La Arreglando

The people here are of a different quality. There is an understanding of what is important and not a hint of fear or apprehension in going for it. They are so humble and generous, obviously with exceptions but you can´t have a country completely perfect. For example, there is a woman of about forty or fifty. She has two sons one of which is epeleptic so is forever by her side just incase he has an attack, I have mentioned him before, she works seven days a week selling lottery tickets door to door, five hours walking round Cali in the morning and 3-4 hours in the evening. Sometimes in the backing heat sometimes in the pouring rain, It´s amazing how much can happen in two weeks. Seven days a week without fail, she also collects recyclables because she can sell them back to shops, she has a trolley that is forever full of bottles or plastic bags. She also cooks treats which she sells door to door. Her other son Johnatan needed five thousand pesos for a school project. That is roughly one pound fifty. It took him two days of asking friends and doing odd jobs to get it together.. This is a family that has nothing. Every other day she comes to where I live and work and sits me down and gives me a plate of food, or a fried plantain or a cup of rice pudding. A woman who has nothing and has to work solidly to have enough money to feed and clothe her children is not only willing but desperate to share all that she has with a relative stranger. And beyond that she is confused and almost insulted when I try and decline. I keep trying to explain that it´s a cultural difference and that it is hard for me to accept so much from her but she is simply saddened by the fact that people aren´t generous like that in London. "por que no, esso es feo, es malo, hentes no generoso? muy malo" It seems bizarre to her that you wouldn´t give up your hard earned to cook meals for your sons teacher.

On an equally difficult point the family that I was staying with in my first two weeks are just so generous. When I was first here they fed me and the five other people that were staying in their house completely free and when I tried to pay some rent I was flat out refused and told to relax. Last saturday it was the mother of the houses birthday, a grand party was planned. However on the wednesday the grandmother fell very seriously ill and was taken into intensive care. I presumed that there would be no party or atleast a smaller gathering. I rang to check on the saturday night and was told there was beers but nothing grand, I told them I would see them on monday. I had another invitation which fell through so I actually ended up spending the night at home alone drinking milk and eating cake, a nice evening if not a touch solitary. I turned up at their house today and in all honesty they were insulted that I wasn´t there on saturday. I have not felt this guilty in a long time. It was as if everything I have ever done that rewarded a little bit of guilt came flooding back to remind me of what it is to do somebody wrong. I have since been to see the grandmother in hospital, given the mother of the house her birthday present and desperately tried to explain that I thought they would want some space to be a family in this hard time. I think it will take some time to rebuild bridges completely but they definitely understand that my absence wasn´t through lack of caring. These people have shown me such warmth and honest generosity not just with things material but with their time and patience. An extremely humbling day and one in which I have learned alot about what it is to be human.

So, onto things a bit more positive: Turns out there is a company in Cali that uses clowning in hospitals to treat the ill. Who knew such a thing existed outside holywood. I am now enlisted to take photo´s and make tea for their next outing to a hospital and I am also giving a two hour workshop on clown for them on the 3rd of April.  It´s special what can come from extending a little bit of human warmth. I have seen this one man at circus so many times and thought "what are you doing here? you aren´t a circus person whats your story?" So last week I asked him. He started talking about a company he works with called Doctor Clown. I told him about my training in London and that I loved clowning we both gushed about how incredible Clowning is for some time and we are now rehearsing tuesdays and thursdays trying to mount a routine together and I get to help out what sounds like an incredible company. It also helps that when I went to meet the other members of Doctor Clown they both happened to be very beautiful women, its a hard life.

Before I start on any more updates you have to quickly take note of what the theatre looked like before we started repairs. Take note. Record it in your mind. And when you are ready feel free to move on.

We are so close to finishing all of the repairs in the theatre! So painfully close. And the way it all took off was just priceless. So if you have just joined I will fill you in on whats been taking place, a phone got stolen  from the theatre and so the kids planned a meeting to try and figure out how to make amends; they all started talking about how much they loved this little community theatre and how they wanted to help it. They then decided that they would repair the place from top to bottom. Well. The director John Hairo was going away to Barancilla for a festival for two weeks so there was a perfect opportunity for the kids to step up and show what they were worth...hmmm.


Day one. Turn out: brilliant, couldn´t have been better, kids aplenty. Cleaning: complete chaos. There was an older girl Melissa who said that she would organise it all, I thought fantastic somebody else responsible I can leave them to it. I went to the theatre to see how things were going and was greeted by insanely loud music, mop fights and a game the kids had developed whereby one child climbs to the top of the tallest ladder and the rest of the kids shake it as hard as they can. It was a very loud mess with Melissa at its center organising the chaos. I let them ride it out and then found them all one by one the next day and just quietly said that the clean up yesterday was a mess, you got nothing done you just pissed about on ladders. Surprisingly they were a touch more sheepish the day after. Especially Melissa. Next time she asked if I needed help I said a flat out no and told her in very plain terms why. Colombians as direct as they are really dislike confrontation, it´s a bizarre daicotomy that they are so open and honest in some ways but when they have a problem with somebody they will never say anything to their face, lots of talking behind peoples backs and berating through another person. So when I tell people I have a problem to their face in Cali it can be quite impacting.

Day Two. Turn out: Me and Johnatan. Cleaning: brilliant! Johnatan and I had a day of real hard slog. I never thought I´d hear myself say this about cleaning but there was something quite beautiful about it.

