April 16, 2008

As I quickly approach the end of my expedition, some adventures are coming to end and some are just beginning. Thanks to the help of organizations like Jakarta International School’s Tolong Anak-Anak and Yayasan Emannuel’s Water Program, I’ve been able to work with such a large variety of students from villages, schools and outreach programs all across Jakarta.

This week started out with the performance with the Cilincing kids in the kampung of Tanjung Priok. I was very excited about this show because I felt like it was a great way to reward these kids for all their hard work, and it was also a great way to wrap up our project in this neighborhood. I picked up 2 buses from Jakarta International School around 8am and began the hike to Cilincing. When I got in the bus, I realized that they had TV screens with a DVD player. I had the drivers swing by my house on the way up and I picked up a few circus videos that I’d brought with me. When I arrived at Cilincing there was a sea of red shirts waiting in front of the kampung. As the buses pulled in, all the kids began to jump up and down shouting with glee. One of the mothers told me that the girls didn’t sleep until 11pm the night before and that they were up at 6am, showering and ironing their t-shirts and clown pants so they’d be ready when I got there at 11am! It was great to see all the kids at one time again. So often during the course of lessons the kids would have to miss class because their school schedule continuously changes. We loaded into the buses and I had the videos already playing. The kids were so excited that there were TV’s inside the bus. We drove to Tanjung Priok which was about a thirty minute drive and arrived to several hundred people, eagerly awaiting our arrival. The YE staff was already there and had just finished their Earth Day event, where they planted tree and plants, and taught the community about important ways of taking care of their environment.




We roped off a stage area and started to prepare for the show. I quickly put on my clown gear and gathered the kids in a circle. A few of the girls were very nervous and pulled me away from the circle to ask me a question, “What if we mess up and they laugh at us?” I replied, “If you drop, pick it up and try again. If they laugh, that’s great because you’re clowns! You want the audience to laugh at you.” I watched the girls faces as they processed my answer. “Are you sure kak Dan?” “I’m sure,” I replied and smiles came back to their nervous faces and we joined the circle. I taught the kids a ritual that one of my professors in college would tell us before the show. “Bagus, aman, senang ‘tunjucan!” Good, Safe, Fun show! We said it three times, the first whispering and the last yelling! Then I hit play on the iPod and began the show.


The show was a combination of my show, with their acts from the WWW intermingled in between each of my acts. The audience had a blast and more importantly, the kids were lit up like stars in the sky. The same girls who wouldn’t participate in lessons if the boys were in the room were now running to center ring to show a crowd of around 250 strangers their tricks they learned. And, they weren’t just doing the tricks but they were performing! Smiling, styling, laughing and making the audience laugh with them. It was such a beautiful moment for me as their teacher that it was difficult for me to control my emotions and not tear up a little. What a cool experience! After the show we all came back out on stage and did one final group tada and the audience went wild.

After the crowd had dispersed and the kids had loaded the equipment into the buses, I gathered everyone in a circle again. I thanked the kids from the bottom of my heart for joining the lessons and for helping share their love and joy for circus with the village of Tanjung Priok. I told them that this would be our last meeting until next year, and that I hoped they’d continue to practice their juggling and other circus skills while I was gone. A few of the girls started to tear up a little bit and I told them they didn’t have to be said. They could use our circus experience together to help feel good. They’d now always have these great memories of learning, laughing and performing together and nothing could ever take that away. The kids came around and shook my hand, touched it to their cheek, head, chin or lips and then we loaded back into the buses to return home.

When we got back to Cilincing, the rest of their families were all waiting for the children’s arrival. They all ran out of the buses shouting things like, “there were so many people in the audience”, “it was so much fun”, and “The Buses have TV’s in them!!!” I thanked the ibus and bapaks of the village for allowing me to teach their children and said, “Sampai tahun depan” See ya next year!
Monday was my last day with the Rawamangun children. Instead of having the kids come to JIS to have another lesson, I thought it would be a nice ending if I came to their kampung and performed a show for their whole community. And since these children were just a little bit to young to try and organize a show, it worked out great as a finale! When I arrived at Rawamangun with two JIS students from Circus club, who’d been helping teach these kids along with me, 40 plus children greeted us. I recognized some of the kids and hadn’t yet met many of them. We were invited into the home of an retired JIS Indonesian employee who lived in front of the kampung and was the JIS’s point person for working with these kids. We drank raspberry tea and I explained to her husband how I’d like the event to happen. All I need was an electrical socket and a carpet to perform on. After our tea, I suited up and headed out to the street. All of the kids who were waiting in the driveway of the house laughed and screamed at me and then followed to the community badminton court. It was about a five-minute walk, and the number of children and adults following doubled if not tripled. I hooked up the stereo and we began the show.


As I was performing, people walking by joined the crowd to see what was going on. Not only was there loud music playing, but there was an expat clown performing in their village. After the show, we took lots of pictures together and then circled up. The kids had a few songs that they wanted to sing for us and afterwards one of the moms pulled me aside and told me that here son and daughter had prepared a special song to sing to me. The daughter because to shy to sing in front of such a large crowd but the boy sang a beautiful song in English called “Thank you, my teacher”. It was such a sweet moment.


