- Hi, do you know who we are?

- Clwons!

- Right. We are special clowns though, and we cure children with the oldest, most wonderful and magic drug in the world…

***

There are moments when black clouds encircle the sun and darkness falls on the life of a child. However, the door opens ajar but enough for a red nose to poke in. And, all of a sudden, laughter like spilling champagne pours over the sadness that has absorbed the place. In their medical bag Dr. Kuku and Dr. Pippi carry sparkling colors, contagious laughter and unshakable faith. Apart from that their drugs are not bitter, they have nothing in common with average doctors who wear stern faces and white coats. Dr. Kuku (Iva Lapatova) and Dr. Pippi (Yanita Kirova) have yellow and orange hair respectively, heavily made up faces, bright colored costumes and … red noses. They are simply medical clowns.

“Medical clowns are very patient and never show emotions during work”, Dr. Pippi explains. “He or she should make children believe they are OK, that things are not too bad and the world can be more smiling and colorful. In fact the clown is part of the medical team during certain interventions, like for instance when an intravenous cannula should be applied.”

Today Dr. Kuku and Dr. Pippi help children at the National Hospital of Cardiology, and only five years ago a movie became the guiding light for them.  

“What really inspired us was the movie Patch Adams starring RobinWilliams”, Yanita Kirova goes back in time. “In it a doctor puts the red nose on and begins cutting the distance between doctors and children helping them to recover more quickly thanks to laughter therapy. In the meantime we enrolled at the National Academy of Theater and Film Art in Sofia and started looking at theater as a good alternative tool for a range of social activities in support of people in need. And when I myself was admitted to hospital, I thought how great it would be if someone funny and nice got into the room to befriend me in such a hard moment.”

Iva and Yanita dream of opening a laughter clinic and have submitted a project to the contest called The Change. Their idea is to organize medical clowns who would tour the country's hospitals to help the recovery of children with the use of theater and laughter therapy. Their bigger goal though is to open a school for medical clowns, because they believe that a positive outlook on life is as powerful for healing as drugs.

“Children react in different ways. Some enjoy contact with us, others remain a bit reserved and relax after a small talk”, Dr. Kuku tells us. “There was a child who was appalled by injections and an intravenous cannula had to be applied to him. We asked to be present during the manipulation and he felt better and did not shed a tear. We have a mailbox for Dr. Kuku and Dr. Pippi and we have received such wonderful letters from the children that our hearts melt.”

One of the letters reads, “I love you so much!!!! You are the best doctors in the world!” This has come from Deya who has filled the sheet of paper with a myriad red hearts.

English Daniela Konstantinova