Children’s World International’s exciting new Tsunami project

Albania and Kosova Diary

Week Four

Diary Introduction

TUESDAY 19 OCTOBER

Daryl and I go to the Balkan Sunflowers Community Centre in the morning and make badges for about 60 children, and also black sugar paper designs with metallic pens and stars. Paddy meanwhile types up lots of notes on New Parachute Games to be left with the Balkan Sunflowers, so that they can continue these once we leave. In the afternoon we all go to the Hotel Catalonia where several refugee families are living until they can return to Kosova. Do parachute games and show for about 60 - goes down very well, and we are invited back to lunch the next day.

WEDNESDAY 20 OCTOBER

Our last working day here in Albania. We visit the Keno Centre in the morning and run parachute games and show for about 20 children and leave them with balloons.

In the afternoon we go back yet again to Bethore and run some great parachute games and do a final large show, which goes down really well. Very sad to say goodbye to the children here.

They really need some cover here for the winter so that fun and games led by the Balkan Sunflowers can continue. These children are very poor and really in need of fun and play. I hope that one day Children's World International can return to work with them again.

THURSDAY 21 OCTOBER

Time to go back to England. We spend the morning handing over equipment to the Balkan Sunflowers and saying fond goodbyes. At 1.00 we leave for the airport and catch the flight to Budapest, then on to London. Met by our loved ones and back home in Glastonbury about 1.00 a.m.

We are all very tired and a bit run down.

The trip was not easy - living conditions were often difficult, overcrowded, water and power problems; some of the stories we heard were heart-rending; some of the children we worked with were very poor and very needy, others were very traumatised. It was harrowing and very upsetting at times. We had never travelled as a team abroad before or had to live on top of each other, and many of us were homesick, especially for our children. But we all feel it was a job well done, and that it was most worthwhile. The children really loved the shows and the workshops. We did shows for about 5,000, circus skills workshops and badge-making for about 2,000 and games sessions for more than 3,000. Many volunteers were trained in play and creative work, and a great deal of play and creative art materials were left with Save the Children, the European Children’s Trust, schools, villages and Balkan Sunflower groups, and we are confident that the fun will continue.

It was really a most successful project. It served a real need, and made many children very happy, giving a much needed ray of light in what have been very hard times. I would just like to congratulate and thank the whole team - Paddy Hill, Charlie Miller, Daryl Webster, Jamie McGruther and The Clown Simms - for doing such a tremendous job. Their commitment and energy under difficult circumstances was tremendous. The fun and love they gave the children was tremendously appreciated, and their shows just got better and better. I am very proud that Children’s World International has been able to take their exceptional talents out to the Balkans where they gave so much pleasure. Thanks chaps, and well done! You are very special!

We would also like to thank the many people who contributed financially to this innovative project - please see income and expenditure sheet.

IT REALLY DID WORK, AND DID A GREAT DEAL OF GOOD. THANK YOU FOR HELPING US MAKE IT HAPPEN.

ARABELLA CHURCHILL,
Director of Children’s World International,
Glastonbury,
24 October 1999.

(The Clown Simms returned to Tirana, Albania for 8 weeks in January, February and March 2000, taking with him more CWI badge bits and parachutes. He worked on Balkan Sunflowers' Mines and Weapons Awareness project which toured schools in Tirana and the local area. He then returned to the Balkans on 13 April, taking yet more CWI badge bits with him to keep the badge-making going. This time he worked in Macedonia, specifically with Roma refugees, again under the wing of Balkan Sunflowers. He paid another visit to work with Balkan Sunflowers in Autumn 2000. Details of The Clown's work in the Balkans can be found on his website by going to www.devilstickThe Clown.fsnet.co.uk or by pressing this link button.

Go to the Photo Album for lots more lovely pictures from Albania.