Facebook campaign coming soon, but in the meantime please send us any leads you may have towards finding a good deal on noses. And if you are one of those generous people interested in donating, please send us a message at TeamPauler@gmail.com. Thank you!<br />
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Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-63292374732387371262012-12-27T10:00:00.000-08:002013-02-04T22:00:27.496-08:00Grateful for clown noses.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I wrote a holiday inspired blog and meant to post it just between Christmas/Hanukkah and New Years Eve. That time came and went, and now I'm sitting here in February looking at the draft. But I guess it's never too late to be grateful, especially in public, right? </div>
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As this year begins and I reflect back the past two years of clown nosed adventure I cannot help but feel immensely grateful. Grateful for:<br />
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The opportunity to travel the world using circus as a way to give back to the communities we visit;</div>
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The many folks who have housed us, and otherwise taken care of us, on our journey;</div>
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The inspiring community leaders we have met on our tours, and the tireless work they do;<br />
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The people who actually read this blog;</div>
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Clown Noses.</div>
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Most importantly, what the clown nose represents in the work that we do. To me, it represents the moment we first break down boundaries between us and our audience. It is the smiles that we create on stage, and those that are created for us. It is flattery, inspiration, creativity, and silliness. It is nearly always framed by a smile. Cheers to inspiring smiles, one clown nose at a time!<br />
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Happy 2013, friends. Make the most of it!<br />
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Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0Berkeley, CA, USA37.8715926 -122.2727469999999837.7713231 -122.43410849999998 37.9718621 -122.11138549999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-86524730599015670172012-12-23T20:07:00.003-08:002012-12-24T14:56:18.847-08:00From little to less in Lujan, Argentina.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One of my favorite things about doing Circus of Smiles work is that it allows me to experience the local approach to schooling, education, child welfare and shelter. My background before running off to join the circus was in education, so I love seeing the similarities and differences between countries as we travel to new places. In Luján, as I have mentioned before, there is a pretty wide economic
divide between the different neighborhoods. We got to get up close and
personal with this reality on our third visit to town when we did 7
shows in one [very long and exhausting] day. <br />
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I would say the most obvious difference we saw that day was between Escuela #920 in Barrio Parque Lasa and Guardería Infantil in Barrio Ameghino. These two also happened to make up one of our favorite spots to visit, and our least favorite, respectively. What it really comes down to is a child centered environment- or lack thereof.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Escuela #920 in Parque Lasa. Notice the conga line being led by a boy in a wheelchair.</td></tr>
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*<i>Staff and instructors</i>. There was an obvious gap in the amount of training and education received by the two teams of instructors. The classrooms in Parque Lasa were well planned out with imaginative play areas, developmentally appropriate toys and student created artwork on display. In Ameghino, most of the teachers were tucked away in the small kitchen drinking maté (a very popular local tea) and at least half of them had cell phones in hand when we arrived.<br />
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*<i> Safety</i>. To be set up for success, a child (or any person) must feel safe- both physically and emotionally. Escuela #920 is one of the most inclusive schools I have come across. All children are welcome in this school; they have some of the most loving aides there to support students with different abilities. Acceptance of all needs and abilities has been instilled in all the students and staff. When a little boy with hearing aides and physical deformities was invited to help us onstage, the cheering support from the entire student body was inspiring. The Ameghino daycare, on the other hand, was full of small dirty faces that obviously hadn't been wiped after snacktime some hours before. There were crying children left in cribs, and a few toddlers trying to climb a fence to the outside of the school were met with yells and insults instead of a teacher walking over to redirect. Oh, how I wanted to give a lesson on positive redirection and pro-active instruction!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guardería Infantil in Barrio Ameghino.</td></tr>
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* And finally, <i>environment</i>. This is the area that seems to be most affected by the neighborhood's funding abilities, and honestly contributes a lot to the above mentioned bullets. Whereas the school in Parque Lasa had a beautiful campus and multiple classrooms, the daycare in Ameghino was in a small room borrowed from a local church. It had a dirt floor and some roughly constructed sharp edges. Really, it was a place children go when their parents need to work and can't afford to send them anywhere else, not a place that would inspire a child to want to come to school.<br />
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Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0Luján, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina-34.565731 -59.117431600000032-34.670346 -59.27879310000003 -34.461116 -58.956070100000034tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-56056201582606198102012-12-02T09:58:00.002-08:002012-12-02T09:58:22.821-08:00Residencial Santa Cruz. A home in Cordoba for girls with special needs.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The patio and one of the girls´rooms.</td></tr>
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While in Cordoba, we visited a home for girls with special needs in the Alta Cordoba neighborhood. We were inspired by the playfulness and enthusiasm shown by these teenagers. All of the girls currently living in the house are between 11 and 17 and were welcoming of the two
funny dressed ex-pats that showed up to surprise them. I can´t call it an orphanage exactly, because many of the girls living in the home have relatives that, for one reason or another, don´t visit often. In many cases the family doesn´t have the capacity or means to care for a daughter with different abilities, though in some cases girls are moved out of their homes by the local municipality due to unsafe circumstances. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCeUyJMqNxyF2gVsDSD2R68J660oaWoJMFw2wFmAQhitJmpA833yn1jV1hA-nZCkrhn0qIpLdAwpNeZRtVxzjxulbpfRUttWO7pVxXxOIwtkWyl1Nli5oyO3H5PXZ6rLv2kiSf7k0vXfG/s1600/IMG_6697.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCeUyJMqNxyF2gVsDSD2R68J660oaWoJMFw2wFmAQhitJmpA833yn1jV1hA-nZCkrhn0qIpLdAwpNeZRtVxzjxulbpfRUttWO7pVxXxOIwtkWyl1Nli5oyO3H5PXZ6rLv2kiSf7k0vXfG/s640/IMG_6697.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ladies of Residencial Santa Cruz and the clowns.</td></tr>
