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SPARK! CIRCUS PROJECT

Email Andrea for more info

Have you always wanted to run away with the circus?

Well, now is your chance!
Spark Volunteer circus needs you!

Update on SPARK! Circus currently in Mae Sot 2/6

Many hellos and smiles from Mae Sot, Thailand! Spark Circus has just finished our first week in Mae Sot; performing, doing playshops, and making donations of food and toys for  small migrant schools,orphanages,  street child care programs, and , a dumpsite. Yes, really, a  garbage dumpsite. Never did i think i would be bringing a wild happy crew of  circus performers to do a show and workshops on a garbage dump in Northern Thailand, but here we are,and it was one of our many magical days.

It was a good feeling arriving back .  I love this city, because for me, it keeps me feeling incredibly motivated, and inspired. I always meet the most incredible people here, volunteering their time, giving their hearts and minds to solving some really complex socio-economic problems, often from the ground up. Its not the least bit abstract, you can see the results.  What do I mean by socio- economic problems? Poverty, child labour, war injuries and trauma, lack of education, lack of medical care, lack of identity papers.

Mae Sot is full of refugees of one sort or another. The ones who get in legally are called "migrants" and are often used as the lowest of the low cheap labour forces. They come here to escape desperate circumstances. I see the  conditions they live in here, and wonder how it is even possible to have conditions more desperate? How bad do things have to be to make a garbage dump look like a reasonable home?!! Seriously, over three hundred people, mostly young kids, are living on the dumpsite, scavenging a living. They  work all day in the putrid mess to make may be 50 bt from collecting plastic bottles for recycling, ( on the positive side, go recycling!)   Then there are the people living on the street, some of them economic refugees, having came to Thailand from villages in Burma that were essentially starving, Here, they can at least get a little bt each day, hopefully. In addition to this  you  have the political refugees, those who have fled the oppressive illegal military regime of Burma. A government that practices all sorts of illegal warfare and economic manipulation... mining the path to the nearest village market, raping women to generate terror and despair, using children as labour for the military- it is horrific . Those that object, or strive for democracy,  are often jailed. Some manage to come here, to continue fighting socially and politically for the freedom and safety of their people. Many of the oppressed Burmese are the various ethnic hill tribes. Some consider the actions of the Burmese govt geneocide-- whole cultures are being systemically destroyed. Over the course of the month we play and teach and perform for refugees from at least five differnt tribes, as well as lots of the local Thai population!

As i said, the refugees that are making a go of it , usually in secret, outside of the camps are  called migrants. Some small percentage are legally permitted here, for cheap labour, but most are not. Migrants sometimes find themselves trapped in the border sectors, because there are identity checks on all of the roads into town. They will be arrested and deported without papers. Problem is, children born to these migrants, have no identity at all. They are not Thai, and not recognized in Burma. They have no protection from any nation, no support, no freedom of possibility .Imagine that: born, belonging no where.Makes you appreciate your country and your passport a little bit more, doesn't it?

Thats a lot of people, and a lot of problems. So, why am i happy to be here?

Beause, there are so many  kind hearted, smart, active people gathered here from all over the world, making things better in concrete, tangible ways.Just over the last three years of SPARK!  i have seen somes drastic improvements in the living conditions and opportunities for the refugee and migrant populations. People are making schools... even the dumpsite we visited had its own little school, just a few months oldl! ( though they have to move it soon, since the noxious fumes and flys make it unsafe for the kids) , funding art projects,creating  radio shows( there is one in the Karen language) offering free health care( Mae Tae clinic) and birthing programs,   building orphanages, setting up programs to supply the kids with vitamins, and a piece of fruit once a week... and even some people building playgrounds, or bringing exciting events like a circus!

Circus . PLAY! That's our bit. SPARK! Circus We go into all these little dusty places, and try to bring some joy, silliness, excitement, hope. And we bring toys, and teach skills, play, laugh, create a spectacle of smiles... The kids look forward to our visits so much, as soon as we arrive, word gets out in town, and my phone rings non stop with requests for our presence! I love being popular, but seriously,  this is the hard part for me, as we can not be everywhere! There just is not enough time, budget or energy. So hard to say no to anyone, when all they want to do is play.   I could do this all year long. For a small example, there are over 70 migrant schools in the region. Add in the orphanages, street programs and clinics, and we are very, very busy!!!