We then followed the kids back to their kampung so that all the kids could show us their houses. To get to the kampung, we had to climb a ladder over a wall. I tried to figure out why there was a door or gate to get back into the village but no one could give me an answer. The kampung was possibly the worst living conditions I’ve seen all year. The houses were all connected under tin scrap roofing with very little sunlight able to get through. And since there were only a few light bulbs supplying light, it was very dark. We walked through the village and the kids introduced me to their uncles and aunts and showed me were they slept, and watched tv and did their homework. When we came out from the housing unit, I realized why there was not entrance into their village. They were living in the back yard of a lumber plant. I’m not sure if they were squatting or actually renting the land. A few of the children had houses outside the kampung, so we climbed back of the wall and and walked to their houses. By this point, it was getting dark and the two JIS kids that were with me were in the middle of IB Mock Exams, so we headed back to south Jakarta.

Tuesday I traveled to Pulo Kandung, a village in northeast Jakarta. Pulo Kandung is another community that Yayasan Emmanuel works with. When we arrived to Pulo Kandung, the village was much different than others I’d visited. The entire kampung was built up about five feet off the ground. The boardwalks between houses consisted of any kind of scrap wood they could find. Even though this community is built on stilts, they still suffer from bad floods and continuously have to repair their flooring. When I walked to the edge of the boardwalk and looked over the side, the green bushes were filled with trash, playing cards and clothing that had fallen from the drying racks. Mita, the YE point person, explained to me that when the area floods, the trash all rises and flows into their homes and community areas.


After walking through the kampung and taking a few pictures of kids hanging around, I was showed to my performance and lesson space. My performance space was the community musholla and as I arrived, an event was just finishing. I have often taught in mushollas, but had yet to perform in one. I realized that I would be wearing clown shows for my show, and it is disrespectful to wear shoes in a religious building. I found the head of the mosque and explained to him what I was doing, and asked him if it would be okay to wear the shoes inside. He hesitated for a moment before I pulled the shoes out of my trunk, then he started laughing. “You’re going to wear those?!?” He said that if I cleaned the soles of the shoes first, it would be fine. So I cleaned them, and then set up for the show.
By the time I’d finished setting up, a crowd of around 50 had gathered. As I was passing out clown noses, I realized that there were no men in the musholla, but instead they were gathered around the doorways and looking through the windows. I invited them to come in, but they preferred to stay outside. After everyone had a clown nose and was ready for me to start, I began. The kids and women loved the show, and I even caught a few of the men laughing from outside the room.

After the show we broke up into three groups and learned spinning plates, scarves and flower sticks. It was interesting in this village how involved the mothers were in the learning process. They wanted to play just as much as the kids and they were very helpful with assisting the younger ones when they didn’t get it right away. After about an hour of workshop, we packed up and headed on, leaving behind us a village full of smiling and giggling boys, girls, women and men.


Wednesday morning we went to a village called, Bintaro Baru. On the way south to Bintaro, Mita asked me if I was comfortable working with the kids on my own, because she had other things she needed to do. She explained that she’d have her cell phone in case there was a problem, and that put me at ease. A problem that often happens in some of the more rural villages is less a problem with the children, but with the Ibu’s(adult women) pushing and shoving and not really listening to directions. Luckily at this village there were none of those problems.


There were about twenty kids when I arrived and we pulled a carpet in middle of the outdoor living room. I decided to perform on the edge of the street, because I was sure that would attract attention from passers by. And today, there were plenty of people. It was the last day that the government was supplementing oil for this village. So everyone was lined up, with large buckets and oil tanks, tying them all to a string, and then pushing them down the rope like an assembly line. I ask why this was they last day, and was told, “we don’t know. For years they’ve come every month, but now, they won’t return.” The people were very concerned how they were going to afford this oil at regular price, and how they’d do without it.

I could tell the kids were getting antsy waiting for me, and the loud music had already drawn a crowd of nearly a hundred. So I decided to start. I preformed the show, balancing things from around the village on my chin. I expected the show to be less received than others because of the stress in the air, but it was almost the opposite of what I expected. The adults were laughing and screaming just as loudly as the children and when I finished it was difficult for me to explain to the adults and teenagers, that I only had enough equipment for the twenty kids to play. The workshops went great and many of the older audience stayed to enjoy the laughter coming from the circus area. After we finished I thanked the kids and headed back to Pondok Indah to teach the JIS kids Circus Club.

Thursday morning I woke and boarded a JIS bus to head out to their elementary school on the other side of town. It was important for me to perform at this school for many reasons. Mainly because I wanted to show all these children that there were many different ways to give back to our society and that believe it or not, there are also many different career opportunities that kids just like them (me) can do and be successful. The show was a wonderful success and I was glad to make the connection with the Principal and Vice Principal of this school. After the show, the Vice Principal took me across the street to a low income Indonesian high school that they often work with. I sat down in the head masters office and tried to explain what it was I was offering and that I was only asking for a place to perform and an audience. When he realized we weren’t asking for money, he was very excited and scheduled me to perform there next week!

Thursday afternoon, I picked up my two IB theater clowns that have been working a lot with me, and we drove out to Jakarta’s Central Cancer Hospital, Dharmais. I tried to warn the two high school seniors what it would be like inside the hospital. How important it was to be aware and respectful, and that if a kid didn’t laugh, that didn’t mean they weren’t funny. Maybe the kid didn’t feel like laughing, maybe they were enjoying just watching but they were in to much pain to laugh.