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Our show is juggling and physical theatre based, which means that it was written to appeal to all ages. Even so we usually cater mostly to younger children or mixed age groups. Very rarely do we perform for an adolescent/teen only group, which means that these girls had an important lesson to teach us. Have you ever thought about going to volunteer (at home or abroad)? What age group or population is it your initial impulse to work with? I find that for most people, myself included, the first thing we search for are children´s orphanages. Why? Because they are playful, living through hard circumstances, easy to connect with, and deserve a lot of love. Exactly what we found when visiting these young ladies.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlQmRV3wS1pYVnGV3t7h8AO8A3ouV8F2rBtIzI7_lqGMrIKz9AEULW2dBjN-fWAPS_kllYzwzj_GJCxOmqFmFl4qR-KLCSeDFRgcRgYAXnfRLOwIDFUUlAQgW_D8Nj_Z6tISeUQWyaB_p6/s1600/IMG_6698.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlQmRV3wS1pYVnGV3t7h8AO8A3ouV8F2rBtIzI7_lqGMrIKz9AEULW2dBjN-fWAPS_kllYzwzj_GJCxOmqFmFl4qR-KLCSeDFRgcRgYAXnfRLOwIDFUUlAQgW_D8Nj_Z6tISeUQWyaB_p6/s320/IMG_6698.JPG" width="320" /></a>After we finished our show and juggling workshop, the ladies invited us to take and seat and be their audience. As it turns out, all of the girls are involved in local art workshops and enjoy performing. On Saturday afternoons at the home, they learn folkloric dances to be performed around town at local schools and community events. Of course, just as we do, they decided to end with a workshop in which both Tyler and I danced the traditional partner dance, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chacarera">Chacarera.</a><br />
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Last week I wrote about our scavenger hunt to find a place to perform for local children in Cordoba, Argentina. Revisit that story <a href="http://circusofsmiles.blogspot.com.ar/2012/11/scavenger-hunt-cordoba-aldeas.html" target="_blank">here</a>. That hunt led us directly to Residencial Santa Cruz. When asked about donations, the caretakers enthusiastically explained
that they are happy to take donations of any kind- including second hand
clothes for the girls. They are also excited about the possibility of workshops and activities the girls can participate in. The grounds are spartan and the building is a bit ashamble, because the
funding that comes from the government does not seem to be quite enough. I imagine someone interested in helping them set up a garden project would serve them well.<br />
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If you are interested in volunteering with these wonderful ladies, you can contact them by telephone at (011.54) 351.434.6072.<br />
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Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0Córdoba, Argentina-31.3989296 -64.1821289-31.5073571 -64.340057399999992 -31.290502099999998 -64.0242004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-167908893959153542012-11-28T12:05:00.000-08:002012-11-28T12:06:18.531-08:00An Innovative Toymaker in Cordoba, Argentina.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One of my favorite things about travelling the world with Circus of Smiles is the inspiring people we meet along the way. Last night we met a first class innovator at an outdoor crafts market in Cordoba.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cork Action Figures, CD Storybooks, Soda Bottle ¨Ball and Cups¨</td></tr>
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Javier, originally from Colombia, makes toys out of the recyclables he finds around town. He also leads sustainable crafts workshops for parents and teachers. This, of course, made me wish we weren´t leaving Cordoba that very same night... but at least it leaves us<i> one more</i> thing to look forward to for our next visit. Tyler decided he had to buy out the entire stock of finger puppets (made of soda bottle tops, yarn, binder coil, and paint.) We were extra impressed by how they came wrapped and ready for travel, in a little house made from two small water bottles cut in half.<br />
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Javier´s company can be found on Facebook, as <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pazverde.juguetessustentables?fref=ts" target="_blank">Paz Verde Juguetes Sustentables</a>.
I am currently waiting for him to accept my friend request, because he
says there are plenty of photos and ideas posted there. As many of you know, I work for a <a href="http://www.galileo-learning.com/" target="_blank">company</a> that places high value on using recyclables within
the classroom as well as on creating innovators that envision and create a better
future. Naturally, I find his work very exciting, and look forward to trying out some of his projects back at home! I hope these pictures give you a bit of inspiration to try something different today.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A children´s story about unconditional<br />
love, writen on a recycled CD book.<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X4GE1zwTRAs/ULPccshNYtI/AAAAAAAAAjw/8glu4LrpoWY/s1600/IMG_6756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A soccer game with a marble for a ball and popsicle sticks for players.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cork action figures with moveable parts- and a great paint job</td></tr>
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Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-41511283501422652502012-11-26T13:00:00.001-08:002012-11-26T13:03:50.719-08:00¨Gangnam Style¨ at the SOS Children´s Village<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Unless you´ve been living under a rock, as I apparently was until arriving in South America, by now you have heard of the K-pop sensation ¨<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangnam_Style" target="_blank">Gangnam Style</a>.¨ Most notable for its catchy tune, being the most played YouTube video of all time, and the fact that it marks the first time a Korean pop artist has been able to break into the mainstream US (and broad international) market. I was introduced to the song in Buenos Aires over lunch with two friends visiting from Korea; I have not been able to get away from it since. But let´s be honest, I really don´t mind.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">QuadraNose Clown</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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In my last post, I mentioned that we finally made it out to the<a href="http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/americas/argentina/child-sponsorship-background-from-cordoba-argentina" target="_blank"> SOS Children´s Village Cordoba</a>. There are 30 youth living in the children´s village, about 10 of which are teenagers. We had a great time clowning at their party to celebrate the International Day of Children´s Rights! It is quite possible that this one will stay one of my favorite moments of the tour. We did our regular shtick, the 30-minute audience participation show followed by a juggling playshop with the neon scarves- and of course the distribution of red noses. After that, the kids and the junk food took over, but we were happy to follow their lead. A few of the older girls took on the roll of dj, and seemed to have an affinity for the Gangnam Style song -- they played it SIX times in a row.<br />
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<a href="https://vimeo.com/54293197" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">And oh, how we danced!</span></span></a></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/54293197?badge=0" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/54293197">Gangnam Style Dance</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user14897372">Paula Heather</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div>
Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0Córdoba, Argentina-31.3989296 -64.1821289-31.5073571 -64.340057399999992 -31.290502099999998 -64.0242004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-65956414442855818952012-11-24T07:25:00.004-08:002013-03-04T22:18:31.209-08:00Scavenger Hunt Cordoba- Aldeas Infantiles SOS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">"We were all children once. And we all share the desire for the