Our first few days were spent getting organized as a team making toys and donations kits, finding necessary props and developing  game and workshop ideas. Many of us were meeting for the first time, and really thrilled to be working together! Others have working on the project before, and were happy to be together again. It is  a beautiful vibe, intense and fun, full of anticipation.Then we started with some of the smaller schools and places, with 50-100 kids, usually  quite young, ranging from 3-15 mostly around 7ish. I sometimes wonder where all the older ones are? Then i realize they are out working. Childhood, if it exists at all, is brief.  it is not uncommon for a five year old girl to be working picking chillies all day in the field, while caring for three younger siblings at the same time. In 35 degree heat, with only one bowl of rice a day. Wow. I cant even imagine myself capable of that at age five! Can you?

If the schools leaders and planners sucessfully manage to show the parents both the short term benefits, and the long term benefits, of having their children in school, at least some of the time, then the children have some hope for the future. Short term, going to  school means they will likely get a shirt, or some kind of uniform for each kid, clean water, and a meal a day. Usually just rice and fish paste but a huge help to the family if they have one less to feed. The child is safe, and ocassionally  gets some medical care too. Long term, they hope for a better future through education. better jobs, more opportunities....  The schools are funded by NGO's, and individuals making donations, for the most part. 7000 dollars, can be the entire running cost of a school for a year!  An orpahanage, housing and caring for 40 kids, can function effectively at $1500 a month.   With a little more effort, i could probably aford to keep a school running myself! And i am on the lower end of the econpomic scale in Canada. Never underestimate what you can do as an individual!  Teachers at these schools only make 100 bt( 30$)a month,  if anything. Many are volunteers. A big part of that budget is food for the kids, and renting some land... For the moment the thai ministry of education is essentailly ignoring their illegal status, and trying to help them be included part of thailands educational agenda! Very impressive! Though the plan is still rough, that is enourmous progress. Five years ago the migrant schools were so threatened, so hidden, it was risky for them to even show us the way and allow us to perform at all! Now, the whole community turns out to enjoy the night.

One of my favorite little schools, Light  School , is in danger of closing having run out of funds and shutting down,so one of the things  we did was donate 2000 dollars to them to keep the school going at least til the end of the year. That money was available due to the generosity of the people of Had Tien  Beach, and Sanctuary Resort, who supported us enthusiastically at our spontaneous fundraising show! We raised almost $4000, and  it is sure needed and appreciated. Thanks so much for making that happen! We did it!  I hope you know how important a difference you all made to the lives of these children.

Next week we start with some of the bigger schools and groups, it should be very exciting! The team this year are spectacular as usual
, full of skill and hearts as huge as can be. So generous with their time and compassion! I am learning a lot too, from the diversity  of skill sets. We have a bit of everything ! Poi, staff, diablo, juggling, acro, levi stick, balloon sculpture, ah, too much talent to list! And we teach each other too... In the upcoming weeks we go to two of the large refugee camps. Mae La, one that is quite close to Mae Sot, with about  50000 people, and also a smaller one further out, No Poe, that rarely ever gets visitors!! There are thousands of kids in each, so we are a bit intimidated by the numbers and tyhe need, but ready to smile and clown our way through anyhing.   I wishnow  I had been able to get ten thousand red clown noses-- maybe we will for next year! I am so grateful for the ones we have. The  kids love the goofiness .  

Valentines day we go perform  for the people at the nobel nominated  Mae Tao Clinic, to play and teach and do a fire show, to lighten their hearts a bit . We will do our regular shows and playshops, but also take the time to offer some comfort in the hospital wards, where people are too sick to appreciate a raucous show.   I really look forward to that, and will tell you all about it when i get a chance to write again!

