7th Annual Morocco Clown Tour with Patch Adams

October 19-28, 2024 | Casablanca & Marrakech, Morocco

2024 Registration Now Open!

Great News! We are going back to Morocco for the Seventh time! Even better, Masha Gennadyeva, Marina’s daughter, will be organizing a tour of the Sahara Desert for a limited number of participants. Details below. Come join us while we clown in the hospitals, in the orphanages, in the desert, and the marketplace. See you there!

Read Patch’s Letter of Invitation ⇒

Program

The Morocco Clown Tour begins from your own front door – all participants travel in clown costume!  The emphasis of the program is CLOWNING – We will clown in children’s hospitals, schools, crisis centers, the markets & streets, and everywhere else we go in Morocco!!! No experience is required.

Clowning will open doors unlike any other travel experience.  Gesundheit! Global Outreach has clowned across the world with different groups. Our experience has taught us that clowning is an incredible tool for connecting with people and that anyone is able to do it.  The only criteria for participation in the Morocco Tour is that you come as a clown, with a joyful spirit of compassion, flexibility and interest.

Our Morocco clown journey is accompanied by cultural experiences!

We will eat together for most lunches and dinners. Some evenings we will have special gatherings and performances. Other cultural activities include: a visit to the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, a traditional Hammam experience and traveling to Marrakech and clowning & shopping in the Medinas (old city marketplaces).

We will spend ten days together traveling around Morocco, CLOWNING every day, experiencing unique local cultures ad landscapes. We are sure to make many new Moroccan friends. Through our shared journey of service clowning and travel, our group will transform into a community, a clown family connected through our work, play and laughter.

Clowns, please be aware that the trip starts in Casablanca and ends in Marrakech. If you have questions or need help with travel itineraries we have more information about who to contact below.

Read Jeptha’s Story from Morocco Clown Tour 2018 ⇒

Read Lion’s Story of his First Clowning Adventure in Morocco ⇒

 

Itinerary

• Arrive in Casablanca Welcome Dinner October 19
• Clowning in Casablanca October 20, 21, 22
• Travel to Marrakech October 23
• Clowning and exploring in Marrakech October 24, 25, 26
• Clowning Sharing Circle and Farewell dinner October 27
• Depart Marrakech: Clowns go home, hugs and kisses! October 28
(we suggest you arrange to leave not early morning please arrive in Casablanca CMN and depart from Marrakech RAK) 

Schedule

Every day on the tour is unique, though a typical day could include the following:
• Breakfast at the hotel
• Morning clown visit: orphanage, children’s hospital, or other facilities
• Lunch in a local restaurant
• Afternoon clown visit
• Dinner in a local restaurant
*Schedule is subject to change.

***Please be Aware***
1) Gesundheit! has a NO-WHINING policy.
2) This trip is an extremely active trip with a very full schedule.
3) We will be making a group transfer with all of our luggage between cities.

You need to be able to manage your own bags and belongings when we move as a group; we will not be using porters.  Generally, clown tours are known to include lots of walking and stairs, long bus rides, infrequent bathroom stops, late meals, and late-night travel.  That being said, as a group and clown family, we will all take care of each other.

 

 

Cost

Cost of the trip is $1700.

The Tour Package includes:

  • Accommodations in hotels (with a roommate)
  • Meals
  • Transfer to and from the airports
  • Transportation within and between cities by tour bus or train
  • Cultural activities

The tour package does not include:

  • International and domestic airfare
  • Individual Airport Transfers

The Morocco Tour does not have scholarships available for participation.

 

Want to Participate?

Cost: $1700 USD covers food, lodging, clowning events, and transportation within the country. This fee does not include your transportation to Morocco. Space on this trip is very limited. We register participants on a first come first serve basis, and Gesundheit! trips are known to fill up quickly.

1) Pay the Deposit or Full tuition and register through the ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION & RELEASE FORM ->

Please do not fill out the form unless you are prepared to make your deposit.

-> Not ready to register yet? Write to sharonstein22@gmail.com

2) Email a picture of yourself to Ginevra (it doesn’t have to be a clown picture)

3) No COVID-19 vaccination is required, but it’s recommended.

4) FINAL PAYMENTS ARE DUE BEFORE September 22nd. The $500 deposit is non-refundable unless the trip is canceled due to travel restrictions or other covid-related incidents.

5) Check out the suggested readings about Morocco and Islamic culture below.

6) Once you have made your travel arrangements, please fill out this form so we can accommodate your arrival in Morocco.

*Under 18? You MUST have your parental figure fill out this form and send it by mail/email.

Flights: Please arrive at Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport (CMN), and depart from Marrakesh Menara Airport (RAK).

Passports: No visa is required; check this link for any exception related to your country. Your local post office can expedite passports. Please bring two color photocopies of your passport with you. Please check the expiration date of your document; your passport must be valid for at least six months after your date of travel.

If you have questions that are not answered by the program’s description:
sharonstein22@gmail.com
Sharon Stein
Morocco Clown Tour
Tour Coordinator

Thank You and we hope you join us!

Trip Coordinators & Facilitators

1) Patch Adams — entered medical school in 1967 to use medicine as a vehicle for social change; promotes and practices living a life of public joy as a revolutionary act; fount of ideas for avoiding burn-out in long-term social justice and health. Enthusiator.

2) Masha & Mohamed ( Simo ) — Masha is a clown and art teacher. She started to clown with Patch when she was nine years old (which is strange for her because now she has a son that age). Since then she has clowned with Patch every year in Russia. Masha and Patch always shared the dream to bring clowns to Morocco, as it is the native country of her husband, Mohamed Aouad. Patch and Masha dreamt this dream for many years until 2013 when The First Morocco Clown Tour came to fruition. With the help of a great clown team (Patch, Ginevra, Zag, and Lars) we had the opportunity to make this dream come true. She is looking forward to having clowns share the experience of Morocco for the sixth Morocco Clown Tour and cannot wait to see old friends and make new friends too!

3) Ginevra Sanguigno — is an actress and dancer and since 1981 she has been using theater as a vehicle for social change. Ginevra is a clown, instructor, enthusiator, and the founder of Clown One Italia in 2000. She has been organizing humanitarian clowns mission worldwide since 2003 and was part of the first-ever Morocco clown tour four years ago.

4) Sharon “Shar-Shar” Stein – started volunteering in 1996, has traveled to 54 countries…so far. She met Patch 21 years ago, and put her first red nose on and has laughed ever since!

⇒ Photos by: Trenton Branson

 

Suggested Readings & Helpful Links

Links

  1. CIA World Fact book on Morocco
  2. Introduction to Moroccan local dialect Darija

Downloadable Readings

  1. “The Veil: Women Writers on its History, Lore, and Politics” by: Jennifer Heath
  2. “Health and Illness from an Islamic Perspective” by: Majed A. Ashy
  3. “Gendering the City, Gendering the Nation” by: Rachel Newcomb
  4. “Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists” by: Amber Haque

 

Patch Adams MD & Gesundheit Institute, P.O. Box 307, Urbana, IL 61803

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