well-being of our children, which has always been and will continue to
be the most universally cherished aspiration of humankind."</span></div>
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We the Children: End-decade review of the follow-up to the World </div>
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Summit for Children Report of the Secretary-General (2001) </div>
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Yesterday we had a whirlwind of a day that finished with a visit to <a href="http://www.aldeasinfantiles.org.ar/conozcanos/aldeas-argentina/nuestro-trabajo/pages/cordoba.aspx" target="_blank">Aldeas Infantiles SOS Cordoba</a>. I am so thankful to have finally tracked them down- makes for almost a week of searching very well spent!<br />
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A short synopsis of the day´s scavenger hunt:<br />
* a disappointing Internet search for children´s homes in Cordoba<br />
* a visit to a museum in an <a href="http://www.welcomeargentina.com/cordoba/jesuit-crypt.html" target="_blank">old Jesuit Crypt</a><br />
* finding an exhibit of paintings by children with special needs in the crypt<br />
* a visit to the founder of <a href="http://habitat.aq.upm.es/dubai/06/bp1583.html" target="_blank">Manos Creadoras</a> (the foundation that teaches these special needs artists)<br />
* Being sent to see a woman who works in the <a href="http://desarrollosocialcordobaciudad.blogspot.com.ar/p/discapacidad.html" target="_blank">Cordoba Municipality´s Special Needs Department</a>.<br />
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Betty (from the Municipality) just happened to have worked with SOS in the past and was able to get them on the phone immediately. Though she seemed to have some hesitations around their work- reservations shared by a few people I have met but have yet to get an honest explanation for- she helped us arrange a visit that same evening. Earlier this week, on November 20, was the Universal Day of Children´s Rights;
Aldeas was throwing a celebratory party as a follow-up to a workshop on
Children´s Rights they had just finished. They invited us out to be a
part of the celebration, clown show and all. Rush, rush, rush- the theme of the day!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Argentine poster about Children´s Rights. In honor of the Universal Day of Children´s Rights 11/20.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Houses of Aldeas Infantiles SOS </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Aldeas Infantiles SOS mission statement: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Cada niño y cada niña pertenece a una familia y crece con amor, respeto y seguridad.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Every boy and every girl should be a part of a family </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and grow up with love, respect and security.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Aldeas Infantiles SOS of Cordoba was inaugurated in 2002 and has a capacity for 105 children. It is one of 116 autonomous member assoc<span style="font-size: small;">iations active in 133 countries and territories- </span></span><span class="st"><a href="http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/" target="_blank">SOS Children´s Villages</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>is a huge organization.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span>The Cordoba shelter is a compound of 12 homes that are located in a neighborhood about an hour bus ride away from the main city of Cordoba.<span class="st"> What makes the </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">SOS Children<span style="font-size: small;">´s Villages </span></span></span><span class="st">unique is their family model. Children who have lost their parents or cannot be cared for by their biological families live in small homes of up to 10 children with one constant staff ´mother´ in each. There are, of course, psychologists, social workers, and other professionals who make up the care team. Although the compound has enough beds for over 100 children, and the website advertises as such, I was disappointed to find that in reality there are only about 30 children currently residing on-site. What I was delighted to find was a group of people absolutely in love with a large group of very complex children. Big hearts and smiles all around for sure. </span><br />
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<span class="st">Aldeas Infantiles SOS has four locations in Argentina, to contact any of them or donate they ask that you go through the <a href="http://www.aldeasinfantiles.org.ar/" target="_blank">regional office for Argentina.</a> Phone: 011.5352.2000 E-mail: info@aldeasinfantiles.org.a. I wish you nothing but luck in getting through to them- since I had such a hard time. </span></div>
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<span class="st">More <strike>tomorrow</strike> as soon as I can get the Internet to cooperate with me and upload this awesome video, I promise. Including an epic dance party with a whole lot of spirited children... how´s that for a cliffhanger!?</span></div>
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Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-40162453379551890222012-11-21T12:10:00.002-08:002012-11-21T12:10:34.025-08:00Flooding in Lujan. Or, ¨how can we possibly make it even harder to get to the places we give to!?¨<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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From our home base in Buenos Aires, we have quite a commute to get to Luján. We take a bus from Plaza Miserere in the downtown neighborhood called Once to the main terminal of Luján; this bus should take 1.5 hours but generally takes just as long as the day´s circumstances see fit. Once at the terminal, we hop in a remis (like a taxi) or a local bus to get to the neighborhood we are visiting for the day. I´ll repeat what I mentioned in the last blog post for those of you that haven´t seen it. ¨Luján is a complex area where the neighborhoods, schools, and social services span the map from wealthy middle class to very poor. The town has some geographic lines (rivers, highways, countryside and train tracks) that seem to very clearly divide the different populations. The places we visit tend to be very patchwork- schools in borrowed spaces, houses built from scraps of whatever people can find, clothes that have been found or donated and (almost always) children everywhere.¨ Because of the geographic dividers, the neighborhoods we visit are very rarely close to the center of town. This means that faced with special circumstances, our longest time door to door was six hours.</div>
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¨Why!?¨ you ask? </div>
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Because early that week the province of Buenos Aires was hit by a downpour of rain that flooded many parts and Luján was hit especially hard by the rains. This left hundreds of families displaced from their now subaquatic homes and meant that the municipality was quickly charged with the task of setting up temporary shelters and otherwise providing for the people. Suddenly makes a six hour commute seem incredibly bearable, right? I was blown away by the grace with which the people of Luján -within the municipality especially- looked after the displaced. One particular shelter was set-up in the Polisport (a community sports complex) and housed up to 300 people at one time. Volunteers cooked meals off-site and brought them to the complex, <a href="http://www.lujan.gov.ar/" target="_blank">necessities like water, mattresses and clothing were available to the people</a>, etc. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1p5ctcOza26YqPf49f_9YJ0151b9C4lmYIx33qgq6jF1careeJxLNhmmanzZNqa3hpUbaqRpIWnAYBGImAByw4O8JsDdNtqHAFlVpZY32294FrBeYGpC9BynxRVfYta4yngUHUYBBEz7j/s1600/lujan2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1p5ctcOza26YqPf49f_9YJ0151b9C4lmYIx33qgq6jF1careeJxLNhmmanzZNqa3hpUbaqRpIWnAYBGImAByw4O8JsDdNtqHAFlVpZY32294FrBeYGpC9BynxRVfYta4yngUHUYBBEz7j/s320/lujan2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Provisions for the people. Photo: Cydney Justman</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flooded streets in Lujan. Photo: Cydney Justman</td></tr>
