Clownin' Around in the DRC

(c) UNHCR/S.Rodriguez

UPDATE 10/10/09: I had an opportunity to join the Director of Clowns Without Borders-USA for coffee this morning. She informed me that the CWB programs referenced in the UNHCR press release and the BBC article were not affiliated with the USA chapter. Links to the Web sites of the other CWB chapters can be found on the CWB-USA site.

UNHCR: “Clowns bring smiles and inspiration to displaced people in eastern Congo”

Don’t be fooled by the responsible headline.

In camps in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where more than half the 1 million internally displaced people (IDP) are children, a team of clowns from Europe has been treating the suffering and trauma with laughter [emphasis added].

Do they mean “treating” in a clinical sense? Clowns as a trauma intervention? A UNHCR field officer in Goma sets us straight:

These children had never seen this kind of show, which in the end is very constructive and not just a performance. This is an innovative idea to use laughter to heal trauma and distress for children [emphasis added].

This was the same message that UNHCR gave to the BBC back in March:

A spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency told the BBC that the clowns could help the children overcome their trauma…UNHCR spokeswoman Francesca Fontanini said that the team of clowns had achieved good results working with those displaced in Syria and the former Yugoslavia [emphasis added].

The BBC article does not give any more detail about these “good results,” so I am left wondering. From these accounts, however, it appears that UNHCR conceives of Clowns Without Borders as an effective intervention for children exposed to political violence.

CWB frames their work this way:

Clowns Without Borders offers laughter to relieve the suffering of all persons, especially children, who live in areas of crisis including refugee camps, conflict zones and territories in situations of emergency. We bring levity, contemporary clown/circus oriented performances and workshops into communities so that they can celebrate together and forget for a moment the tensions that darken their daily lives. We also seek to raise our society’s awareness of affected populations and to promote a spirit of solidarity.

So do clowns “relieve suffering” in a meaningful and lasting way? Or, as CWB also states, do these performances offer audiences a momentary reprieve from stressful situations?

I think it is the latter. And based on my reading of other articles about CWB, my sense is that other people — clowns included — share this more limited view.

If so, is it really necessary to frame CWB as a treatment for childhood trauma? Can’t UNHCR just describe it as a fun form of entertainment for communities that have been through a lot, without claiming that they are “healing” or “treating” trauma with “good results”?

I would be happy to see a randomized controlled trial of clown-therapy vs. one of the many so-called “psychosocial” treatments that often get funded in these settings. Clowns might come out ahead against some contenders.

Without any evidence, however, I would be just as happy to see agencies stop overreaching in their PR. And while I am making requests, UNHCR, please be so kind as to expunge other press release gems like, “Children who live in areas of crisis, such as conflict or post-conflict zones, rarely get to laugh.”

These kids from Darfur living in a refugee camp in Chad, who face many challenges to be sure, find reasons to laugh. Let’s remember this when we work with communities to develop interventions.

(c) E. P. Green