I hope you enjoy the attached pics! So many amazing  moments, i have a hard time deciding what to send! These are mostly taken by one of our performers, Thomas. I will also have a film to show you after all this-- thanks to Jonny, a friend from Had Tien beach, who privately raised funds to have our adventures filmed this year! Wow, we are so lucky for all the love and support that makes this possible! You can follow some of our story on our webpage, www.thespinsterz,coméspark-circus.htm, and there is a paypal donation button their if you are inspired and able to chip in to the project! We so value everones help.

love
Andrea

Click here to see more photos from last years Spark! Circus

SPARK! is a group of 20 spectacular international volunteer circus performers who have come together for the last five years to bring joy and play to  groups of disadvantaged children in refugee camps, migrant schools, hospitals and orphanages along the Thai Burmese border. When we visit schools, part of our group is composed of Thai and ethnic Burmese hill tribe teachers, who share their experiences with their own communities to help create positive change. We reach over 4,000 children each year as we go into the local communities, refugee camps and hidden migrant schools  to perform a circus-style fire show, teach playshops and offer donations of toys, art supplies,  and tools.  

In addition to all the FUN that the children have learning circus skills, this project is designed to develop their creativity, physical fitness, communication skills, teamwork, confidence and cultural awareness. Play is a fundamental part of children's development and we bring a big spark of joy, love, amusement and entertainment into these children's lives ,and  the lives of those who work in the camps and orphanages. Every year, we travel to them to lighten their days and to bring some magic. 

SPARK! is completely volunteer based, and relies entirely on your generous donations and community support . Your contribution  will help provide the spark of life for these children in Thailand!  You can chose to help by a donation of money that will go towards the kits of creative supplies to be donated at each school and orphanage, or perhaps you may chose to specifically sponsor a performer for their travel/ accomodation during the project. Every dollar helps! We also welcome  donations of goods for the children; clothes, blankets, socks shoes, book, art supplies of all types, if they can be shipped to our  address in Thailand. Also of great use are donations of costumes and circus props for use in our performances. These are passed on to the children after the seasons tour. They love the red clown noses! 

As a donor company, your generousity  will be acknowledged in all our media, and both individual donors and companies will receive photos and email updates from our performers  as the project is happening. So that you will know exactly how your donation helped, we will offer a summary update including photos, video and personal comments at the conclusion of the this year's project. If one of our volunteers lives in your city, we would be happy to have them do a personal presentation for your company at the conclusion of the project.  

Your donation will help us light the SPARK!

If you are interested in continued reading, please click here for more info

Thank you to the following contributors.

Home of Poi www.homeofpoi.com
Playpoi www.playpoi.com
The Spinsterz www.thespinsterz.com
Flowtoys www.flowtoys.com
Oud's Juggling shop, Bangkok
Sanctuary Resort www.thesanctuarythailand.com
Big Blue Resort, Haad Yuan
Tamarind Springs www.tamarindsprings.com
Buzz's Place - http://www.malabarte.net/
Renegade Juggling - http://www.renegadejuggling.com/
Samui Mala - http://www.samuimala.org/

so please get in touch if you want to PLAY or PARTICIPATE!

Email Andrea for more info

WHAT DOES THE DONATIONS GET USED FOR?

The donation money primarily gets used to buy kits of circus toys( poi, staff, hoops, juggle balls,stilts, yoga mats, spinning plates, etc etc, and musical toys too), simple tools( scissor, machete, hammers tapes,glue  string-so they can make toys themselves, cutting bamboo, knitting, whatever needed ). These get compiled to make a play kit we leave at every school, orphanage, hospital or refugee camp we visit. In addition we incorporate a few basic necessities as we can: socks, mirrors, combs, blankets, tshirts etc. This year i also want to purchase leather, so i can teach the kids that are not into active play something like mask making/costuming for theatre etc,

We also use a very small portion of the money for supplies for the circus that get used year to year; things like fuel, our fire dipping station( funnels buckets, extinguisher, plastic squeeze bottles) a portable stereo( rechargeable batteries, and charger) an emergency first aid kit, and some basic costume supplies to unify the circus performers: like bow ties,whistles, clown noses, funny ears etc. Most of our own group costuming gets left with the orphanages /schools each year( so they can do their own shows) , and repurchased new for ourselves the following year.