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Within a few days of the flooding, we were invited to come to Luján and entertain/distract the 30 or so children taking shelter in the aforementioned Polisport. We arrived that afternoon to some very anxious and excitable children who were thrilled for something to do. We did our audience participation heavy show and then handed out <a href="http://www.facebook.com/OjosDeGirasol#!/video/video.php?v=10101829030779476&oid=296572223754377" target="_blank">juggling scarves to all that wanted to learn a bit of juggling</a>. As that lesson ended, it became very clear that these children needed to run out a whole lot of energy. We reached into our circus teacher bag o´ tricks and played a lot of silly games like Big Mouth, The Invisible Ball, etc.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outdoor show.<br />
Great, until the mosquitos arrived.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A wonderfully outgoing boy preparing to be our helper.</td></tr>
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We finished the evening exhausted and covered in mosquito bites, and fortunately the commute home only took about 2.5 hours! </div>
Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina-34.565731 -59.1174316-34.670338 -59.2753601 -34.461124 -58.959503100000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-19436162102912053572012-11-14T13:27:00.000-08:002012-11-21T10:32:28.225-08:00South America tour begins in Luján, Argentina<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Circus of smiles has made it to Argentina! Luján, Argentina- to be exact. Though we got off to a slow start, once we started we hit the ground running. In Spanish, there is a saying: ¨arracamos a full¨ which I would roughly translate to starting up at full force. That is how it has been for us here, thanks mostly to the excitement and warm welcome we have received from the Lujaneros (people of Lujan.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXZhrFux0QmHw3ZdKWfAkSRJ2zmQof5bn_3X6pRXUomadu5-9hrYPcqix8E39v-36JERYNe5iBYRv0xkDejnTYjYte066hVzze9AF8Bp3OV7tSVRX3M-4A6nQAIm6NvUEQxXUucgTwMah/s1600/IMG_5709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXZhrFux0QmHw3ZdKWfAkSRJ2zmQof5bn_3X6pRXUomadu5-9hrYPcqix8E39v-36JERYNe5iBYRv0xkDejnTYjYte066hVzze9AF8Bp3OV7tSVRX3M-4A6nQAIm6NvUEQxXUucgTwMah/s320/IMG_5709.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Luján is a city in the Buenos Aires province of Argentina, located 68 kilometers north west of the city of Buenos Aires, that is best known for its large neo-gothic Basillica. The town is visited by more than six million people each year. The city is known as <i>La Capital de la Fe</i> (Capital of the Faith). Getting beyond what the tourists see, Luján is a complex area where the neighborhoods, schools, and social services span the map from wealthy middle class to very poor. The town has some geographic lines (rivers, highways, countryside and train tracks) that seem to very clearly divide the different poulations. The places we visit tend to be very patchwork- schools in borrowed spaces, houses built from scraps of whatever people can find, clothes that have been found or donated and (almost always) children everywhere.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HscmigQfcyhCsHa-ToyGRf9mZ1xRP22z-8bOTBk0E7E_bhaRDHFrdf_vmVsFLr8-JtJxtO5k_nZcq_RcPGwhblq98Ao_g6IWTrCxR35YwhmNsF46edb1obuHj3TE9M-FmhdQ0N4IHWod/s1600/IMG_5584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HscmigQfcyhCsHa-ToyGRf9mZ1xRP22z-8bOTBk0E7E_bhaRDHFrdf_vmVsFLr8-JtJxtO5k_nZcq_RcPGwhblq98Ao_g6IWTrCxR35YwhmNsF46edb1obuHj3TE9M-FmhdQ0N4IHWod/s320/IMG_5584.JPG" width="213" /></a>We have had the joy and privilege to team up with my very old friend, Cydney Justman. Cyd was one of my closest friends in middle school. After not seeing one another for almost 10 years, we both found ourselves in Argentina doing social/global projects that have now come to feed into one another. She has become our °in° for many harder to reach populations, our confidant, our advisor... basically, Cydney has become our local coordinator in Luján, and we are very grateful! </div>
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This set of projects feel more like sprints than the long distance race that was our Southeast Asia tour. Just yesterday we finished 7 shows and a few hours of hospital clowning in a space of 30 hours. None in the same space, or even neighborhood as another. Some much joy, laughs, and exhaustion already... and so many stories to share. Stayed tuned for anecdotes on lost cameras, swearing toddlers, and conga lines.</div>
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Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina-34.565731 -59.1174316-34.670338 -59.2753601 -34.461124 -58.959503100000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-84777119925813854502012-05-15T11:26:00.000-07:002012-05-15T11:26:18.189-07:00We're expanding our web presence.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Big deal announcement number two...</div>
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We are live. </h2>
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www.circusofsmiles.org</h3>
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has been launched. </h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAcBplOBCH6od6njTzxyc_C6oeF6T3nSOy1tKDwefMoYlpHaOYQP-jkBfD5y6aPEgvZcLQkOAKMpicb7yFW2-ZQbEq6Pw34IHLiIgsi4ZMKhSEpDaIt8F-7fdD29BVzIiRyCwJdWDo_4E6/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-05-15+at+11.07.05+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAcBplOBCH6od6njTzxyc_C6oeF6T3nSOy1tKDwefMoYlpHaOYQP-jkBfD5y6aPEgvZcLQkOAKMpicb7yFW2-ZQbEq6Pw34IHLiIgsi4ZMKhSEpDaIt8F-7fdD29BVzIiRyCwJdWDo_4E6/s320/Screen+shot+2012-05-15+at+11.07.05+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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[What the site currently looks like]</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQcHxdQin9Dv0J9laZA8Js9CFfGBXi-JmfeYo9oVz2l44oRsMySfuyMir6OtZlQg7Kpac8SxFHziUhTX5WgjEZc3Dq8AozaiFIpyMIbM7s_ZfOlqxQNYhNFAx-PTufTrc08UKuVj_Cf7Su/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-05-15+at+11.07.39+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQcHxdQin9Dv0J9laZA8Js9CFfGBXi-JmfeYo9oVz2l44oRsMySfuyMir6OtZlQg7Kpac8SxFHziUhTX5WgjEZc3Dq8AozaiFIpyMIbM7s_ZfOlqxQNYhNFAx-PTufTrc08UKuVj_Cf7Su/s320/Screen+shot+2012-05-15+at+11.07.39+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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[What it will probably look like]</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kqn3fq6T4T0/T7KcCUXcmJI/AAAAAAAAAcE/XROBn79wR-s/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-05-15+at+11.07.52+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kqn3fq6T4T0/T7KcCUXcmJI/AAAAAAAAAcE/XROBn79wR-s/s320/Screen+shot+2012-05-15+at+11.07.52+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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[Another potential design]</div>
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Though the website is currently more of a placeholder than anything at
the moment, it is a big step in the momentum building direction. And it really feels good to have started the ball rolling.<br />
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Also, did you know we have a Facebook presence? </h4>
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www.facebook.com/circusofsmiles. </h3>
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We'd love it if you'd "Like" us on Facebook and help spread the word.</h4>
