March and April 2006 we traveled for six weeks through Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan . We did 40 shows for 15,000 refugee and orphan children. In addition to the refugee camps, we performed in orphanages and centers for street children in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda and in orphanages in neighboring Tanzania on the way home. For the most part, the trip was organized and hosted by The Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) (www.jesref.org). We originally connected with the JRS in Rome, when we attended the Invitational Congress for Circus and Traveling Show People sponsored and hosted by the Vatican. In addition to Sudan and Uganda, we have worked with JRS in Ethiopia, Thailand and Burma after the Tsunami. JRS is an amazing organization with programs for refugee children in over 50 countries around the world.

This part of the world has been ravaged by war for the past twenty years. Millions have die and millions more maimed and displaced. Hundreds of thousands are stranded in refugee camps for decades. And the war continues with only glimmers of hope.

JRS organized our time and travels very well, providing us with transportation, food and accommodation most days. We flew from Kampala to a tiny airfield in Adjumani and then traveling by truck and boat we performed many shows in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan. Our performances included very moving shows for children rescured back from years as soldiers and sex slaves out in the bush with the Lord’s Resistence Army. Many of the most damaged, caved in, traumatized children I have ever met. What a joy to see them slowly open up and begin to smile and laugh during a magic show. The human spirit has its amazingly resilient ways of surviving and even thriving in the most barren and brutal places. There are many stories from this sad and inspiring journey. I will tell of only one day to give you a sense of how our days went in this world where the hearts of darkness and light co-mingle in mysterious and deeply moving ways.

Magicians Without Borders, 100 Geary Road, Lincoln, Vermont  05443  802-453-5425     verner@gmavt.net