A little seltzer and simpatico

Armed only with face paint, seltzer water and stilts, the international organization Clowns Without Borders sends performers to refugee camps and conflicts around the world. Since 1996 the group’s USA chapter has turned frowns upside down in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, and participated in expeditions to Kosovo, Guatemala, Nepal and Croatia. The clowns, all volunteers, adhere to an agenda of simple, nonpolitical entertaining, offering broad physical comedy that transcends language and culture.

Reports on the group’s Web site (www.clownswithoutborders .org) chronicle their encounters. Some excerpts:

Dia Del Nino Tour, Chiapas, April/May 2003

Clowns: Rudi Gallindo, Zuzka Sabata, Michael O’Neill and Heather Pearl (who kept the diary).

April 23, Nuevo Yibeljo

The audience filled the areas around us into the trees and along all sides. It made for a wonderfully intimate scene, with the chases into the crowd and trees quite wild.... As most places, there were many young children really curious about our preparation, peeking into where we were changing.

April 24, El Bosque

Our first but far from last entrance from a church! I enter first on the stilts, and then the other clowns enter through my legs while the opera blares. I feel like I’m birthing them and often notice the older women smile at me.

April 25, Florencia

There were fewer people than there might have been, but we gathered a good number, including a cow, and did our show under two large trees next to the basketball court. The houses are spread out in this area, and the pueblo tiny, so the joy was in bringing what we had to them. They are not too small a place to be important enough for the clowns to come, is how I felt. Lots of big smiles under that beautiful tree, where the children seemed a bit poorer than other places

May 1, Colonia altejar

Thunder, lighting, and incredible rains blessed San Cristobol that afternoon and we thought the show would be off. Then ... the sun came out and we rallied to weave through the streets and find the neighborhood. Only there was no one there at the church. Our spirits were high and energy strong, so Zuzka and I hit the streets to drum up the audience.... The surprise of a clown happening was certainly very appreciated in a tucked-away neighborhood of a small city in the mountains. “Get in” were Rudi’s last directions of the show as he opened the trunk. Michael and Zuzka got in the trunk and we drove away with the opera music blaring.