Once we got inside and started going into the rooms, I think the HS kids understood what I was talking about. They followed my lead very closely and made a few really great moments. There was one point in one of the rooms that absolutely broke my heart. If the kids weren’t too sick to sit up, I would let them hold a spinning plate stick and I’d help them spin it. After I helped one of the boys, he was so excited and couldn’t stop talking about the other kids at his house. He kept asking me, “Om, Kamu bisa ke rumah saya? Ada banyak anak disana juga. Tolong dateng ke rumah saya.” (Uncle, can you come to my house? There are lots of children there too. Please come to my house.) I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to tell him yes, and then never show up, and I didn’t want to tell him no and hurt his feelings. This boy was so ill, it didn’t seem like he was going home himself, and it felt like his insistence on inviting me to his house was a way for him to be home in his head. I told him that I’d love to come to his house, but that I had to go back to my house in America in just a few days, so I wouldn’t be able to make it this trip. But I told him, when he sees all those kids at home, he should tell them stories all about the clowns at the hospital, so they can enjoy this experience too. After about 45 minutes the rooms, it was time for us to leave. I ask the two students what their experience was like, and they were so happy to have been a part of this visit. I was glad they had been a part of it too.

Friday morning I drove north again with Yayasan Emmanuel to the village of Teluk Gong. It was a very hot day and when we opened the car door, the putrid smell of human waste rose from the river in front of the kampung. One of the YE team members could see the look on my face, and pointed to a platform over the river with two half-wall stalls. “Those are their public toilets for the entire kampung. There is no running water or sewage in any of the homes.” I took a closer look at the platforms and they were simply holes, in which the waste went directly into the river below. The team showed me to the home that I’d be performing in. The venue was a storefront and a space about 2 meters by 3 meters had been cleared for me to perform in.


All the kids gathered around and put on their clown noses. They all enjoyed the show. However, the girls did not want to participate in the workshop. I couldn’t figure out if it was because they were embarrassed to play in front of the boys, or if they were just simply not interested. When the workshop was over, the girls came up to me and ask if they could show their dance that they’d been working on. We found a cd player and let the girls perform their dance. It’s funny how these girls chose to use the same popular song, “I think I’m Sexy” by Indonesian equivalent to Fergie or Britney Spears. Their dance was a replica of the music video and seemed mildly inappropriate for pre teenage girls to be doing in such a conservative culture. But, the mom’s were all watching and clapping and thought it was great.


Saturday was our JIS and OMC circus day. Last week, I gave all the kids CWB t-shirts and sure enough, today all the OMC kids were wearing their shirts. We practiced group and partner activities today. Instead of juggling alone in the corner, I urged kids to juggle in partners or practice stealing. The kids working on diablos worked on passing with a group and the plate spinners started putting together a routine. This was our last practice before the JIS Spring Fair where the kids would have their final performance. I tried to express how important it was that no one stress about this performance. I explained to them much like I did to the Cilincing children, we’ve worked hard and learned a skill, and now it’s our turn to share this skill with this audience. As long as we have fun sharing it, they’ll have fun receiving it. The kids were all excited as we put together our finale act of partner acrobatics and group pyramids.

Another finish to another great week. It’s hard to believe that next week will be my last! I’m already beginning to create plans for another trip next year.

April 10, 2008

What an incredible week! The week started out with a bang and continued at the same energy and enthusiasm all the way through. The week started out with the World Water Day celebration in Cilincing.

Yayasan Emmanuel did a fantastic job preparing and organizing this event. It was truly a special thing to be a part of. I arrived to Cilincing after the majority of the YE crew. By the time I arrived, there were booths set up all around the parking area in front of the kampung. And in the center was a covered stage, two truckloads of sand piled next to it, and an pavilion with about one hundred seats set up nicely. Many of the local people were wearing old JIS PE t-shirts signifying that they were working at the event. There were booths displaying the significance of planting trees in your village with diagrams, books and pictures. One booth displayed the recycled trash program that YE started, where one community finds trash, cleans it and then sews it together to make things like wallets, garbage cans and purses. There were booths displaying and explaining ceramic water filtration, chlorination techniques, water testing, rainwater collecting systems as well as sign in booths and food and beverage stations. Scattered around the lot were also buckets of water with faucets and bars of soap for washing hands as well as garbage cans and bags titled, “Tempat Sampah” (place for trash).

The two truckloads of sand next to the stage were for the circus. Instead of using sawdust for our ring, we decided to use sands so that when the event was over the people could use the sand to spread around the ground where they had only shells and trash.


When I got out of the van at Cilincing I was pleased to be greeted by a mob of children screaming, “’kak dan! ‘kak dan!” Everybody had questions about the show and wanted to know when we were going to start and if they could practice before the show and if I’d brought the clown noses like I promised. It was great to see them all so excited about performing. Some of the kids helped me haul all the gear into the musholla and then we all went outside to enjoy the event. YE had prepared groups to sing, dance, read poetry, perform a skit about the water cycle and of course the CIRCUS!


