Clowning in Guatemala

   Clowning  In Guatemala

March 11 - 16, 2013

 Anne, Suzanne, Liz and Chelsea

Off To Guatemala 

It has always been my desire to help and give to others in need. Now, how one sees themselves as compared to how others see them can be totally different, so feel free to make your own assumption here. To actively participate in a humanitarian tour has been one of my life long dreams, so yes, you could say it has been on my "bucket list".

Since my retirement in December 2008 I have been more actively contributing to charitable organizations close to home and abroad. Our many travels to Mexico - which is a "developing 3rd world county" have educated my husband and me on the levels of poverty, living standards, education, health care, government corruption and crime rates that occur in this and other developing 3rd world countries. We understand that one person can not change their world but by  working together we can make a positive difference. Allan and I are working toward making that difference.

The Patch Adams Clowning Tour was brought to my attention by one of my good friends, " Liz". She went on a clowning tour in 2011 and enjoyed it so much she wanted to go on another. The tour we chose was to Guatemala City in Guatemala from March 11 - 16. The tour cost including flights to and from Toronto, accommodations and meals in Guatemala was just under $2,200.00 Canadian. An invitation extended to anyone wanting to join the tour group brought us previous  acquaintances Suzanne and Chelsea.

Internet information on Dr. Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams and the Gesundheit Institute can be found on various sites, I have included the following sites for your quick perusal:

Youtube Video - Patch Adams - End of Capitalism-Revolution of Love:
                    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm4l-vIaQ1I

Youtube Video - Patch Adams, M.D. Integrative Medicine interview    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SARHCS8DRJE&feature=youtu.be

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_Adams

http://www.patchadams.org/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesundheit!_Institute

As quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesundheit!_Institute "The goal of the Institute is to integrate a traditional hospital with alternative medicine such as naturopathy, acupuncture and homeopathy. Care combines integrative medicine with performing arts, crafts, nature, agriculture, and recreation. One of the continued missions of the Gesundheit! Institute involves the concept of  "humanitarian clowning". The project uses the theme of laughter as an integral element of effective doctoral care. In the past, the Gesundheit! Institute has taken clowns into the war zones in Bosnia,  refugee camps in the Republic of Macedonia, and South African orphanages."

-Thus the reason for me joining the humanitarian clowning tour.

You are probably now wondering if my time spent on the tour met my expectations. I would have to say yes, it certainly did! First, we/I did bring happiness and joy to others, second I met 27 wonderful, loving clowns and hotel staff and third but not least, I learned many things on this tour.

Our group of 28 clowns (between the ages of 13 and 68 years) visited eleven health care facilities and institutions  in the 6 days of the tour. In all of these locations children, adults, facility workers, guards and clowns were smiling and showing true signs of happiness. I take pride in knowing that I brought a ray of sunshine into the lives of those I met each day. We never know what is happening in the lives of others, or what lies beneath the surface but we need to understand that a hug and a smile shows we care.

This tour was a tremendous learning experience for me. First it tested my patience, endurance and flexibility in which I failed drastically. Wow, what living a structured lifestyle in my past five years of retirement has done to me! My professional profile on past resumes included "excels in a challenging and demanding work environment, and adapts readily to new challenges" What happened to that "adrenalin rush" and the desire to "live on the edge" - I have to work at getting these qualities back again at some level!

The tour broadened my sense of creativity, the imagination put into clowning costumes was amazing - I am one of those people who have to see it first then I can copy it. You will see from the following photos the imagination and work that went into some of the costumes. Not only did they have creative costumes but some had a different one for each of the six days!

- The lesson of material things in life being unimportant was driven further home for me. Many of the residents/ patients  we met while clowning only had the clothing on their backs or their bed to call their own, yet they shared their stories and their smiles with us. This is one of the more traumatic of stories I wish to share - One of our clowns met a 41 year old Guatemalan patient in a nursing home. About 3 years ago this  man was on a street where he saw a gunman pointing his gun at the crowd, he pulled a man in front of him out of the line of fire. In doing so he put himself into the sites of the gunman. Because of his actions he is now a quadriplegic and has one leg amputated. This young man will never be able to leave the nursing home because his wife is holding down a full time job to provide for their children and the job does not provide her enough to pay for in home care. He is confined to bed because the family can not afford to purchase him a wheelchair. This man's spirits are low from time to time as he thinks of what once he took for granted and doesn't have anymore, but a visit from a friendly face brightens his day. He was so pleased and felt honoured when our clown brought in THE ONE AND ONLY "PATCH ADAMS" to his bedside for a visit!