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In honor of the fact that we have officially launched online, I have decided it is finally time to go back and write about more of the places we visited on our Southeast Asia Tour. Stay tuned for updates, and photo stories about the various schools, orphanages, and shelters we visited last fall. Blog number one of this installment will likely be about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Watch_Phuket" target="_blank">Child Watch Phuket's</a> Prison Program.</div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-7102000359814900722012-05-08T22:16:00.000-07:002012-05-08T22:16:43.795-07:00South American tour!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Announcement: We're going to South America! </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Circus of Smiles will be touring again in fall of 2012. </span></div>
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There is a deep satisfaction that comes from transcending the barriers
of language; it's magic when you find you can communicate through
smiles and mime only. Even so, there is a kind of comfort and inspiration
that comes from really getting to know and understand a person you can
really delve into a deep conversation with. Needless to say, we are excited to teach and perform for children with whom we share a common language. That's right, this time around, we will actually be able to speak the local language.</div>
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Though there are still many details to hash out and many, many, many plans to be made, I am thrilled to be going back to the part of the world that feels most like "home." Argentina will be our home base, and the plan is to perform in at least two other nearby countries as well. </div>
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Argentina is a place that means a lot to me on an intensely personal
level, and also happens to be where I first found (and was inspired to
join) the <span style="color: #e06666;">circus</span>! It seems right on many levels that it should be our
kickoff tour as a legit non-profit.</div>
</div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-73531054870677473252012-03-03T13:04:00.000-08:002012-03-03T13:04:33.186-08:00Animal Juggling in Ubud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxyDSPbSyFr_GXhP2qYmCeKWjL4WcAN3kpICNPUtsqpLqTd-xeBzE7MqtogeerlW1Io5uRZaX8dmfaGY6w-Lw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
During our third kindergarten performance for the Bali Children's Project, Tyler pulled out his animal juggling. Listen carefully and you can hear the kiddos telling us the Indonesian names for the animals. Right after our performance, the children sang us popular nursery rhymes in English- BINGO being the first.</div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-70991064520123107382012-02-21T21:56:00.002-08:002012-03-03T12:41:05.823-08:00We want to give children something to take with them, not just be a fading memory of someone who once visited to make them laugh.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #7f6000; text-align: center;"><i>A smile is universal, laughter a common language.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WYD8ZgjpCqE/TyucPGrP0FI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/dlt34qYqqH0/s1600/P1060869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WYD8ZgjpCqE/TyucPGrP0FI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/dlt34qYqqH0/s400/P1060869.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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As we move forward with planning for round two of our circus performance tour, we have begun to brainstorm how to make even more of an impact. The thing we talk a lot about is how to create something tangible out of the experience. We want to give children something to take with them, not just be a fading memory of someone who once visited to make them laugh.<br />
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One idea that has been brought to the table is adding thematic elements to our show. For example, using circus and clowning to teach useful life skills. Notice that in so many of the pictures I have posted you can see the effects of poor nutrition and a lack of good dental hygiene in those beautiful ear to ear grins. It seems like a perfect opportunity to teach about nutrition and teeth brushing-- while maybe even giving out donated toothbrushes. It's certainly possible as there are organizations out there doing something similar. In my research I came across one organization in Argentina that runs volunteer based dental clinics. <br />
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<a href="http://www.todosjuntos.org.uk/">Todos Juntos</a>' MISSION STATEMENT: Our aim is to improve the daily living conditions of these underprivileged children by supplying free restorative dental care and hygiene, school supplies, food, clothing and shoes. The trust also supports a network of state-run soup kitchens with materials and equipment. <br />
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They are high on our list of people to contact before heading down to South America. Because what educator wouldn't like a few clowns to stop by and support their cause? ;-)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXKlIDyfq4BAJNYsKbKwGw__FZ3rsZlPrllOsE5crslnldRxM7WfQgQJ-crqYJZ7PwDIT5mP38mS4Y7EO9Wf-ntbxr_WnweB4uOxCu9LhPHapGUgXwPXoLYUpgxCJo5q0C4SptcP7u82P/s1600/P1060733.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXKlIDyfq4BAJNYsKbKwGw__FZ3rsZlPrllOsE5crslnldRxM7WfQgQJ-crqYJZ7PwDIT5mP38mS4Y7EO9Wf-ntbxr_WnweB4uOxCu9LhPHapGUgXwPXoLYUpgxCJo5q0C4SptcP7u82P/s400/P1060733.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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</div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-26424205030441375142012-01-26T17:22:00.000-08:002012-01-26T17:22:47.984-08:00As fate would have it, one disappointment led to something incredible<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Making a wrong turn on our way to the Wisma Anak Anak Harapan orphanage that I wrote about in my last post, we quite accidentally found <a href="http://seedsofhopechildrenshome.com/" target="_blank">Panti Asuhan Benih Harapan</a> or Seeds of Hope Children's Home. Five minutes over and two streets away from one huge disappointment we found a place that really does go above and beyond to create a home experience that is balanced, loving, and supportive-- and bursting at the seams with children.<br />
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We showed up on our motorbike, dressed to perform, pointing at a map while asking (in pidgin Indonesian) if we were at the right place. We were not. We were, however, immediately surrounded by children who very much wanted to see what the Mustached Clown could do. He has that effect on people, especially kids. The matron of the home, Sandra - a woman we would come to know and admire- informed us that although they would be delighted to have us come back and perform the following day, the dozen shy faces peeking at us from inside the beaten up minibus had been promised a trip to the beach. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZ29NXIz9WkHaYYkzWABjBjifQTC0W2L_BaMYqrduEGRIEw04mox8G51FopHgVoGTv2bYV-WFb_ngLNfTzz5srsZGwHjmt1BFPrKEck2XDYFeLWeZDP4ZoHLPPviZJrLSgLxqO7AzXgmp/s1600/P1060926_2.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZ29NXIz9WkHaYYkzWABjBjifQTC0W2L_BaMYqrduEGRIEw04mox8G51FopHgVoGTv2bYV-WFb_ngLNfTzz5srsZGwHjmt1BFPrKEck2XDYFeLWeZDP4ZoHLPPviZJrLSgLxqO7AzXgmp/s640/P1060926_2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just a few of the many friendly faces that greeted us when we arrived</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We left reluctantly with plans to return the following day. Now, there were a few dramatic things that happened between the day we left Panti Asuhan Benih Harapan and the day we finally returned, but I'll spare you the details... suffice it to say I have some great scars to forever remind me of the day I flipped a motorbike into an Indonesian sewage ditch. We did finally make it back about three days later and spent the afternoon with one of the most humbly profound people I'll ever meet. Sandra told us stories that all at once provoked laughter, tears, anger, compassion, and thought; these stories eventually gave us a better understanding of the Indonesian culture and the unending/self-sacrificing love of some parents. These stories will guide me through my own ventures into the nonprofit social justice world, make me a more compassionate person, and probably make me cry every time I recall them. <br />