As I watched the kids perform their acts before the circus, I was disappointed because they weren’t smiling while they were dancing and singing and as soon as the finished their performances they all ran as fast as the could off stage and into the musholla. After the first group had finished, I walked over to where all the kids were sitting and asked them, “When you finish a trick in the circus, what do you do?” They all replied, “Tada!!!” I then explained that performing a dance or song was no different then juggling on stage. After you finish anything on stage, you have to take your bow (or in our case, Tada!). They all realized the similarities and then said that next time on stage, they’d be sure to tada. And sure enough they finished their act and shouted tada, as they were running off stage. This time I went back to the kid’s waiting space and told them that their tada was fantastic. “Next time, make sure you wait on stage long enough for the audience to applaud your amazing skills!” They all giggled and laughed and said they’d be sure to the next time they went out on stage, which was the circus acts.


At this point in the after noon, its at least 95°F outside and I am, once again, covered in sweat. Literally five minutes before the circus started, a torrential rain decided to come through. Everybody rain for cover on the stage, under the pavilion and booths and in the musholla. Luckily it only rained for about 15 minutes before the blaring sun returned and only a few out of the two hundred plus people didn’t stick around. While it was raining, I gave all the kids their red Clowns Without Borders T-Shirts and their clown pants that YE had made for them as well as their red clown noses. They were all so excited and looked absolutely wonderful!


Once the rain stopped, we began our show! I started out balancing a few things on my chin to help gather any stragglers. The kids were so excited to hear the awe and applause that came when they performed their skills. After each trick their styles and smiles got bigger and brighter.


By the end of the skills portion of their show, they were jumping so high in the air to tada and sing such enthusiasm through their voices that some of the audience members even started to tada as they applauded! When the kids performed their two clowns acts, they shined so bright it made me tear up watching! The audience laughed hard and constant through out both clown acts, and of course when they finished, the kids filled the space with their joyous, “Tada!”




After the circus was over, I brought all the kids into the musholla to praise them and tell them how proud I was of them. The buzz was so strong that I couldn’t get them to stop jumping up and down and screaming about their favorite part of the show. After a while of sitting back and enjoying their excitement, they calmed down and I told them that they could keep the clown pants and t-shirts, which sent them into another frenzy of excitement. All the kids thanked me and then helped me bring things back to the car.
Absolutely exhausted, thirsty and hotter than I think I’ve ever been. I snuck into a toko (street shop) to buy a big bottle of water and sit in front of the shade. The people running the toko were very excited that I was there and brought a fan and set it right in front of me. They told me how much they loved the show and the work I was doing with their children. After a nice five-minute rest, I reemerged into the event and helped YE with little things that needed to be done.



I left the World Water Day event at Cilincing feeling great about the work that these kids had done, the things they’d learned and the joy that they’d showed through their performance. I hope that this is a day and event that they will remember for a long time from now.





Monday was my class with Rawamangun. Class was great as usual. The kids were excited to be there and they love learning all the cool circus tricks that I teach them. This was the last day for their circus classes this spring, so I tried to make sure that the kids had a chance to play with any of the equipment that they desired to play with. About half way through class, there was a request to “main badut” (play clown). So, of course we played clown! After class was over, Ibu Madrik (the JIS connection to the Rawamangun village) asked if I’d like to come visit the children’s kampung next week. I said, “absolutely! And I’ll bring the high school students that have been helping teach the kids!” She was very excited and said we could eat at her house, which was just outside the kampung and that there was a field I could perform my show on where all the brothers and sisters of the kids that had been coming to class could come and watch.

JIS circus club was filled with the usual suspects. And, these kids never cease to impress me with their dedication to and success with circus! At the end of class, I asked the kids if they’d like to perform at the JIS spring fair with the OMC kids and they were all very interested. I told them I’d try to make the connections with the fair organizers and we’d go from there. I was able to connect the dots quickly thanks to Ms. Andrews at JIS, so the plans were made before the end of the week.


Thursday was my last class in Cilincing. When I arrived, things were back to normal. The booths had all been taken down and the sand had been taken to places where they needed sand. Our normal meeting places were both being occupied, so we went to one of the children’s houses that had a long hallway type living room. I was surprised when I opened the back door, to see the ocean waves splashing up to the house.



I taught the kids a lot of partner tricks today and tricks that they’d not learned yet. We also worked on performing individually in front of the group. Some of the kids wandered out onto the rocks outside to show their older siblings some of the new tricks that they’d learned. I called everyone back into the living room and we sat down in a circle. I told the kids about this wild idea I had, to bring them to another kampung across town with me next week. They could perform their show and then help me teach, but only if they wanted to. They didn’t all answer immediately, but after a little contemplation, every one decided that it was something they’d really like to do. I told them to all make sure that their clown pants and red shirts were clean and ready to wear. Many of the girls said they had already washed them and they were going to iron them tonight. There were a few kids that didn’t get shirts and pants because they weren’t at the show and I told them that I’d be sure to bring extra for everybody. I talked to JIS the next day and asked if it was possible for JIS to loan me a school bus to pick up the Cilincing kids, bring them to Tanjung Priok (a different village) and then bring the kids back to Cilincing when the show/ workshop was over. Without even thinking twice, Julie Rusnak, the activities director pulled out a bus request form, filled it out and signed it. I’m very lucky to have such great supporters like JIS on my side!

Next week is going to be great. I’m booked to perform everyday in several different kampungs, orphanages, tutoring centers, an elementary school and a hospital!