-Love and compassion for others is the most important gift we can give. The majority of the children and adults we visited do not have physical contact with anyone other than their caregivers. The institutions/hospitals/orphanages are understaffed, therefore the caregivers are overworked and have very little to no time for cuddles and hugs. Low levels of volunteerism  in each facility again contributes to the lack of physical contact for the residents. I watched the impact a smile, a hug, a song or just time spent made to these people. One child I spent time with had mental and physical disabilities, I wasn't getting much response from him until he was given a small stuffed animal. He took that stuffed toy in his left hand and threw it as hard as he could, then he would laugh so loud. We played that game of "I through and the Clown picks up" for quite some time. That made my day, I was so happy that I had accidently found something to bring him happiness in his otherwise un-laughable day.

-Love and compassion for others is the most important gift we can give to ourselves. I watched the impact a smile, a hug, a song or just time spent made to the clown giving it. One of our fellow clowns "Chilero" who has been on previous clowning tours with Patch passed on some good advise he received from another clown "Take it all in but don't take it all home" Great advise, but hard to do.
There were situations that many  (including me) got caught up in, where emotions were overwhelming, some broke into tears, others left the room and some became withdrawn. It is/was difficult to distance yourself. You have to convince yourself  that you are only with these people for a sliver of time, you can not change the world they live in nor can you change their situation in it. Our job on this tour was to bring some love, laughter, joy and happiness into their lives - I see it as a mission accomplished. Many  thanked us for coming to their country and sharing our gifts of love, joy and peace with their people.

Where there negative experiences on this trip? One can always find the negatives in anything if you want to waste you time looking for them. A quote from Henry Ford "Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward." I see this tour as a great experience, one that has made me bigger and further developed my character - how can that be a negative experience?

Do I have any regrets during my time in Guatemala?  I would have to say yes, I wish there had have been more time to tour the area and get to see and learn more about it.

I am already looking for other humanitarian tours to participate in and more positive experiences in my life. The bucket list is still being added to.

So you will understand a little more about Guatemala and Guatemala City I have included some general information, pictures and websites you may like to view at some point. I think it is important to know the area so you can better understand the situation and circumstances these people are living in. I hope you can make the time to view these and other sites.

 

The country of Guatemala: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala

Guatemala City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala_City

 

                                                 Our hotel the" Posada Belen Museo Inn"

http://www.posadabelen.com/index.html

Highly recommended! From the outside it is just a door and windows in a cement wall, the surprise is on the inside - check out the website highlighted above.

 

 The city of Antigua Guatemala is a tourist town

with its active volcanos and cobblestone streets

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigua_Guatemala

 

 

Our flight itinerary:

 

 

Departing Flight - Saturday, Mar 09, 2013

American Airlines Flight 3725 Canadair CRJ-700 Jet Airline confirmation: OLOEZB		From Toronto Intl (YYZ) 07:40pm -Mar 09, Sat		To Chicago OHare (ORD) 08:35pm -Mar 09, Sat Free baggage allowance 2 pieces		Nonstop Coach     Flight Duration 1 hr 55 min
Operated by American Eagle Airlines
Connecting flight wait time 6 hours 30 minutes
TACA Flight 0589 Airbus Industries A320 Jet Airline confirmation: 3Q68IH		From Chicago OHare (ORD) 03:05am -Mar 10, Sun		To Guatemala City (GUA) 06:25am -Mar 10, Sun Free baggage allowance 2 pieces		Nonstop Coach     Flight Duration 4 hr 20 min
Operated by /TACA INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES - TACA

