Magicians for a day

Thursday afternoon at the Arse­nal of the Blue Circus show: Razan with her red nose and guitar in hand enters the hall followed by ten children, all in masks, singing and clapping. &` a curtain was mounted, whose colorful curtains were decorated by the children themselves who left their footprints on it almost as if to say: "I'm there!" In fact, some of them cannot speak, they are autistic children with mental retardations, together with their brothers and friends. For four afternoons, together with the volunteers of the international association Red Noses, ward clowns, they followed a path of inclusion, playing together, doing activities and preparing a magic show!

There to see them are their mothers, who during the week took part in a training course on autism with a psychologist also from the association. Day after day, sharing their family life, with the difficulties but also with the potential of their autistic children, gave birth to a friendly aunt among them, making the loneliness of having a disabled child less harsh.
Together with the mothers there were also representatives of the Ministry of Culture, teachers and directors of some schools in Madaba, volunteers from the association.
After the presentation of the association, its objectives, its activities and the situation of autistic people in Jordan, the curtain rises. They are all excited, almost as if they were on the Red Carpet.

Razan with his innate humor - he seems to have been a clown from the cradle - and with great attention to the person he juggles among the children, making them feel like real actors and, when something goes wrong as it should, it plays down the drama by making everyone smile and forgetting the mistake. Between shrieks and screams, the autistic children are concentrated on performing their act together with their brothers, who are not at the top of the class alone, but together, with great attention to each other, they work hard to succeed: handkerchiefs that fly by blowing from underneath, plates that rotate on sticks, moons that disappear, chopsticks that jump and rotate creating an "acrobatic" show. The audience warms up, claps their hands to the rhythm of the music, has fun and above all gets excited. A very young mother of an autistic boy is moved. Maybe it's one of the few times that he is not ashamed of his son, he films him with the phone, encourages him and, when he sits down when he should be on stage or makes a few noises, takes him by the hand and accompanies him among the others in his po­sition in a natural manner. Even among the other spectators there were some tears amidst the smiles. A message certainly remains in their hearts: even a disabled child is special, he has his own treasure to share and together we can do great things!

Who knows? whether, returning home, to school, to the offices or there where we are, we will have the strength to commit ourselves more and more for the inclusion of these children!


The Fraternity of Sermig in Jordan
NP April 2024