March 23, 2008

This week was slightly truncated, due to public holidays on Thursday and Friday. However, the work that happened Monday through Wednesday was inspiring and reenergizing.


On Monday, I taught the Rawamangun kids in the Small Gym instead of the MPR, because of JIS’s IB Mock Exams. It was also for this reason that my JIS seniors could only come for the first twenty minutes or so. I was very pleased that even though they had to study for very important exams, they still came to work with the kids for as much time as their parents allowed them. I think they are really enjoying this work and seeing the significance it has in the lives of these young children that they’re teaching.




We started out today with a little review and free time of the skills that we’d already learned. It’s great to see the progress that the children are making with only a few classes. After we finished this portion of the class, I introduced the students to clown!

It’s always an exciting day for me when I introduce the kids to clown. They always seem to have so much fun and so do I! We started out, as usual, with the clown statues. They were very timid at first and would only copy exactly the action that I did and when I stopped doing actions to see if they’d make up their own, they didn’t. Even though they weren’t quite getting the exercise, they were all having fun watching me make different clown statues so I continued. After we’d gone through all the emotions, I let the kids call out some emotions that a clown might have. It was at this point that some of the older kids really started getting into the game. And of course, as soon as the bigger kids got into, the little ones were not far behind to join in on the fun.

Before class had started, I quickly showed the clown act “Dead or Alive” to Kelly (one of my seniors), who at this point in class had already stayed passed the time she was meant to leave. I asked her if she wanted to demo the clown act with me, or if she needed to go. Her choice was to stay and teach clown to the little ones with me, so we demoed the clown act to a group of 25 children rolling on the mats. After the demo, with only a little difficulty we managed to get the kids lined up in two rows facing their partners. I walked the kids through the steps of the clown act, reminding them to open their eyes wide and look at the audience (their mothers).

After we ran through the act a few times, I ask if anybody would like to perform the clown act with their partner alone on stage. Almost every single hand shot up in the air. Not expecting so many kids to be so courageous, I quickly changed the offer to, half the kids perform and half watch, then switch. After all, the bus to take the kids back to Rawamangun was going to leave in twenty minutes. They all performed their clown acts for each other, and the audience laughed hysterically at all the funny bits. It was exciting to watch their confidence and courage to be funny grow each time the audience laughed. By the end of the second group, some of the kids were acting down right hilarious, making me and the mothers laugh almost harder than the kids! After we finished our performing, we sang a song and said our goodbyes.



Tuesday was a particularly new and exciting day. Thanks to a connection from Ibu Endah, the Indonesian Language teacher at JIS, I was scheduled to perform at an Indonesian school in Bogor, a small town north of Jakarta.



As promised, a van picked me up at my house in Pondok Indah at 630am and my two volunteers and I loaded up, and headed off to Bogor. After the hour and a half trip north, we arrived at a very large school surrounded by the beautiful scenery of Bogor. We were far enough outside the city to see a blue sky and the sun beat down on our heads as we unloaded the van.

Greeted by several very excited teachers, we were shown to the performance space, a beautiful gazebo type building, big enough to fit 600 kids at a time with a stage in the far corner.
There were several fans around the perimeter of the second floor performance space, however they did very little to combat the ever rising temperature with each minute we crept into the afternoon. We were promptly introduced to the head master of the school and brought several bottles of water along with a few snacks.

After the introductions, I began to set up my show and work out the logistics of working in this new space. There was a sound system available, that I connected my boom box to so that I could control the music via remote. We were finished setting up just about the time the students were released from class for recess. I turned on some circus music and quickly changed into my clown gear. The blaring trumpets of Merle Evans attracted many of the student’s curiosity. They began to poke their heads around through the entrance of the Gedung Besar (Large Building) to see what was going on. As soon as they realized they’d been noticed, they quickly retreated to the play areas.
Originally, the performance was just going to be for grades 1-3 and as they started arriving, I was approached by one of the organizing teachers and asked if it would be alright if fourth grade joined too. Of course my answer was “Absolutely! The more the merrier!” About five minutes later, the same teacher came up and asked, “would it be alright if the fifth and sixth grade joined also?” And, I said, “Totally, invited everyone to join. In fact, invite the high school as well if you like.” It turned out that they were in mid semester exams so they weren’t available, however by the time all the students had arrived there were over five hundreds excited kids chit chatting together.

Before I began, Ibu Senta (one of the organizing teachers) gave me a very nice introduction. She explained that I was in Jakarta on a social mission to bring the joy of circus and clown to children who were not always happy. She explained to the kids that they were lucky because they were happy at home and happy at school. And, because I was coming to perform for them, even though they were not underprivileged, it was now their responsibility to give back to those in their communities that weren’t as fortunate as they were. It was a very touching speech and I feel like it was a great start to raising awareness for the need to work socially in our communities.

As soon as her speech was finished, I began my show. I started out by telling all of the kids that I needed them to “Maju depan, maju depan!”(Come closer to the front) As soon as they’d all settled, I decided that I needed them to, “Mundur, mundur mundur!”(Back away) And, as soon as they were settled, I asked them to move forward again. This trickery went on for several minutes, the kid’s reactions getting louder and funnier each time. When I thought they’d had enough of my games, I began the very difficult task of climbing the three steps to the stage. The laughter was so enthusiastic and readily available, it was at this point that I knew this was going to be a lot of fun.

