Patch's Diary
August 2004
Gesundheit Clown Trip to Peru
The trip to Peru was perfect.
We had fifteen, including Wildman, John Glick and me, and six teens. Zappo joined us from Camp Winnarainbow, and Dave from The Rocks. Sean came from Canada. Cindy and her 11 year old daughter, Heather, came. Cindy's a social work teacher at James Madison University, and a friend of John Glick. After 9/11 she put up a peace sign and locals burned her house badly. In addition, my son, Zag, and his friend, Esteban, filmed this as trip #4 in my series of six films.
This trip was under the auspices of Bola Roja, founded by Wendy Ramos. The Peruvian clowns were 28 regulars: doctors, medical students, dancers, students, a lawyer etc. At any given time we had at least fifteen with us; some stayed for the whole trip. The fit was enchanting. Tons of affection were shown.
We immediately went to Ariqueppa, then Abancay, Curahuasi, Cusco, Arumbamba and small towns. We did tons of loving and received tons. We saw more poverty than most were prepared for (even the Peruvians.) My head spins to find some direction to change these circumstances.
We stopped in towns and played in streets (distributing toys to the poor) and went to hospitals, nursing homes, schools, ghettoes, institutions for the mentally different. We rode thousands of miles on busses, through deserts and gigantic mountains.
We went to Machu Pichu for dessert. I loved the focus of our team.
We went to one oppressed settlement community and found someone had half-built (just this year) a hospital for them, so wheels turned with Bola Roja docs for possibilities.
John and I spoke at the medical school for two hours to a standing-room-only crowd.
In peace,
Patch
