PWB Nicaragua Update

Don't know what PWB is all about? Then visit their website after watching this video update of their teaching adventures in Nicaragua.


There is a second group from PWB volunteers currently doing a tour in India. The fabulous thing about PWB is that all the volunteers fund their own travel and living costs, so if you do choose to donate to the cause you know your money is going to be spent on the project that helps vulnerable children to reach their full potential.

This is what the PWB sponsorship money pays for

Here is a glimpse of this years Performers Without Borders group have been up to in their first month in India. This is what the money goes towards doing.



If you have any spare cash please consider giving it to this worthy cause. If you want to see more of what they do, there are videos here.

2012 Performers Without Borders Begins.

The team from Performers Without Borders have arrived in India to start their tour for this year and the first blog post about their travels has been published.

Fun at the Kudle beach circus bootcamp….

Hello everyone,

We have arrived in India, all of us, more or less intact and now enjoying the peace of our bootcamp location and haven of Kudle beach, Gokarna. We have begun our tour preparations away from the continuous honks of Mumbai traffic, the persistant calls of the various wallahs and the distinct smells that are unique to the big cities of this vibrant land. 

Our show is steadily coming together: complete with silly magicians, monkeys and cheesy dances. We are also learning to become expert teachers, learned travellers and masters of the ever so helpful (and unhelpful!) Indian head wobble.

Our days are really full with so much to learn and plan. The continuous (but very welcome!) sun makes it quite full on for us too! Our sunset swims in the sea and juggling on the beach are certainly hugely enjoyable at the end of a long day.

Next week we will perform our show here on Kudle beach, before making the 2 days train journey north eastwards to the oldest recorded city in the world, Varanasi. We will there begin our teaching and performing tour – surrounded by excited children, sacred cows and the holy Ganges river.

Until then we are enjoying this time getting to know each other, our strengths, our maybe-not-strengths-quite-yet (!) and as it is impossible to hide in India living so closely together, the ever changing patterns of our bowel movements.


We have a great group and are all massively excited to be taking part in this project – so thank you again to all of you who have supported us to help us be here.


Photos and videos and more updates will follow soon.


Much love from the PWB team of 2012.


xxxx

If you don't know what Performers Without Borders is all about, check out their website. They still need funding to keep the work they do going, so if you have any spare pennies please do donate it to them, so they can continue to bring play, circus and fun to children around the world.

"Taking your Work with you – Adventures of a travelling circus performer"

Tilly Twist is one of the people that will be doing the tour with Performers without Borders in 2012. She has agreed to send us updates of the tour. Thank you Tilly! I look forward to hearing all about your adventures. Here is Tilly's first blog.

January 2012 sees me heading off to India on a 4 month tour with Performers Without Borders(PWB). This year PWB has a team of 8 performers from all over Europe who believe in spreading the art and love of performing as far as they can, to underprivileged children who would otherwise never have such an opportunity. The vision of PWB is to give…

“…vulnerable children the opportunity to explore their potential. We understand that, through teaching performance skills an individual's learning, creativity and team working skills are developed. Further, it helps to build confidence, develop empowerment and overcome social barriers. PWB’s methodology of following the tradition of travelling show, and the principle of fostering long-term relationships, is ideal in not only engaging children, but also ensuring community trust in the project.”

This will be my third trip to work on a project such as this, and my second with PWB. Earlier this year I joined Spark!circus on a tour of Thailand. However, PWB is where my heart is as I was part of the first project and I am a trustee of the charity. For 2012 I am coordinating the PWB tour of India, which is as exciting as it is daunting; organising a group of people travelling through a foreign country, the large amounts of kit (circus performers especially!), and liaising with our partner organisations. All in a country which can try both your patience and sanity at the best of times!

So why do I do it?

Well, I love performing and teaching circus in the UK, it’s my full time job. But part of my inspiration to become involved in this field was an article in a Readers Digest, which I read when I was 14 and waiting for the dentist. The article was about a guy who set up a street children’s circus in South America. His circus kept children off the streets and out of trouble, whilst giving them an opportunity to learn, develop a variety of life skills and express themselves. When I met PWB founders Jonny Forbes and Matt Morris, it seemed like an opportunity to follow a dream of mine had landed in my lap, and I went with them on the first PWB tour in 2007. Five years later, PWB is going strong, and so far have had 3 successful tours of India. We are looking to expand and live up to our name by starting a new project in Nicaragua in 2013, and in Africa in 2014.

Teaching children that come from such poor backgrounds and have so little is the most rewarding thing I have ever done. They are so hungry to learn, and learn very quickly because of it, which is amazing to witness. The children in Varanasi (an ancient and holy city in north india) that were 10 years old on our first tour are now 15-16 year olds and this year, some have performed with fire props (juggling, staff spinning, hula hoop and poi) in front of thousands of people. They have become confident young people, who have opportunities and potential, and part of that is because of PWB’s involvement with them.