My show went fifteen minutes longer than it usually does, because the kids were so ready and available to be played with. I was able to do things that normally get laughs once or twice, three or four times and the laughter got louder and louder each time. By the end of the show I was drenched in sweat and my face was as red as a tomato. We held an abbreviated talk back after the show, where the kids raised their hands and asked me questions like; “How long have you been practicing to balance that ladder on your chin?” or “Does your mom know you spin plates on sticks, won’t she get mad if you drop them?” My favorite question came after the talk back was over and we were eating lunch. A young girl came up to me at my table and asked me if I ever practiced so hard that I bleed. I tried to explain to her that I practiced very hard and sometimes my muscles were sore, but if you were bleeding, then that wasn’t good. She replied with a sigh of relief, “Good, because I don’t like bleeding”. Then smiled and went back to her lunch.


After lunch, I gave workshops to several of the classes and they were all very excited. The workshops were short because there were so many classes, but everybody seemed to have a good time. Even some of the teachers were trying things and ever room was filled with the sounds of laughter, squeals of success and applause.


On Wednesday, we traveled north to Cilincing. Cilincing is usually our Thursday project, however with the Red Letter days and Easter weekend, this was the last time I could make it before the World Water Week performance.

We spent today putting together our show. Some of the kids seemed a little nervous, so I tried to remind them that our show was for fun. We have a gift that we’re going to give to the audience and that gift is our happiness and excitement on stage. I told them that as a performer, you have the power to affect the audience’s experience. If you smile on stage, the audience will smile back at you. If you drop your juggling ball but don’t make a big deal about it, the audience won’t make a big deal about it. I feel like after our conversation, nerves were eased and kids started to respond to what I was saying. If a kid wasn’t smiling while they were practicing, all I had to do was shoot a big smile their way and they immediately smiled as big as they could.





Class went wonderfully and it was a great way to leave them before we performed for their community the next week.

March 18, 2008

The week started out with a bang with the children from Rawamungun. They arrived at JIS on time and ready to play! We introduced two new skills to the kids as well as practicing two old skills. Class started out by breaking into three groups. A few JIS seniors headed up the spinning plate and flower stick groups, and I worked with the kids on the rolling globe. At first all the kids were very timid about the globe. “It’s a giant blue ball and you want us to stand on it?” After I demonstrated, I still hadn’t won many of them over. In fact, it wasn’t until one of the youngest girls wondered over from a different group and asked if she could try that the others decided, it might not be as scary as they’d imagined. The little girl, just barely four years old, stood in front of me, held on to my wrists and hoped up onto the globe. I held the globe still with my knees and she stood up straight with confidence and a great big smile. It is at this point when I generally tell kids to walk like a penguin. Whoever, I didn’t know the word in Indonesian for “Penguin”. I thought quickly how I was going to explain this to her, and then it hit me, “Happy Feet!” the movie about dancing penguins. She then started bobbing up and down and giggling on top of the globe. When her turn was finished, I reminded her to style and she let out a great big, “Tada!” The group of older kids all cheered and applauded. When I asked who wanted to go next, every single hand shot up in the air.
While I taught globe, the other two groups were lead by JIS seniors and they did a fantastic job keeping the kids calm, yet excited! And, at the end of the day, the children were learning the skills faster than I’d expected them to at such a young age. At the end of class, we broke up into four groups and taught them a simple introduction to juggling called, the “Scarf Machine”. I broke the kids into groups based on their age and gave the older three groups to the JIS seniors to work with. I took the youngest group, knowing that they’d have the most trouble with this exercise. After we spent a little time learning the trick, each group performed for the others. It was really great to see each group jump up to the stage when it was their turn, without hesitation or bashfulness. And, what was even greater to see was how they just had a blast performing for each other. It didn’t matter if they did the trick perfectly or didn’t catch one scarf, they finished their time on stage with bright, gleaming “tadas” and their peer audience gave them great response to their enthusiasm.

We ended class with a song, which has become tradition with this group. They sang a song called, “Hari ini Aku Senang!”(Today, I’m happy!). It was a great way to end class, as all the kids are cheerfully singing and clapping. Even my high school students were clapping along to the song and having a great time.

Wednesday was our JIS Circus Club, and we had a very large turn out this week. Around 15 kids showed up and it was great to see the ones who’d been there since the beginning, jump right into the teacher position and show the new kids how to do all the stuff. All the kids had a blast and two more students began to learn how to pass juggling rings. This is a great step for them on their skill ladder and I was very proud. Even the new students were learning the beginning steps quickly and having a great time while they were doing it. I try to keep this club as laid back and relaxed as possible, so we play music over the stereo and kids are allowed to leave when they need to for sports and other after school activities that don’t start immediately after school. I think this club is really serving its purpose of supporting JIS students interest in circus and its also facilitating the creation of some great circus teachers!

Thursday was another early morning. I piled in the jeep along with the members of Yayasan Emmanuel and headed up north to Cilincing. The big event is coming up soon and today as spent preparing the kids for this event.

YE will celebrate World Water Week at Cilincing on March 30, 2008 starting at 9am. For directions and any questions, please contact Mita, msirait@yewaterprogram.org.