Flight Duration: 6hr 15min

Layover Time: 6hr 30min

Total Trip Time: 12hr 45min

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Return Flight - Sunday, Mar 17, 2013

TACA Flight 0588 Airbus Jet Jet Airline confirmation: 3Q68IH		From Guatemala City (GUA) 08:30pm -Mar 17, Sun		To Chicago OHare (ORD) 01:50am -Mar 18, Mon Free baggage allowance 2 pieces		Nonstop Coach     Flight Duration 4 hr 20 min
Operated by /TACA INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES - TACA
Connecting flight wait time 9 hours 10 minutes
Air Canada Flight 0504 EMBRAER EMB 175 Jet Airline confirmation: LXNDAE		From Chicago OHare (ORD) 11:00am -Mar 18, Mon		To Toronto Intl (YYZ) 01:31pm -Mar 18, Mon Free baggage allowance 2 pieces		Nonstop Coach     Flight Duration 1 hr 31 min

Flight Duration: 5hr 51min

Layover Time: 9hr 10min

Total Trip Time: 15hr 01min

In order to assign your seats we recommend you opt for our "Enhanced Seating Assistance Program" for faster and specialized seating assistance.

• Ability to assign a specific seat through an interactive seat map.
• Ability to request a generic seat when an interactive seat map is not available.
• Access to our Seat Assignment Group for any seat assistance and for other travel related services such as meals and special requests.
• Guaranteed response time of 6 hours.
• Our trained Seat Assignment Specialists will work to find the best available seat.

All the above benefits at a low price of C$11.95 per person

Disclaimer:
- C$11.95 per person does not include any seat fee that the airline charges.
- A refund of the C$11.95 per person will be processed automatically if less than 50% of the seats requested are assigned.

Yes, Continue with Enhanced Seat Assignment Program

No, Continue without Enhanced Seat Assignment Program

Are you sure you do not want to use the Enhanced Seat Assignment Program, which offers you:

- Guaranteed response time of 6 hours. - Our trained Seat Assignment Specialists will work to find the best available seat.

Please select at least one option from the following:

No, I changed my mind; please continue with the Enhanced Seat Assignment Program   -You will be charged C$11.95 per person which does not include any seat fee that the airline charges.-A refund of the C$11.95 per person will be processed automatically if less than 50% of the seats requested are assigned. Yes, I am sure; I would like to use the free service   -We will still be submitting your seat request to our Seat Assignment Group. However, there is no guarantee when we can assign your seats. It can take up to 48 hours to respond to your seat request.

 

The layover times were the worst, especially on the way home.

 

 

Our Clowning Tour Itinerary

- not followed to the "T" but you get the idea

Your booking number 14556486 is confirmed. You will receive an email with the subject line of "Airline Ticket Number & Airline Confirmation" with a link to access the Seat Assignment Service.

 

Horario/Schedule: Gesundheit! Institute Spring Break Guatemala City March 3-10 and 10 - 17 2012

Saturday 2 arrivals - small clown workshop and sample council

Domingo/Sunday 3

9.30-10:30 Fabricas Hospital Clown workshop -  (Fabricas explained below -1)

AM-- 10:30-12  Roosevelt general hospital - no website found for this specific hospital

PM-- 3-5.30 Jorge Von Han hospital, old folks’ residence center no website found for this specific facility

LUNES/Monday 4

AM-- Ana Vitielli –children’s HIV orphanage run by nuns   http://www.chsfs.org/icw/guatemala  

PM-- Unicar children’s oncology/burn unit  http://www.mmex.org/missionrecords/unicar-pediatric-cardiac-unit-unidad-de-cirugia-cardiovascular-pediatrica-de-guatemal

MARTES/Tuesday 5

AM-- Psiquiatrico Roosevelt –general hospital children’s psychiatric zone   no website found for this specific hospital

PM-- San Juan De Dios –national hospital, kids oncology center  http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.hospitalsanjuandediosguatemala.com/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsan%2Bjuan%2Bde%2Bdios%2Bhospital%2Bguatemala%2Bcity%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1120%26bih%3D579&sa=X&ei=fjdSUeSvG-eayAGPrICoBQ&ved=0CDIQ7gEwAA

