ROTE NASEN Clowns bring laugher to regfugee children

Project Partner

ROTE NASEN Deutschland e. V. is an artistic organization that brings joy and laughter to people in need. In a sensitive manner, specially trained artists bring humor and hope to hospitals, care facilities, and refugees.

They bring laughter to children and adults alike: ROTE NASEN clowns are at work in pediatric surgery wards, cardiology wards, intensive care units, nursing homes, and even in earthquake zones and refugee camps. They are everywhere where people in crisis need emotional support.

ROTE NASEN brings humanity, relationships, playfulness, and laughter into the world.

Project Information

ROTE NASEN is an artistic organization that brings joy and laughter to people in need. In Germany, around 59,500 people of all ages have benefited from clown visits over the past 15 years. The ROTE NASEN clowns are best known for their work in hospitals, but they also visit senior citizens’ homes and refugee facilities. The Diyi for Kids Foundation has decided to support children and their parents in refugee facilities and the “Joy and Hope for People in Need” project at the Am Schwalbenberg shared accommodation facility near Berlin.

A child is a child, even if they have experienced traumatic events. ROTE NASEN is convinced of this. That is why the artists help refugee children discover the world through play and find their way back into it.

The memories of the horrors, grief, and exhaustion they have experienced will stay with refugee children for a long time. What’s more, life in Germany is not easy for most of them. They are not yet familiar with the country and the language, and they live under one roof with complete strangers who are just as traumatized as they are. Refugee children need a sense of security, safety, and acceptance. They want to play and learn. They approach the world with curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. They want to make friends and develop themselves further. These are important foundations for stable life biographies, which the clowns at ROTE NASEN promote.

As part of the project, professional performing artists from the fields of acting, circus, dance, and music visit the Am Schwalbenberg shared accommodation facility near Berlin every week as clowns from ROTE NASEN Deutschland. Through their performances and circus and theater workshops tailored to the target groups, the clowns give traumatized children and their families moments of relief, joy, hope, and comfort. In addition, the artists build bridges between children inside and outside the facilities by involving everyone in joint activities.

The goals of the project are to awaken potential:

• Promoting physical health, emotional stability, cognitive abilities, and social skills

• During the clown visits, parents experience their children’s abilities in a new way

• Bringing joy and lightness into the children’s everyday lives

• Experiencing a carefree time

• Strengthening self-confidence and self-esteem.

How did the Diyi for Kids Foundation provide support?

Three ROTE NASEN clowns visited the residents of the Am Schwalbenberg shared accommodation facility near Berlin every week for three hours at a time. There was a permanent team of 12 clowns who built up a high level of trust with the children, their parents, and the staff through their regular visits.

The regular visits by the ROTE NASEN artists gave the children and their families a sense of “normality” and a positive mood. The encounters with the clowns created space for them to express their fears, insecurities, and worries. The participants’ self-confidence was strengthened because they understood everything even without language skills. The essentials were expressed through body language.

The total funding for the project amounted to just under €40,000. The Diyi for Kids Foundation made a small contribution with its donations.

(Image material: Gregor Ziehlke)