The kids are all very excited about the performance and the closer it gets, the more details we tell them, which excites them even more! Today, I introduced a few new circus props to the kids, and reviewed all the previous things we’d learned. I introduced the walking globe, box juggling and ring juggling. Some of the kids were very interested in trying the new props and others were more interested in sticking with the skills they’d learned already. I had a blast watching the kids practice and giving them pointers on different technique that they could change to excel more quickly.



After the skills portion of the class, we practiced our clown acts for the March 30th event. The boys have become more and more specific about their actions and connecting with the audience. And, the girls have stopped being so shy and embarrassed about being goofy and they’ve really started to make the group of people poking their heads through the doors laugh. It was a nice moment, when I watched one the Ibus (mothers) watch through the glass of the musholla as the girls practiced their clown act. The Ibu started out with a scowl on her face, watching almost in disapproval. Then as the girls started to bump into each other and get into the slapstick parts of the act, she started laughing a little, but not too much. By the end of the clown act, I think that she was clapping and laughing louder than any of the kids who were watching.

At the end of the class, I sat everybody down and we talked about the show. I asked if any body was going to be too shy to perform in front of a large crowd. In the boy’s class, they laughed and screamed, “No way!” I expected a much different reaction from the girl’s class, but to my surprise, they all said they were ready and excited to perform in front of people and as long as they could practice again next week, they’d be fine! I told them that next week we’d have class on Wednesday since Thursday is a holiday and then we concluded class with our usual, “Go Circus!” huddle. Some of the girls helped my roll my globe out to the jeep and two of the boys carried the trunk for me. We are all very excited about the event coming up at the end of the month and I know the kids will be fantastic!


We had class with the OMC kids on Sunday this week, because some of them couldn’t make it on Saturday. We started out class with our usual warm up and stretching. I introduced the splits to these kids today. Some were more excited about it than others, but everyone tried their best and didn’t moan too much about the stretches being uncomfortable. I explained to the students about the difference between a bad pain and an uncomfortable stretch. I told them that pain was bad, uncomfortable was normal when stretching. I think they all understood because through out the rest of the stretches when we’d lower into a deep stretch, they just took deep breathes and stretched as deep as they could. After the stretching we worked on our basic tumbling acrobatics. Luckily, JIS has some great gymnastic equipment that they’ve offered us usage of. We worked on backwards somersaults and cartwheels, as well as continuing our practice of handstands.

Then we moved onto partner acrobatics. I was most impressed when one of the youngest girls volunteered to base another girl in a two high (shoulder stand)! The older girl was hesitant, but urged by her younger partner and the rest of the group; she climbed to the shoulders and was able to stand comfortably for nearly 30 seconds. When she came down, I asked the girl on the bottom if she was okay, and she replied, “Siapa lagi?”(Who’s next?) I also introduced group pyramids today. Sadly, my camera was out of battery so we couldn’t capture any of them in pictures, but the group did a great job working together, spotting each other and succeeding at some intermediate level pyramids!


After the pyramids we had open circus skills and everyone worked very hard. There were a few girls who still hadn’t learned how to juggle, who spent the entire time, in front of the fan, juggling. By the end of class, they had definitely improved!

This trip has been such a wonderful experience for me so far and I can’t believe it is more than half way through! I can’t wait for some of the groups to begin performing publicly some of the skills they’ve been learning. I know that they will be absolutely wonderful!

March 12, 2008

It was a slow week in Jakarta. Due to some transportation issues and some mis-communications, there were several groups that I didn’t get to work with this week. However, the projects that I did work with went wonderfully!

Cilincing was fantastic as usual. We were back in the musholla again this week and started with the girls first. Class began with some juggling and plate spinning. It was great for me to see how much the kids have learned in the few weeks that I’ve been around teaching them. After the juggling skills portion of class, we practice our clown act, “Tunggu disini!”(Stay right here). It was great to see how much bolder and less inhibited the girls were being today. Even though there were a lot of people watching them as the practiced, they seemed to care less today than they have in the past. This is a great success for their performing process. I think that they will be fantastic in the show at the end of this month.



During the girl’s class ‘Pak Parno, a member of Yayasan Emmanuel, helped the boys finish making their juggling balls. When we started the boy’s class, I was amazed that almost all of them were able to juggle. It was obvious that they’d all been practicing through the week! We spent time juggling and working on our partner juggling skills. Then we began to work on the boy’s clown act for the big show. Most of the boys remembered the act and were very funny!



After class, while we were hanging around outside, waiting for the rest of the YE team to finish, I noticed that all the kids had begun to call me, “’kak dan” instead of “mister”. ‘kak means big brother in Indonesian is a sign of respect and endearment when used to address someone. Another touching moment happened when we were getting ready to leave, several of the kids came to shake our hands and give us high fives as usual. Several of the children shook my hand and placed it to their forehead, which is another sign of respect that young children are taught to do to their elders in the village. While I will always be a foreigner to these children, I’m feeling much more accepted and trusted into their world.






The kids from the OMC house came to JIS again on Sunday and it was a blast. We advanced in our acrobatics and juggling skills as well as getting to know each other better. It was nice to see the JIS kids and OMC kids start to recognize each other, and actually pair themselves together.





I’ve worked out all the kinks in scheduling and transportation and expect next week to be full of surprises and delights!