In some places we also pay for a meal for all the kids during the day, and sometimes one for them and the teachers  if they have to stay a the school location between the workshop and the fire show( just a simple meal if needed, these people are very poor, and it is a great help if we just provide basic food, fruit, rice, veggies. Sometimes Help Without Frontiers has generously prvided this at locations we teach at) ) We also may need to pay for fuel for the generator the day we perform, if there is a generator. We pay for water each day, for ourselves, and an extra supply for the kids since they are being so active while we are there.Sometimes we pay for the transportation of the kids from one orphanage to get to another so they are able to join the workshops if we can not manage to get to them( there are far more kids in orphanages and refugee camps then we can actually reach, no matter how hard we try) We are also going to need to buy a load of hand santizer this year for places with little ter- too many f our performers got sick last year!

This year we would also like to purchase a hapi drum for the circus to keep and a few small instruments. It is always unpredictable if the performers will be musical and have their own instruments, and we need music in some of the places that dont have power of any kind. So i would like a drum, some marracas,tamborines whistles etc...Portable easy circus noisemaking!

We need :donations of money for the food/water transport for the kids when needed, money to purchase the supplies listed above, donations of actual circus toys/tools/ art supplies for the kits, costumes, professional quality toys donated for the circus to perform with year to year( i keep these in Bangkok reuse)- we need things like glow toys, fire toys that are unusual, a set of ariel silks would be nice etc etc. I would love to raise enough money to pay for the truck( driver and gas costs)  that takes us to and from the place we stay out to the schools etc. In  previous years the performers all chip in for this, but it would be great if i could help pay this expense  with circus funds.

There is also a separate option for people to donate: specifically  sponsoring  a performers travel and accomodation. One performers cost are around $400 for this. We use this to ensure we can bring thai and burmese performers in as part of the project, as they often can not afford to take that much time off, and pay for all the travel , guest house etc. I aim to have at least a third thai , burmese, or hill tribe participants in our crew each year. I think this is a very important asset to our project.

CIRCUS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

I am looking for 17 volunteer performers and teachers this year. I need a range of skills, and people who are comfortable with travel in Asia under less than ideal conditions at times( some places dont have clean water, power, or comfortable beds, or a selection of foods). I need a group of people who love children, playing and teaching, and know games and tricks and performances that do not rely on language for understanding and communication. Each person will have a series of responsibilities , setting up workshops, fuel stations, show order, sound etc etc...

TEACH,* AND* LEARN!!!

This year we are doing something a little different, and building in both more rest time, and also time to teach each other workshops! Previous years we had such a fabulous crew, we really wanted more time to share and learn with each other! so, this year, we do it! Every second day will have a morning off entirely, to relax and hang out, and every third day will be us teaching workshops to each other. This extends the time frame for the project, of course, but i think it will make it even more fun and exciting! You will have a little more time to take in the fascinating local culture, scenery, rest and explore.

I will be firming up the schedule and structuring it more than previously, less openings for drop in performers-- just so i can set up permits, transportation and accommodation most effectively. If interested, let me know ASAP and confirm your place with our crew! I am sure I will still make room for a few spontaneous participants, but no guarantees...

WHEN

The dates are not completely firm, but look like it will be from around January 27th, until around the 20th of February. I am hoping that some of the performers at Injuco, India, can sneak on over to play with us!



SPARK PERFORMER?? YOU ARE:

- able to get yourself to Thailand for those dates
- have a circus play skill to teach or share with children of all ages, without relying on language
- able to pay for your own food and accommodation costs during this time frame if necessary( approx $10-20 a day is typical. I am trying to find a sponsor to cover our costs, but we cant count on it yet!)
- used to working cooperatively, contributing in a group
- have a couple of performance pieces prepared, one day show and one night along with your own costuming and music
- healthy, happy and able to go full force with a mass crazy energetic crowd of kids for a couple of weeks!
- have a sense of fun and adventure!

Continued reading.......

