Most Hospitals can be distressing, oftentimes one can witness pain and sadness. But things can be different as well: sometimes there’s a little smile and a big laugh. Or else: big stories can be written there! And some stories don’t end…
As C4C´s Clowns often say, you enter the room, and you never know what you’re going to experience. Every day is original, every day you have to react to the being laying in front of you on the bed. You don’t know if you’re going to entertain 2 kids or 20. How sick they’re going to be. Will they be out of surgery, or will they have intestinal problems and you will call during the stint that the bed needs to be changed? Will it be a pack of kids in the play room, or will you visit them room by room today? Every day is improvisation.
But Dr. Clown has also a color-playing project that “doesn’t go crazy”, but comes in calmly and brings confidence and well-being with it. It opens children’s hearts through reading fairy tales and art. The children relax and talk. And sometimes they say things they didn’t even say to the staff of the hospital. It all started with writing a book of fairy tales with children in hospitals. Its author, Martina, visited hospitals for two years and read her texts, children improved them, and most importantly – drew pictures. The book was published under the title “Fairy tales to doodle by” (Pohádky k dočmárání) with 150 illustrations by 110 children. Behind each of these pictures is a story – sort of Martina´s secret, what she learned and what she experienced with the children when they read and drew together. Sometimes the stories were very powerful – after all, drawing and talking took place also at the child psychiatry ward, child oncology, but no smaller stories were written at the ordinary children’s ward and surgery. Do you think that this was over, when the book was published? The beautiful book full of children’s pictures and filled with secrets just tossed on the shelves of a bookstore? Well, you can find it in the bookstore too, but…
But the stories go on. Clowns of Dr. Clown hand out books to hospitalized children as gifts – so they can read and draw during a boring stay in the hospital, because there, each every fairy tale goes with a blank page. Clowns Martina and Ivča were on their regular Monday visit to see the children in Benešov. They sang all over the ward, challenging children’s memory with 6 lego cubes and handing out smiles and books. They had one last room left. They knocked, opened the door, and heard: “Tomášek doesn’t want you.”
Of course, that can also happen. This situation is clear. The child is worn out, and all he wants is mommy. Dr. Clown always respects that. The clowns just handed over the balloon and wanted to give mom a book for Tomášek. And from the bed came the words: “41?”
“What do you mean, please?” asked the clown thoughtfully.
“41, page 41, the fairy tale Squirrel the Painter, it’s me. I drew there. “And the room was suddenly full of smiles on both, Tom’s and mom’s faces.
Tomášek Kocourek, who was once involved in the illustration of the book Fairy tales to doodle by – at that time he was lying in a hospital in Kladno – was hospitalized again. He was cute because the doctors had already let him go home, but Tomášek enjoyed the drawing so much, that his mom had to wait while he finished the drawing for the fairy tale. Meanwhile, she was folding a bow tie out of paper (which is also in the book).
We just never know what kind of story awaits us inside the hospital rooms. Coincidences aren’t coincidences.
The stories and secrets of the pictures in Fairy Tales to doodle by live on. Thomas isn’t the only kid illustrating the book we’ve met again. Thanks to the book, the children “admit” that we have already worked with them. They’re proud that they have a picture in a real book. They are co-authors and they were given this unique chance during their stay in the hospital. Healing and pain turned into an opportunity for them. That way, the author of fairy tales Martina has met Jozef again in Kolín and Karolinka twice: once in Kolín and once in Motol Hospital. They enjoy meeting her again and draw attention to themselves willingly. Even three years later! And they are always proud of having their picture in the book. In return, they learn how they inspire other children – for example by teaching them how to draw ladybugs – their own drawing in the book serves other children as a model. For children, it’s a well-deserved experience of success.
Martina is now writing writes the second volume of the book with the children and again, shevisits hospitals, reads and kids draw. It’s going to take a while yet for the second book to be published, but you can watch the process even now on FB page Fairy Tales to doodle by (Pohádky k dočmárání) and even Chance 4 Children. And you can certainly support this project of Colorful Playing of Dr. Clown and together with us to give joy, kindness and self-confidence. Either by buying a book for yourself or for children in hospitals (we will definitely hand it over!) at
https://www.darujme.cz/projekt/1202042 ,
or by any small or large contribution to the C4C Friends Club:
https://www.darujme.cz/projekt/1204061
Thank you for a time during which we can experience this! Your support means we can continue to help. Thank you.
Author: Martina Pupcsiková