<br />
We did perform a modified audience participatory clown show for the children, bandaged hands and all. Notice I am only hiding in the back of pictures from that day --<i> you're welcome</i>. ;-) Kids danced with us, performed feats of strength and acrobatic challenge, and, of course, juggled with us. The shakey, shakey routine was a favorite all across the island of Bali.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbOMH4tTO0AeJI6M_vn72DPo65yWdNXgJYHHzP9KTCpGc7UXhf0M1Td-MESJ2NfWRL3fvB8GjtrHOCvNa9P4kC7J2eqIzlHDZ_hDAG_nlpyrXGpBi28k2HhwxCNLv8yWjpI8THLAq4qzqf/s1600/P1060919_2.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbOMH4tTO0AeJI6M_vn72DPo65yWdNXgJYHHzP9KTCpGc7UXhf0M1Td-MESJ2NfWRL3fvB8GjtrHOCvNa9P4kC7J2eqIzlHDZ_hDAG_nlpyrXGpBi28k2HhwxCNLv8yWjpI8THLAq4qzqf/s400/P1060919_2.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My, what long arms you have. Is that a clown hiding behind you?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>You'll notice I don't mention her husband much, but this is only because he didn't speak English. Therefore most of our communication was through Sandra. In a twist of fate, it turns out that he is the brother of the woman running the pitiful orphanage around the corner. Yes, this wonderland we had stumbled upon was opened by the brother of the "Cinderalla's Stepmother of a woman" running Wisma Anak Anak Harapan in reaction to what happened there after their parents' passing. [Refer back to my last post if you're looking for an explanation.] What we learned from all of this is that sometimes the apple does fall far from the tree. Here we are faced with two siblings running very similar children's homes in the same neighborhood-- but with a world of difference in the environment they are maintaining within them.<br />
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It was obvious to us from the website and our time there that Wisma Anak Anak Harapan is being well taken care of by a variety of church organizations from abroad. For Sandra's <a href="http://seedsofhopechildrenshome.com/" target="_blank">Panti Asuhan Benih Harapan</a> there seemed to be support, but not nearly on the same scale. When we asked her about financial support and donations from abroad, she shared with us that there is one particular parish abroad (I believe in Europe) that collects donations enough every month to send all of her 80 children to school. Her best line "I am just a good beggar." This from a saint who has traveled, lectured, and educated for decades with the simple goal of being able to maintain a home for her adopted and extended family.</div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-23041888050818672492011-12-29T15:30:00.000-08:002011-12-31T13:03:13.649-08:00When you write it online, it never goes away...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="color: #b45f06; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lesson of the Day: You can't always believe it just because it's written online. </span></div><br />
I remember a particularly fascinating lecture in graduate school in which a professor of mine talked about the importance of teaching students the difference between truth and dressed up fiction when introducing technology into the classroom. His lecture had to do with the fact that anyone can publish just about anything online and make it seem legit. His example was a convincing website that featured the endangered <a href="http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/sightings.html" target="_blank">Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus</a>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">These days with the popularity of Facebook, Yelp, and other social media, I might add to this lesson that what you post online never disappears. This came up for us in Bali when we would read about a supposedly wonderful orphanage or organization for children that just wasn't living up to its reputation. For example, an orphanage just 12 kilometers North of Kuta called <a href="http://hopeorphanagebali.org/" target="_blank">Wisma Anak Anak Harapan</a>, or Hope Children's Home. This is a place that had received rave reviews from people who had visited or volunteered and met the now deceased couple that ran the place. Just a highlight of what we read: "<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"></span></span>We felt so at home there and could feel the love surrounding them which was reflected in the happy children. The place itself is very old and rundown but exceptionally clean... we were most impressed by this place and left reluctantly after 2 hours." The problem is, well intentioned folks write rave reviews online and sometimes even create websites to inspire people to donate or visit, but then they don't ever visit again or follow up. This means that sometimes for us high expectations = a hard fall. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">From what I gather, in the mid 90's Hope Children's Home was still run by Father Reverend Daniel and his wife, whom the children called mother. They were a humble and loving, though aging couple that started an orphanage after he retired as a priest in the late 70s. At the time the children were well looked after and happy which caused them to get a lot of online attention and praise. This in turn led to a stream of donations from both churches and individuals. Somewhere between then and now they passed and the orphanage is now in the hands of their less selfless daughter Rev. Ni Nyoman Trisnawath, and you'd be hardpressed to find the carefree happy children written about online. The donations, however, don't seem to be. We saw a lot of televisions in what was the staff and Ni Nyoman Trisnawath's family quarters, a very modern bus (something no other orphanage we visited would spend so much money on), and other luxurious expenditures all framed by shabby clothed children. What was definitely worst of all was that while we did our performance for the children, most of them were secretly watching by peeking through the upstairs railings that they were supposed to be repainting. Nyoman told us that a church-group of 40 people was going to be visiting the following day and staying in the upstairs quarter (which they rented out to raise money) for a few days. This, she explained, was why most of the 100+ children present were painting, mopping, or doing other home repairs instead of watching our scheduled performance.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The hardest part of visiting an orphanage like this is convincing yourself to leave without trying to take the children home with you. For me, this was particularly hard because of a beautiful 5 year-old named Ulan. This little girl never once cracked a smile though our comedy circus show. She had just a faint hint of sparkle in the corner of each eye which turned out to be tears just waiting to spring. After we'd finished performing I found her tucked into a corner of the hallway outside her room silently crying and being largely ignored by children and adults alike. I sat with her as she cried into my shoulder until falling asleep in my arms-- and when she woke up she went right back to sobbing. All the while, my heart was breaking because I couldn't ask her to tell me what was wrong. Their website claims: "We want all of our children to receive a good education as well as a happy and safe place to grow... [while striving to ensure] all children achieve physical, emotional and spiritual growth." One can only hope that in a place that takes in and cares for orphans there would be an environment of compassion and open dialogue, but when Ulan had finally calmed down enough to get up from her corner I realized this was hoping for too much here. When I asked Nyoman why Ulan might be upset, she snapped at the child in Indonesian, told her to go play, and told me it was nothing.<br />