Spark! is an international volunteer circus organization that teaches playshops, performs spectacular fire shows, and donates toys, tools and art supplies  to disadvantaged children along the Northern Thai -Burmese border. Your participation and generous involvement can help ignite the joy!


Over 200,000 refugees line the borders of Thailand and Burma, held in refugee camps that can barely manage to provide for basic necessities. Tens of thousands of these refugees are children - children who have been traumatized by the ongoing war waged by the illegal Burmese military dictatorship against the regions hill tribes. The refugee children flee from Burma, sometimes orphaned and alone, sometimes with their families, into the relative safety of Thailand. Here they end up in the camps, or living illegally along the border regions, at huge risk of being taken into the sex trade, suffering malnourishment and ongoing threats to their well being and lives. Various NGO's work with these children creating orphanages, providing some basic services like shelter, clothes and food, and where possible even education. But children have needs beyond the "basics". Children need hope, joy and play. In 1989 the UN declared the right to play as one of the basic rights of children. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 31 recognizes "the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts."

At SPARK!, we approach this as an international challenge to make this declaration reality! We are  a group of 20 spectacular international volunteer circus performers who have come together for the last five years to bring joy and play to these groups of disadvantaged children. When we visit schools, part of our group is composed of Thai and ethnic Burmese hill tribe teachers, who share their experiences with their own communities to help create positive change. We reach over 4,000 children each year as we go into the local villages, refugee camps and hidden migrant schools in the remote border regions of Thailand to perform a circus-style fire show, teach playshops and offer donations of toys, art supplies,  and tools.  In addition to all the fun that the children have learning circus skills, this project is designed to develop their creativity, physical fitness, communication skills, teamwork, confidence and cultural awareness. Play is a fundamental part of children's development and we bring a big spark of joy, love, amusement and entertainment into these children's lives ,and  the lives of those who work in the camps and orphanages. Every year, we travel to them to lighten their days and to bring some magic.

Our organization is completely volunteer based and funded by donations. We work closely with the NGOs that are taking care of basic needs and add our contribution as a complement to theirs. To date , all foreign teachers and performers have provided  their time freely, and paid for their own travel, accommodation and food. Specific donors pay for the expenses of the Burmese and Thai  performers who are unable to afford their own expenses. We raise funds with raffles, benefit circus shows in many countries, and via our webpage http:// www.thespinsterz.com/spark-circus.htm. This season  we are also seeking financial support or sponsorship for the travel expenses of the performers and teachers to enable them to more easily participate in the project.

The success and popularity of our program increases each year, as does the number of refugee children. Our goals as an entertaining and empowering community project are also becoming larger. This May   we want to arrange an intensive month long program for a group of interested refugee and migrant children, from several of the different hill tribes. It will be the first time they have gathered to work collaboratively in this way. The objective will be to teach a three -pronged program: how to make the circus toys and tools, how to perform the skills, and how to put together a show. The intention is to develop their skills so that they will sustain the project themselves, teaching and performing for others in their communities. During this time we will need to provide 30 children with food shelter and transportation, along with the expense of the tools and supplies for performance. Our need for financial resources is growing.

Your contribution will help provide the spark of life for these children.  You can chose to help by a donation of money that will go directly towards the kits of creative supplies to be donated at each school and orphanage, or perhaps you may chose to specifically sponsor a performer for their travel accomodation during the project. Every dollar helps! We also welcome  donations of goods for the children; clothes, blankets, socks, shoes, books, toys and art supplies of all types, if they can be shipped to our  address in Thailand. Also of great use are donations of costumes and circus props for use in our performances. These are passed on to the children after the seasons tour. They love the red clown noses!

  There are no administrative expenses for SPARK!  whatsoever. All of the work is done on a purely volunteer basis. As a donor company, or organization you will be acknowledged in all our media, and both individual donors and organizations  will receive photos and email updates from our performers  as the project is happening. So that you will know exactly how your donation has helped, we will offer a summary update including photos, video and personal comments at the conclusion of the this year's project. If one of our volunteers lives in your city, we would be happy to have them do a personal presentation for your company at the conclusion of the project. Your donation   will help us SPARK!