MIERCOLES/Wednesday 6

AM-- Valle de Los Angeles-- Franciscan Orphanage 

   http://www.valleyoftheangelsorphanage.com/ - more on this below -2

P.M.--rest afternoon

JUEVES/Thursday 7 

AM-- Psquiatrico Zona 13-- special needs children no website found for this specific hospital

PM-- San Pompeo children’s home  no website found for this specific facility

VIERNES/Friday 8 --Antigua

AM-- Hermano Pedro –LARGE special needs facility for children and adults  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermano_Pedro's_Hospital_(Antigua_Guatemala)

PM-- lunch and shopping

SABADO/Saturday 9

AM-- Hospicio San Jose –children’s HIV orphanage/treatment center  http://sigbi.org/crosby/our-projects/hospicio-san-jose/ (more on this below -3)

PM-- Main Plaza public clowning

Sunday 10th—departures

 

Explanations:
-1 The Fabrica de Sonrisas translates to "makers of smiles" - these two websites explain the organization and their clowning in Guatemala.    http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.fabricadesonrisas.org/home/%3Fpage_id%3D111&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dfabricas%2Bde%2Bsonrisas%2Bguatemala%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1120%26bih%3D579&sa=X&ei=l_xRUfW-AqWYyAGBkoDoCA&ved=0CD4Q7gEwA and https://www.google.ca/search?q=fabrica+de+sonrisas&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=HxZSUbKuE-muyAH62YCoDA&sqi=2&ved=0CD0QsAQ&biw=1120&bih=579

The Fabrica de Sonrisas have encouraged and worked with "Patch" to bring his clowning tours to Guatemala to help them spread love, joy, laughter and the message of peace to their people. Several of their members (a different group at each location) accompanied us on our various visits and acted as liaison between our tour directors and the individual facility management teams. They are certainly a great group of people.

-2 Valley of the Angels Orphanage     This is an amazing place, the children, teachers, Sisters and Father Michael were so happy to have us visit. Father Michael is originally from the United States and has done some of his training in Southern Ontario - he and Liz were practically neighbours. The majority of humanitarian items of medical supplies, personal hygiene items, clothing, shoes, and some toys were left at this location. Father Michael was so happy to receive these items, he came and thanked each of us for our act of kindness in bringing the items to Guatemala and asked us to extend his appreciation to those that donated. He assured us that any items the orphanage could not use would be passed on.

The Sunday School Class students at Knox United Church in Manitowaning  each sent a picture of themselves and a gift for a needy child. Their gifts were distributed at this orphanage, the children were so happy to receive the gifts and see a picture of the child that sent it to them. I saw these children still tightly holding their gift and  picture hours later, at the end of our day.

The children living in this facility come from a varied number of situations - some are without parents, others are here because their parents can not look after them due to low incomes or poor health, others are here on a witness protection program. There is a tremendous amount of crime in Guatemala City, some of these children are witnesses to crime and so to protect them from criminals who don't want them to testify they are brought here for their safety.


 -3 Fighting HIV Discrimination in Guatemala
   http://crs.org/newsroom/releases/release.cfm?id=1319

 Other points of interest:  

1. Guatemala Demographics http://www.indexmundi.com/guatemala/demographics_profile.html 
2. Guatemalan Cuisine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemalan_cuisine#Main_dishes

Please, as you read the information on the following Websites keep in mind these things don't just happen in Guatemala, evil is spread evenly throughout the world. Google these same topics in a large city near you - if you can not find information you are looking for it is only because it has not been reported yet.

1. Adoption in Guatemala  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWrdz-Aqw-U         and  http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012/09/10/us-couple-test-guatemala-adoption-law/57717086/1
2. Crime in Guatemala  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Guatemala
3. Human Trafficking   http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,USDOS,,GTM,,4fe30cc62d,0.html and http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Guatemala.htm
4. Illegal Organ Harvesting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHxNtrfvXeQ and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9294082/Illegal-organ-trade-on-the-rise-say-world-health-experts.html

Now for your visual interest - Pictures!!

