A Conversation on Clowning
I watched the conversation between Wilmi and Hannah on how to have effective student-NGO partnerships. My group and I are working with Clowns without Borders, an NGO that focuses on implementing joy as a human right in times of crisis through performers putting on comedic shows and interacting with children in crisis settings worldwide. Our deliverable differs a bit from our classmates in that it is structured around psycho-education for the performers themselves and having them as our community in mind, as they directly impact these children.
We have been fortunate to work with Naomi, the executive director of CWB and a performer herself, which has given us great insight into how we might structure this deliverable.
Relating to Wilmi and Hannah’s conversation, some phrases felt especially pertinent to keep in mind while developing our project. Wilmi speaks to elements of active listening, listening to understand, especially when entering a community outside of one’s own lived experience. I think this applies to both us in developing the intervention. It is also valuable to highlight to the performers as they enter these international communities with various deep and meaningful cultural practices. Another element was something Hannah had said, which were the concepts of social justice and social consciousness, wanting to advocate for communities but also being aware of one’s role and frame of reference in doing so. Again, this felt useful on a multidimensional level as this applies to both us as the students and the performers.
Additionally, CWB’s performers are both sourced from the United States as well as performers that are local to the community they are entering. Usually, the local performers spend a lot of time with the U.S.-based performers outside of the actual performance and often have different cultural practices and routines. Therefore, there must also be an awareness of how an individual navigates oneself in the community in all aspects, not just for the duration of the performance.
A final thing I took away from the conversation between Hannah and Wilmi is that Wilmi highlights the importance of identifying a need that is important to the community. Wilmi goes into detail about asking parents in 2012 if they felt they needed support beyond an informational pamphlet, to which they emphatically agreed. Only after an established need and desire for support within the community did Wilmi’s team implement an intervention. I think that also speaks volumes about social justice and social consciousness. You, as the individual, might have an inkling regarding what others may need help with. Still, it is best to explicitly ask the community if they want help, and if they accept, implement community feedback into the structure of the deliverable. This way, the deliverable is something that has cultural congruence with the community you are seeking to support.
I enjoyed the conversation between Wilmi and Hannah as they both have such vibrant energy and are genuinely passionate about their work and how to support people worldwide. That also really resonated with me as we have seen Naomi talk about her work and now are a part of that excitement by being able to support both her, her performers, and the international community of children.
