Our healthcare clowns visited the registration centre for refugees in Vilnius. Several hundred of Ukrainian families were waiting in the school gym. There was an uncomfortable tension in the air, but as soon as our clowns started greeting and getting their attention, the faces started changing.
The kids were a bit suspicious at first, they couldn’t believe that they were really inviting them to play. Our clowns, Bella, Lelija, Augenijus and Ricard, gathered kids from different angles of the big room and join them into a game. It’s nice to watch children, who are complete strangers to each other, to slowly relax, immerse themselves into a world of fantasy and behave so friendly as if they always knew each other.
We met a little boy that was sitting at a table. The parents couldn’t convince him to eat lunch. Bella the clown had a foldable measuring tape and she created a puppy out of it. “I think this puppy is very hungry” she said. Bela played with the boy for a long time at the table and then asked the boy to feed the puppy and share the food with the little boy. He finally ate. Gratitude was seen in the eyes of the parents. This is not the first time we hear that children are no longer eating because of stress.
Parents smile when they see thousands of children’s thoughts somewhere else, in a beautiful fantasy world, for at least some hours. Our clown’s sincerity and attention turn into thousands of smiles.