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This is one in a long line of difficulties we encountered regarding how to know where to do good. This orphanage has a website encouraging you to send monetary donations, and when you visit it becomes very obvious that people do. However, how are they to know that their money is not necessarily benefiting the right people under the Hope Children's Home roof? How does one decide where to send their money if they can't actually visit first? Who is out there writing about what it's really like behind the walls of the facade?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Though our overall experience of Anak Anak Harapan was overwhelmingly sad and disappointing, </div><div style="text-align: center;">we did meet some beautiful children with whom we had a few minutes of circus fun.</div><div style="text-align: center;">I can't help but share a few of the moments that were captured on film.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qaPtJHNwCbo/Tvz3u4Unm7I/AAAAAAAAAXs/0HqTPBFBQeM/s1600/P1060874.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qaPtJHNwCbo/Tvz3u4Unm7I/AAAAAAAAAXs/0HqTPBFBQeM/s400/P1060874.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKspCa7AthBzwkRmftfGbqCUhDp7BDeyuNfAPkMawJDFRWnfYdH2W7kjM5g17Hnop8YmqPgTp1PcNru_kGJv3xUQnFMAxczJk1koOTq2fOoiMtRu_E2X9TCsyePw0WFl-yarrEhINXiRA9/s1600/P1060872.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKspCa7AthBzwkRmftfGbqCUhDp7BDeyuNfAPkMawJDFRWnfYdH2W7kjM5g17Hnop8YmqPgTp1PcNru_kGJv3xUQnFMAxczJk1koOTq2fOoiMtRu_E2X9TCsyePw0WFl-yarrEhINXiRA9/s400/P1060872.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HlshH4HzTy4/TvzvT86DwHI/AAAAAAAAAXg/F9vuYWd2CK8/s1600/P1060874.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div></div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-74028229334069840442011-12-10T11:10:00.000-08:002011-12-10T11:10:45.141-08:00"Help Portrait" Free professional Portrait Day in the bay area<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This one is a little off topic for me, since it is happening right here at home.... but I stumbled across this and think it is good enough to share. So, people doing good here at home, here we go:<br />
<div class="clearfloat" id="stats"><br />
</div><strong><a href="http://community.help-portrait.com/groups/group/show?id=4007407%3AGroup%3A8751&xg_source=msg_mes_group">Help-Portrait</a></strong> is a global event during which photographers, videographers, makeup artists and other professionals worldwide work with nonprofits and community organizations to photograph individuals and families who wouldn’t normally have access to professional family photos and print them out so they have something to show their friends and families.<br />
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<em><strong>Do you NEED a free portrait</strong>? Here’s a test… if can afford an iphone, this event probably isn’t for you. The free portraits are meant for those living under the poverty line who are truly in need so that during Christmas time they can get a professional family portrait done free and clear.</em><br />
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<strong>Help-Portrait Bay Area Locations – 2011:</strong><br />
<ul><li><strong>Saint Vincent De Paul – 11am – 5pm</strong><br />
525 5th St, San Francisco</li>
<li><strong>Mission Economic and Development Center – 11am – 5pm</strong><br />
2301 Mission Street, STE 301, San Francisco</li>
<li><strong>BayView Opera House – 11am – 4pm</strong><br />
4705 3rd Street, San Francisco</li>
<li><strong>La Clinica – 10am – 4pm </strong> <div> <div> <div>3451 East 12th Street, 3rd Floor, Oakland</div></div></div></li>
<li><strong>The North County Women’s Center - 11am – 4pm</strong><br />
2362 Bancroft Way, Berkeley</li>
</ul></div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-38509925747986440872011-12-05T15:18:00.000-08:002011-12-10T11:12:36.792-08:00The Bali Children's Project<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="color: #bf9000; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Travel to places where children need laughs and inspire them.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">Sounds simple enough, yes?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"> </span><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Once we had decided on our project, the work really began. The first hurdle became researching and contacting organizations that would host us. My first Balinese contact was with the <a href="http://www.hidden-worlds.com/bcp/bcp.htm">The Bali Children's Project</a> who promoted themselves as an organization with volunteer possibilities. Since they are based in the states, they do make an effort to stay on top of e-mails and such, something that only really worked for contacting them. </span><span style="font-size: small;">For just about everywhere else it was a combination of phone calls that very quickly made clear the language barrier, or showing up unanounced --armed, of course, with our best charades for <i>can we do a circus show for the children</i>-- and hoping for the best. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Our inquiry began:</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>My name is Paula. My partner Tyler and I are teachers in California. We are now visiting Bali through the end of the month. After exploring your website, it seems like your organization has a network of schools throughout the country, and we would be very interested in getting involved. Besides having a background in preschool and elementary teaching, we are both circus teachers.</b><b><br />
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Our goal is to travel throughout Indonesia and offer a variety of circus theatre shows in local orphanages, schools, shelters, and other non-profit centers that cater to children. If you are interested in providing details of some of your school program locations, we'd be happy to do a quick circus theatre performance for your children. We are, of course, not charging for these presentations.<br />
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</b></span></div><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I look forward to hearing from you.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Best,</span> </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Paula</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"> </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Almost immediately I heard back from one of their California based directors who put us in touch with their Balinese coordinator, Eka. Now THIS is were the fun begins. Bless her heart, because what Eka lacks in organization and timeliness she makes up for in smiles and compassion. Our first meeting should have been the first clue, but even so we fell trap to her lack of forward planning more than once. Each time we arranged to meet her, we were given a time, date, and the name of a place... though never an actual address, or really even more than a vague description of the general vicinity in which to begin our search. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">On the first day we tromped off on what should have been a 15 minute drive to the main office of BCP. When we arrived an hour later we discovered that Eka had already left to a province in the far NW of the island-- 5 hours away. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">We set out up the mountain on our slick black motor bike armed with a map, two very small backpacks, big smiles, and big time hope that this long-shot would work out. This, like every coming appointment, was an adventure of driving in circles, repeatedly asking for directions, and finally finding out she'd sent us to a completely different part of the province than she actually wanted us. Near the top of the volcano we got caught in a rainstorm that ran us off the road, struggled to find edible food, and ended up in an $8 a night homestay with a million dollar view.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">When we finally made it to rural Munduk two days later, we found "Sanda House" hidden away down a dirt walking path in the middle of a rice field. When she arrived an hour late, the look of shock on her face that we'd actually found it was priceless. We now know that "just drive to Munduk and ask someone" is never a good sign. Thank goodness for Tyler's gift with maps and orientation. Anyone who knows me can attest to my lack of any sense of direction.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7g6TRl_WJww/Tt1Iemj26BI/AAAAAAAAAWk/FAe2I0qfdZI/s1600/P1060326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7g6TRl_WJww/Tt1Iemj26BI/AAAAAAAAAWk/FAe2I0qfdZI/s200/P1060326.JPG" width="150" /></a><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LET8pRpbmJI/Tt1HNWvF2yI/AAAAAAAAAWU/B3yNrixMPgQ/s320/P1060325.JPG" width="320" /></div><div style="color: #3d85c6; text-align: center;">Ty and his team at Sanda House study our route to the various schools</div><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">On the brighter (and less off road adventure) side, once we'd sat down with Eka to form a plan the tour began. Through the BCP we performed in four kindergartens that were all set-up and supported by the organization. These are all in rural villages where the emphasis on family value seems as high --and higher-- than the poverty level. </span>We'd arrive to be greeted by wide-eyed school children all running around in matching school uniforms. Now, in most parts of the world, Kindergarteners are small... but Indonesian kindergarteners are <i>tiny</i>. Over the course of the 30-minute performance, their looks of timid curiosity would evolve into smiles and then full on laughter. <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Though in many of the classes the children started off shy and almost skeptical of the oddly dressed westerners, by the end they were more than ready to join in. </span><br />
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<div style="color: #bf9000;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">And join in they did.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qBQBYUDzxu0/Tt1MHHTpViI/AAAAAAAAAW0/qVbNuj2YSQM/s1600/P1060424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qBQBYUDzxu0/Tt1MHHTpViI/AAAAAAAAAW0/qVbNuj2YSQM/s400/P1060424.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #3d85c6; text-align: center;">BCP Kindergarten; Goblek, Munduk</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ead1dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicPZ6MeYHDb_G7hmDJ69flQWprWNPCHgMOTAq6zzuSEAPa7Dq6KHzzKsrUQHYjHNl-4kP24oBIsh2tbIbv5ddRwJV7xVGkzCb1SpYQwQTGcR4nyEVeOUiWTilZIG3hy4zTgbrzveRg513H/s1600/P1060423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicPZ6MeYHDb_G7hmDJ69flQWprWNPCHgMOTAq6zzuSEAPa7Dq6KHzzKsrUQHYjHNl-4kP24oBIsh2tbIbv5ddRwJV7xVGkzCb1SpYQwQTGcR4nyEVeOUiWTilZIG3hy4zTgbrzveRg513H/s400/P1060423.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gKsjSLZHIVo/Tt1IFzyiXzI/AAAAAAAAAWc/UqJUpch-oJQ/s1600/P1060324.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gKsjSLZHIVo/Tt1IFzyiXzI/AAAAAAAAAWc/UqJUpch-oJQ/s320/P1060324.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="color: #3d85c6; text-align: center;">The rice field across from Sanda House</div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">About the BCP: "</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">For more than twelve years the Bali Children's Project has been quietly touching the lives of young people and their families. It grew from a simple desire to give back to the Balinese people, as a gesture of gratitude, something tangible in return for the joy and delight their warm welcome and rich culture have given to us. BCP programs are designed to integrate the demands of economic progress with the island’s traditional values." Over the years, they have </span><span style="font-size: small;">created rural kindergartens and pre-schools, provided ongoing teacher training, provided classroom materials and enhancements to the schools they support, and more. They are always looking for <a href="http://www.hidden-worlds.com/bcp/text/bcp_volunteering.htm">volunteers</a> who are independent and adaptable, self-motivated and energetic. Particularly welcome are those with special skills and who are able to stay for a prolonged visit. Experienced teachers, particularly those with ESL and Montessori training are always in demand, as are health and dental professionals.</span></div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539377565666019640.post-26456633801454169302011-11-24T20:34:00.000-08:002011-11-24T20:47:35.972-08:00Have Heart; Get Out; Do Good...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">It's not always so easy.<br />
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Two months into this Southeast Asia adventure and I am even more convinced than before that in order to do significant good abroad you need an unlimited amount of a) patience, diligence, and time; or b) an unlimited pocketbook. There are plenty of people out there interested in volunteer work and other ways to give back while traveling to another country, but opportunities are like hidden jewels, you have to buy them or search hard.<br />
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I, for one, do not have an open pocketbook- so for me only the first option exists. To do the projects we've done across Indonesia and Thailand (highlighted later) it's been a series of back-roads travel, hard work, research, phone calls, and sometimes even begging. There are a few reasons for why it is so complicated. First of all, there are scams and big money organizations waiting to place you-- for the right price-- clouding the search engines. If you can get past that to doing the research and making contact yourself, often the organizations that would benefit most from the help are the ones too disorganized to accept it. There is the struggle to know where the most help is needed, what organizations are honest, where the money goes, and how to make it happen. All these hurdles can turn perfectly giving individuals away. And if one goes the organized volunteer placement route the first hardship is simply the expense of it- travel lodging, volunteer fees-- you need a pocketbook to match your heart.<br />
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For every show we did out here (3 shelters, 3 orphanages, and 4 kindergartens) there was an average of at least 3 hours of research and planning. Not to mention the language gap. Time constraints, applications, studying up, making contact, miscommunications, and lost in translations... Chore after chore, and for what? Children's laughter, stronger communities, a human connection, and a bond across continents and cultures.<br />
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It started as two circus performing teachers in Indonesia who wanted to do good and be around children.<br />
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We connected with two organizations that support orphaned and poverty stricken children.<br />
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Two teachers, two islands, two organizations, and a slick black motor bike.<br />
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Hence began our performance tour of Bali and Lombok.</div>Paula Greenspanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023912646473369945noreply@blogger.com2Ubud, Bali, Indonesia-8.4973881 115.2658424-8.5593781 115.2396734 -8.4353981 115.29201139999999