Patch Adams and the Gesundheit Institute

Belén Report 2009

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August 4-18 2009, the Fourth Annual Belen Project brought more than 90 volunteers from eleven countries to Iquitos, Peru. Co-sponsored by Gesundheit! Institute and Bolaroja Clown Doctors of Peru, this was our most ambitious and successful community development project to date. As with previous years, the central theme involved close collaboration of clown volunteers with the Belen community to kindle the spirit of cooperative volunteer social action through art, play, work, education, and healthcare (see the 10-minute video "Art a Bridge to Health, Belen" for a description of the 2008 mission and Patchadams.org/projects for descriptions of previous Belen Project missions).  

Clowns have a direct impact on community health. Thomas Syndenham, the British Hippocrates said over 300 years ago, "the health of a community is better served by the arrival of a group of clowns than by twenty asses laden with drugs." Play and fun create a safe environment for both children and adults. Fun increases social participation and when directed into work and educational projects, can give real benefit, especially for communities in crisis. We left Belen a more clean, healthy, and happy place than when we arrived. We strengthened old friendships, made new friendships, and planted seeds for future projects.

We continued our programs begun in 2006. Clown volunteers and local residents painted homes in Belen. We noticed a significant increase in the number of homes painted entirely by residents of Belen. The paint itself was made available through the inspiration and actions of Wendy Ramos, director of Bolaroja in engaging the Facebook cyber-community in a last minute donor campaign made necessary by the failure of promised corporate sponsorship. Due to the generosity of individual donors on Facebook, 300 gallons of paint were donated, and 131 homes have been painted in beautiful colors.

The mural team, in close collaboration with community members and La Restinga (an Iquitos based NGO and Belen Network member, serving the needs of children in crisis through art and education), painted a complex series of murals and re-established gardens in a public terraced stairwell connecting upper and lower Belen. During the process of reclaiming an ill-used and filthy public space, neighbors and families and clowns and La Restinga worked together to make this a friendly and beautiful place.

Workshops in art, dance, drumming, and puppet-making were much more effective this year due in large part to the availability of space in the Sachachorro elementary school, a much more pleasant space for teaching than in years past. Hundreds of workshop participants were able to engage their creative talents under the guidance of La Restinga, Bolaroja and Gesundheit! instructors. There was even a well-attended handwashing workshop. Clown volunteers played with the hundreds of children who were unable to attend the workshops. La Restinga also led large group playfairs in the festival field. Clowns visited hospitals, a prison, a hospice, a nursing home, a psychiatric facility, a family HIV shelter, orphanages, and public spaces throughout Belen and Iquitos.

Community outreach efforts in micro-credit, literacy, clean water helped us identify existing programs and resources to enable a more precise future aid and assistance.

Ninety tons of garbage was collected and removed from lower Belen in one day, partnering community volunteers, the Municipality of Belen, PAHO, and the clowns. Sector 4 of Pueblo Libre won 1st prize for the cleanest sector.

Through fundraising from PAHO employees and private donors, Gesundheit! Institute (via La Restinga) purchased a house in Sector 6 of Pueblo Libre in Belen for development into a community center (address: Orellana 134, Caserío Sector 6, Pueblo Libre, Distrito de Belén, Iquitos) . The owners, Mr. Alejandro Tuanama and Ms. Luz Rubio, and their daughters, Luz Angélica and Luz Elena, were extremely happy that their former home will benefit the community of Belén. Through a matching grant from the Fred Foundation, renovations will soon begin on creating a safe, fun place for community organization, development, and education. On Friday, August 14, the children of Belén, humanitarian clowns from Bolaroja, Gesundheit! Institute, La Restinga, Selva Amazónica, among others, painted the community center. This was the final house painted during Belen Project 2009, and children and clowns together cleaned a dozen garbage bags full of trash from the yard. La Restinga did an awesome art installation inside, and presented a theater piece for sector 6 children and Dr. Mirta Roses (head of PAHO), Manuel Pena (head of PAHO Peru), the Minister and Vice-Minister of Health of Peru, the Mayor of Belen, and other local and regional authorities.

Amazon Promise provided another free clinic in Belen, and treated over 200 patients. Belen Network organizations did HIV screenings and prevention education, provided free legal assistance to Belen residents, nutrition and sanitation education, and domestic violence prevention.  

The parades which initiated and closed the Belen Festival brought together children, adults, and clowns in a celebration of the spirit of joy in Belen. Such joy in a community described by Peru's Health Minister as "the hell of Peru" was evidence for the positive change in Belen. Through Bolaroja, Gesundheit! and others in the Belen Network (see below), clowning, loving kindness, collaborative work and play has brought change to Belen as drums echoed in the streets.  As the forty foot snake made from recycled bottles and bags moved its way through lower Belen there was a shared sense of empowerment and hope. The Belen festival 2009 finished with a stage show ,with puppets, dancers, a theatre presentation, and the winner of the first annual Belen Idol contest (an eight-year old Michael Jackson impersonator singing "Billie Jean"). 

As for the clowns, we were a diverse group age fourteen to sixty-five. Many had never clowned before. Some were in Belen on their second, third, or fourth trips. Days were full of clowning, painting, workshops, murals; there were meetings in the evening, siestas mid-day; we drank lots of water; we worked and played closely together; we hugged thousands of children; we became a vibrant cohesive community united in a commitment to service and fun; we cared for each other; we emphasized what we had in common and played with our differences; we fell in love with each other; we laughed and cried together. We connected one to another in the spirit of gratitude for the opportunity to serve, in the spirit of amazement in the power of collaborative playful work, in the spirit of deep community through intentional loving kindness. At the end, we hugged and hugged and hugged til it was time to go back to our other lives, ready to live and give in that spirit of love.  

Gesundheit! gives thanks to all the volunteers whose time, work and spirit made the Belen Project a great success. We particularly are grateful to the Bolaroja Clown Doctors, one of our sister organizations, whose work, talent and inspiration have been central to the success of the project, and to PAHO, whose vision and support has helped cohere the Belen Project, and reveal the efficacy of clowning and its applications in public health projects in Belen and other communities in crisis. Every house painted, every child hugged, every hand washed, every smile given and received was made possible through the collaborative process of play, work, health care and art. There is no doubt that communities that are safe and healthy for children are safe and healthy for everyone. We learned from Belen, how to share amidst scarcity, how to play amidst desolation, how to hope amidst despair. If this is possible, building dreams in “the hell of Peru”, imagine what is possible in our communities at home! 

If you are would like to support or participate in Belen Project activities, email John Glick, MD, Director of Gesundeit Global Outreach, at jawkneemail@comcast.net.

The Belen Network, (“Red por Belen”) was developed out of a local participative workshop facilitated by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) in August 2007,and funded by the Gesundheit Institute. Participant groups in this network include:

The Belen Network coordinates activities and programs during the yearly Belen Festival, and meets periodically to connect needs with resources, thereby creating alliances and collaborative programs to meet the many needs of Belen citizens in areas of healthcare, education, economics and living conditions. The Belen Network is expanding, to include more Belen community volunteers and more international governmental and non-governmental organizations.