Suzanne and I packed several pieces of luggage with humanitarian items collected from people and businesses in Manitowaning and took them to Liz's house where we added them to her collection. On Saturday we took all of our bags to her local veterinarian's office to weigh each piece to ensure it was not over our weight limit of 50 pounds each.

 

Then we got dressed in clown costume as that was a requirement of the tour - it was to make people aware of our mission. Little did we know how much it was going to pay off - American Airlines did not weigh our luggage - if they did it was not done in our presence.

 

At park and fly they gave us our own bus to the airport - because we had so much luggage.

19 pieces of luggage when Chelsea joined us.

She was having a great time until the layover in Chicago.

 

Then she crashed - too tired to stay awake any longer

 Here is Suzanne and Liz -
 

 I didn't get much sleep, I was too busy taking pictures

 

 

Then Ryan came in - he was so happy to see others dressed in Clown costumes. He was scheduled on the same flight with us from Chicago to Guatemala

 

 

This was my first glimpse of Guatemala City

 

Immediately upon our arrival at the hotel at about 8:00 a.m. the clowning began!!It never stopped! You could feel the high level of energy the entire week - there was no down time for any of them.

 

The people in the white lab coats are
members of the Fabrica  de Sonrisas

 

 

This man claims to be 112 years old -

he attributes it to having only one wife.

 

Liz fell in love

 

These pictures were taken at the
``Valley of the Angels Orphanage`,

the children had a wonderful presentation
 of speeches and music to welcome us.

 

 

 

These girls named my clown bear puppet ``Osito``translated

from Spanish to English it means `Toy Bear

The Sunday School children from Knox United Church in Manitowaning each provided a gift to be given to a Guatemalan child. These gifts were distributed here at

 "Valley of the Angels Orphanage"



The six children were so happy with their gifts, I noticed later in the day they were still carrying their gifts and pictures of the Knox children who sent them.

 

This child and those following are holding up signs

to thank the organizations that donated humanitarian items

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A picture is worth a thousand words!

This Clown Angel has wings!

 

 This resident and her friends make jewellery to sell in an effort
 to raise money for their home, she was so happy

when I purchased the necklace, earrings and bracelet she had made.

 Six of the volunteers at the Children`s HIV Hospice.

 

Here we are sharing underwear - wait until Allan sees I have another man in my pants.

 

 Suzanne found lots of time for shopping - she needed one whole suitcase (checked on  luggage) for herself to get back home.  She certainly had a great time, it was good for her to do this trip.

Even the dogs joined in on the fun

 

Our Hotel Waiters - what a great bunch!!

 

Well, the secret is out - I thought what happened in Guatemala stayed in Guatemala but apparently not. The social media of  Facebook does not keep secrets. Yes, 23 of the group out of 28 mooned!

 Part of the 9 hour layover in Chicago on our way home.

 

An early morning breakfast at Jonny Rockets in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport at about 6 a.m. gave us the boost we needed to get through the day.  After leaving our Guatemala hotel at 5:30 Sunday evening we arrived in Collingwood at 5:30 Monday evening. A long 24 hours.

Putting this blog posting together has been a difficult task - so much happened from the time we left on the 9th of March until our return on the 18th, so many different experiences and emotions, so many photos to choose from, so many lives touched - the list goes on.  I have chosen the items which were most forward in my memory and in doing so I am certain I have missed so much. To all members of our Clowning Tour I ask you to feel free in adding your comments at the bottom of this post so others will be able to read of your experiences and understand your feelings during our time together. To all of my readers I ask that you too feel free to ask questions or give comments as well in the comments section. If any of you would rather e-mail me please do so at:

inthelandofhaw@hotmail.com

The writings in this post are of my own thoughts and feelings,  the websites included are websites I have viewed and found of interest to me, I wish to share them with you - you may dismiss them entirely or read them and look for more sites on these topics as there are many. The photos are a small collection out of the near 1500 from the cameras of Suzanne, Liz and me.

In closing I would like to say: "The influence of a beautiful, happy and helpful character is contagious, it will help to revolutionize the world" God Bless Each Of You!