The projects don’t just benefit the children – they are a fantastic opportunity for individuals to develop their skills as a performer and teacher. I have learnt how to teach without words, performed in front of thousands of people, and been pushed to my limits both physically and mentally. I would recommend PWB’s projects to anyone who has a passion for performing, teaching, children, and child development. PWB’s projects are unforgettable, fantastic experiences which simultaneously benefit others and are a refreshing change from working in the UK - whilst still doing what you love. To find out more about PWB and what we do, visit our website. You can also join our mailing list for regular updates on the project.

If you would like to ask me personally anything PWB, you can contact me em@performerswithoutborders.org.uk.

If you would like to donate to support PWB’s work – we do not get funded and raise all our funds ourselves – visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/EmilyBall or the ‘support’ page on the PWB website. All the donations go straight into running projects, not on admin costs or anything hidden, PWB believes in complete transparency.

You can see videos of PWB’s 2011 tour here

Written by Tilly Twist

Performers Without Borders is the charity Elephants Not Included chooses to support.

Having fun and helping others.

Last week, at the Thursday meeting, I put forward the idea of ENI supporting the Charity Performers Without Borders (PWB). Many idea was discussed and club members were given a week to think about it before we put forward a proposal to vote on.

Last night, the members present at the weekly event, chatted about how we support worthy charities. It was decided that each year (running from 1st July-30th June) we will choose a charity to support and it was agreed this year it should be PWB.

Three ways of raising donations was agreed:-

• giving a monthly donation of £10, which would come out of the funds raised by club members paying their weekly fees.
  
• sponsored events to challenge ourselves to get better at our circus skills and raise funds for PWB.
• each procession/event we are asked to be involved with we will ask if we can use donation buckets to collect for PWB.
  

Hopefully over a year we will be able to raise PWB lots of funds to help support the fantastic work they do.

If you have any ideas on sponsored events or other ways to make money please put them forward to the Event Organiser Daniel M.

Hope to see you all next Thursday!

Performers Without Borders need our money.

First I should explain to you what the UK charity Performers Without Borders (PWB) is all about before I ask you to dip your hand into your pocket for them, and how better to do that than just copy and paste their vision and values from their website.

Vision

Performers Without Borders (PWB) works towards giving disadvantaged children the opportunity to explore their potential. We understand that, through teaching performance skills an individual's learning, creativity and team working skills are developed. Further, it helps to build confidence, develop empowerment and overcome social barriers. PWB’s methodology of following the tradition of travelling show, and the principle of fostering long-term relationships, is ideal in not only engaging children, but also ensuring community trust in the project.

PWB envisages a world where all children are able to realise their full potential, and have an understanding of different cultures, the complexity of development issues and the importance of personal action.

PWB will work to establish performance schools around the world, which will work in their communities with disadvantaged children. These schools will act as means by which international development issues are explored and cross cultural understanding is promoted.

PWB's values

Education should provide the child with a wide range of life skills...
UNICEF promotes life skills based education and describes it as “an interactive process of teaching and learning which enables learners to acquire knowledge and to develop attitudes and skills”

and contain aspects of fun and playing.
"Play is essential to development as it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional wellbeing of children and youth." From the American Academy of Pediatrics, 9 October 2006.

Self confidence development is key for the disadvantaged.
Removing social and economic barriers is only one part of helping the disadvantaged; with increased self confidence those who have been oppressed are more able to take advantage of new opportunities.

Learning and developing performance skills has great rewards.
The rewards can be broken down four areas:
- learning physical skills,
- working as a team,
- artistic creation, and
- performing experience.

Fostering cross-cultural community links benefits all involved
In a increasingly Interconnected world it is important that there is greater understanding across communities, especially where there are major cultural differences.

Sustainability of the work through long-term contact with communities
The best way to ensure the maximum benefit from community development it is key that the effort must been sustainable and work over the long-term.

The community is the main actor in development
The state has the majority of resources for development, however the resources are used most effectively when the community has the greatest say on how they are used.



I'll also embed the video footage that this years volunteers filmed of their adventures in India, so you can see what they do, how it impacts on the lives of the people they visit and see the relationships that PWB form with communities and how it benefits the people in those communities.

Now we come to the money part

Without money PWB cannot continue to do this brilliant work. They are a small charity that spreads a disproportionate large amount of joy compared to the relatively small amount of money that they spend. Volunteers that go on the project pay to join the tour (Last year a sum of £500) and pay for their own travel costs to India. Additional funds need to be raised for equipment and transportation to India. This money is made by fund raising and donations. This is where I hope we as a club come in. I'd like to make PWB a charity that Elephants Not Included supports. I'm open to ideas how we do this, be it fund raising events, a percentage of our weekly takings from attendance at the weekly meetings or any other suggestions you can come up with, but before I can organise any of that I need to know if you, as a club member, agree to us doing this. To that aim I would like to give you notice that at the regular club meeting on Thursday 30th June 8pm I will be holding a vote to agree or disagree to us doing this. If you are unable to attend that meeting, but still wish to have your say, please contact me and let me know how you feel about it and I will convey your opinions to the group on that night and add your vote to the totals.

Thank you!