Day Three. I hear a knocking at my door unusually early. Its Pavlo asking to be let into the theatre. I said why? Repairs he replied. I was slightly taken aback at first but thought, here is a golden opportunity don´t let it fall away. I let him in and we worked all day. He cleaned, he fixed chairs,  and even started to design a way of hanging masks around the theatre. Ever since our chat Pavlo has been brilliant. It´s been a special change. I spoke with his parents and apparently he is doing more chores at home and is doing school work as well. And here he was at my door at about 10 in the morning asking to do a full days work labour. Don´t worry he is still aggresive, arrogant and violent with some other kids but he is doing it all with respect for me and his parents. I don´t know how long this will last but the way I see it just keep on going little by little. I can´t do any more than that, take it day by day.

Also quick moment for the classic child in doorway picture. Classic.

And from here on in is where the work really began. They next day Johnatan and Pavlo turned up early again and I was busy so I let them get on with it solo, they were fantastic. They worked all day. What started to happen next was again slightly special. The next day Pavlo and Johnatan turned up again but this time with an extra friend, again working well, they next day some one else joined, they next day two more until at its peak we had about fifteen kids working like ants. It was special, I really wish I´d taken pictures of that day.

Not to say it wasn´t without hiccups, one day I left them alone with these parting words "finish in the theatre and call it a day, no more work downstairs". I came home to find out that they had broken into downstairs, repainted the living room with oil paint and eaten my food. Not the highest point of my trip so far but as the Colombians say we are on a process.

But besides a few hiccups I think it´s a really incredible what a group of kids have achieved. Because it´s them that did all of the work and came up with most of the ideas. I was just there to say no when they started trying to mix silver paint with yellow and started trying to paint the floor with three different colours at the same time. Generally they worked with diligence, patience and generosity of spirit. And just look at what they have achieved, look at the difference. And look at the masks! Get in Pavlo, the original design had to be changed because the masks were hanging so that you couldn´t see the stage, but hey we´re on a process.

These stairs were painted about three times by Johnatan. He would spend about three hours on them, finally finish and somebody would walk on them and he would have to start all over again. This happened at least three times. 

If you ever want to try and give a heart condition to five children from El Poblado in Cali Colombia then tell them that you are going to take them to a professional circus school for a day.

What a flipping day that was. We left our area at 6 in the morning with five kids dressed up to the nines and  with excitement burning through very tired eyes. No one on that bus was prepared for the whirlwind of energy that hit it that morning. The night before I was in a living room with the parents, grandparents and cousins of one of the boys trying to persuade them to give him permission to go. He had had a bad note at school and so his Mum and Dad had no. I was desperately trying to argue the benefits of going, that when he sees how a professional practices he will understand hard work, he will want to work harder at school etc etc etc. In the end it was the english he had learned with me that swayed it and he was given permission. They were so amazed when he started spouting out phrases in English, truly shocked. That really surprised me how the family were so taken aback by really basic english, need to keep that in mind that a task like learning a language is so alien to them that I just need to be patient. Very very patient.

The black boy below is called Jesus but everyone calls him Chucho. He is a brilliant kid. Very bright, very funny and always with a business plan or other in the pipeline. He has a great nack of turning up just as a meal is being served, an awful habit I cant believe somebody would base their movements around their next meal disgraceful. Whenever we see eachother now we sing at eachother Eyyyyyy Comida! (Eyyyyy food!). He has a job in a bicycle repair yard but has given up a days work so that he can come to classes on saturdays. I asked him why he misses a days worth of money and he says because the Casa Naraña is too important to him. A kid of fourteen who had to struggle and scrape to get together the equivalent of a pound for the bus fare gives up a days work so he can come to do classes in circus and keep supporting his local community. He says he wants to be a doctor and I so so hope that its possible and not a pipe dream. I keep saying to him if he wants to be a doctor english will help him massively, he has just mastered the phrase Do you have any brothers and sisters and is going round repeating it to anybody that will listen.

But generally the kids were brilliant at Circus. They respected the space, didn´t disturb any of the other students too much and learnt shit loads. They walked on balls, on tightropes, learnt acrobatics and were suitably inspired by watching all of the other students. Their eyes also lit up when they heard the students say that they all began in community workshops with stilts just like them. Haha! All of the kids, with one exception, that came to circus have now been practicing harder and with more concentration than before, with Chucho determined to do two diabolos. A little incentive will go a long way. The one exception is a boy called Alex, who also was the one child that didnt help out with repairing the theatre, I don´t know whats going on with him at the moment he isn´t coming to classes either, must try and find out.

A little shot of the teaching in action.

Here are some photo´s of a party. A very special party. This is the family I stayed with for the first two weeks and the ones who have opened their hearts and home. This is the grandmothers birthday party. The one who is now in hospital. As you can see Colombians are extremely macho alpha and only start a bbq with a hairdrier. Its surprisingly effective and I think every macho alpha man should have one.

The woman is Amanda and the man Roderigo. Amanda is Roderigo´s girlfriend from Australia who was here for three weeks, great for company awful for my spanish.

Here is me and the grandmother, we get on very well. We rarely understand what the other is saying but we understand eachother. That is an awfully phrased sentence but I hope you get my drift.

And here is a rather belated, rather drunken picture of the coleslaw that I cooked as a gift for the party. There was flipping loads of it and Mum you would have been proud it was delicious.







I had a horrible dream that I was back in London and hadn´t remembered anything of the end of the trip, my cousin Yoshi however had come to Colombia and watched the show I had made with the kids. As he was playing back to me the film he had made of the show I couldn´t remember a single part of it and I just started to cry. I had made a bloody good show though, the costumes and choreography were incredible.

Sorry there has been such a delay I´ve just been exhausted. Going to make an attempt to try and update more regularly. One last passing thought.

If you ever make a plan with a Colombian be prepared for it to change. Several times.