“The Kindness Expedition” Brought Hundreds of Smiles to Children With Serious Illnesses

Julia, is the “hospitable clown” a new field of charity for Russia?

The history of the hospital clown in Russia began with our foundation: 10 years ago I myself worked as a clown, and after studying at the University of Haifa (Israel) at the faculty of hospital clown, I decided to create a foundation in Russia, because I saw that with a competent approach, it improves the psychological and emotional state of children at all stages of hospitalization.

How did the idea for the Expedition of Kindness come about? How did you formulate the main task of this project?

We nurtured the idea of ​​a large-scale project for a long time, until we met the Servier company: we immediately found a common language, our interests coincided. Thus, the Kindness Expedition was born.

Arrived at the hospital for long-term treatment, the child experiences anxiety and fear. You have to distract him, make him feel safe. Parents also want to understand that their children are comfortable, including during unpleasant procedures. We wanted to share our professional experience with volunteers and representatives of creative charities in the region: it is important that people with professional training come to the children.

What cities did the Kindness Expedition visit?

The Expedition of Kindness route passed through regional treatment centers for children with cancer. We managed to visit 15 hospitals in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Balashikha, Yekaterinburg, Voronezh, Kazan, Volgograd, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok.

How many children participated? Is there an age limit for the project? Say, does the doctor clown visit teenagers?

More than 500 children across the country were able to meet doctor clowns during the project. We work not only with children of all ages who are treated in children’s medical centers, but also with their parents.

Tell us about what the doctor clown communicates with the child? Is there a prepared script?

As part of the Goodness Expedition, the clown doctors met beforehand with the medical staff of the department where they were to spend the next few hours. They received the necessary information about young patients: the number of children, age and sex, physical limitations and features of the condition, and specified the specifics of discharge.

The next step was to work with the children in a form of interactive improvisation, using acting and clowning techniques, tricks, elements of fairy tale therapy and psychology. The clowns acted out the themes of travel and expeditions, being interviewed about their favorite places in their hometown. Many children prepared drawings of their city for us in advance, and someone drew directly at the meeting!

If the conditions of the department allowed it, we organized active collective games. At the same time, work in intensive care units and hospices was carried out as delicately and precisely as possible, most often one-on-one.

How do children react to the appearance of a clown? What about their parents?

The clown always tries to announce his arrival from afar, using various musical instruments and squeakers for notification. But, of course, doctor clowns have to gain trust, settle down bit by bit and wait patiently to get used to the bright and unusual appearance of a new playmate. Sometimes the well-being of a small person turns out to be too difficult and difficult. Then the clowns simply show a light and entertaining story – the dance of soap bubbles to the calm sounds of a musical hurdy-gurdy, the flight of a gloved owl doll or the adventures of a dog in balloons.

By the way, where can I learn to be a doctor clown? Are there strict selection criteria?

Our foundation provides training at the Hospital Closure School. It is mainly people from creative professions who come to us: actors, puppeteers, directors, people come from other spheres, but they are much smaller. Our selection is strict, we carefully select people, because they have a very serious work with children with serious illnesses. It is important not to harm the children and ourselves. The selection takes place in 3 stages: a questionnaire, a creative competition and an interview, which a psychologist is required to attend. On average, out of 500 candidates, 15 people pass the selection.

What inspires you in your work?

This work is very difficult, it requires significant costs: physical, emotional, material. But when you see how happy a child is who just a minute ago was crying in pain, you understand that your work is not in vain. It always inspires me a lot.

Our joint work with the Servier company showed how such an activity is in demand not only in Moscow, but also in other cities of Russia, and was also highly appreciated by experts: for example, our Expedition of Kindness project has won the regional development award. The best for Russia-2022″. This will definitely motivate you to move on.