March 5, 2008

With each new week, comes a new adventure and this week’s adventure was filled with exciting beginnings and wonderful progress! Along with continuing all the previously started projects, I began teaching another group of children on Monday from an economically devastated region of east Jakarta called, Rawamangun.

I began Monday by teaching the JIS IB students clown. It has been very fascinating for me to watch these seniors in high school embrace a completely new technique of acting. In the first few classes, they were timid to trust the work and not really sure that what I was teaching them was legitimate. However, after just a few weeks they’ve all began to understand what it means to “clown” and they’ve started to be very funny! I think its only a matter of time until they are ready to join me in performances around the city at different events.

After finishing with the IB students at JIS, I made my way over to the third floor of the Wantilan Center (Multi Purpose Room) and set up the space for the Rawamangun children to arrive. JIS has been incredibly helpful in assisting in this project. Several days a week, they’ve arranged for buses to pick up my students and bring them to JIS. The kids enjoy this because JIS is a big and beautiful campus and it works well for me because JIS also makes available their supplies, like mats and air conditioning. Before the children and their mothers arrived, I briefed the JIS students who had come to help. I explained to them the plan. I was going to perform my 20-minute show and then we’d break up into two groups. And, they’d get a chance to teach these kids the skills that they’ve been working so hard to learn themselves. The students were a bit cautious when I told them that I’d let them run the workshops, but I reassured them, that I’d be right there beside them and would give any and all the assistance that they needed. I believe that a large part of this trip is also teaching how to give back, so this was an important day for me.



When the busses arrived, I watched from the third floor as the children poured out into the parking lot. Looking up at the tall buildings and around at the enormous sports fields all surrounded with beautiful foliage. As they all climbed the steps and entered the room, Ibu Madrik, the point person for the Rawamangun outreach, confronted me. She was very apologetic because, originally I had suggested that they only bring children over the age of 8 years old, but all of the younger brothers and sisters wanted to come too, and the mothers! I told her, “the more the merrier” and assured her that it was just a suggestion and that we’d have fun no matter what the age or quantity of the children.

I introduced myself as they came in the room. Requested that the kids take off their shoes and leave their bags at the wall and join us on the mats. Already, the children were ecstatic to take off their shoes! They all jumped on the mats and rolled around for a few minutes, enjoying the freedom of a soft floor. When everyone had found a seat on the mats, I gave my JIS student assistants a handful of clown noses each and explained to everyone. “Everybody gets a clown nose, Tapi, harus di pakai!”(But you have to wear it!) The kids all began rolling on the ground with excitement! As the each got a nose, I followed behind with a garbage bag, to toss the wrapping from the noses. A few of the younger kids had issues opening the packages, and it was nice to see the older kids immediately help the younger ones, even before they’d opened their own.

While the kids and adults were all still buzzing with excitement over the clown noses, I slipped behind the chalkboard to put on my clown gear. As soon as they all noticed I was doing something behind the board, they all became very quiet, as if they were trying to hear what I was doing. I pulled my hair up, but on my clown nose and pants. And, as I pulled my clown shoes out of the trunk, the kids could all see them and they burst out in laughter!


I performed my show and everything went well. One memorable moment was, when I asked a young girl to come on stage and help me get the spinning plate off the stick, she jumped up, but with her was her little brother. And in fact, she wasn’t interested in helping me, but her five-year old brother was, so she accompanied him to the stage and stood beside him as he followed all the direction and fell for all the tricks. It was a very sweet moment.

The workshops were phenomenal. It was really great to see the JIS students, who I’d only taught a few weeks earlier, teaching spinning plates and flower sticks. They were using the same tips and hints that I’d given them, and they were really making great connections with the kids. It also helped that a few of the JIS kids also spoke Indonesian well, so they were helping each other translate and solid teaching teams developed. This afternoon was not only a great success in giving the children an afternoon that they won’t forget, but it was also successful in giving the JIS students a chance to share with children younger and less fortunate than themselves.



Tuesday was another busy day for Clowns without Borders. I performed a show at JIS for all the students during their lunch break. As always, JIS rolled out the red carpet and had a sound system, mats and a tent top to perform under! The loud music quickly drew a large crowd and I began the show. I started out by explaining to the kids that I was an Alumni of JIS and told them why I was in Jakarta. I talked about the JIS Circus Club on Wednesday and about the different opportunities they all had to get involved with my project. I performed the show to an ever-growing audience and when it was over, I got surrounded by students with questions and comments about my performance.




Tuesday after school, the OMC students arrived at JIS ready to work. We started out the class by stretching and warming up. The OMC students have shown a strong interest in tumbling and acrobatics. It was great to see how committed the students were to pushing themselves in their stretches. After we were all warmed up, we began the basics of tumbling. Everyone learned front rolls and continuous rolls. Even the larger and less agile students were giving it everything they had. Then we partnered up and began work on handstands. The biggest hurdle that these students had to over come was the issue of strength. The majority of them were not strong enough to hold their own body weight upside down, but luckily we were on mats, so when they fell, it turned into laughter, which filled the room with great vibes.

After our tumbling unit, I opened up the box of juggling equipment, and gave everyone “Open Circus Time”, where they could practice whichever skills they chose. I also brought acrobatic ladder to class today. There were several students who were interested in what it was and how to use it. I gave everyone a quick demo and explanation. I also tried to warn them that if they really liked it, then they’d have to put some time into it, telling them how it took m