I am grateful for opportunities to get into clown costume, especially when clowning leads to more clowning! After the clowning and other activities in the school in Mourouj (Tunisia) in April, we were invited to a school for the deaf in a city a little farther south along the coast. We accepted their invitation and recently spent 3 days meeting the teachers, doing things with the students, and clowning.
The best 2 Tunisian Dinars, about $1, I ever spent was on this bunny hand puppet. I bought it a few years ago, and I take it almost everywhere! Kids love it, or they are afraid of it, because it looks real. The bunny’s name is ‘Bnin’, pronounced b’neen, which means delicious!
One of the teachers was eager to clown around with Mimi. It was obvious during our time at the school how much the teachers really care about the kids.
There are around 60 students at the school. Skills like baking, using a sewing machine, and metal work are taught to older students, and then they sell the products they make.
This is a picture of my husband with one of the teachers. They are holding a Tunisian flag the students made to sell.
We were very impressed with the school and the students. It was our pleasure to meet all of them. Looking at the pictures, it was their pleasure to meet us, too!
Before the clown event we went next door to a school for the physically challenged. The director invited us to visit his school in the fall.
The director of the school for the deaf is very generous. She didn’t intend to have a private party! She asked us beforehand if it was okay if she invited students from schools for the mentally and physically challenged to come to the clown event. The more the merrier!
We actually had children and adults from 3 schools come: the school for the deaf, the physically disabled, and the mentally disabled.
My husband said he loved watching the faces and enthusiastic responses of the audience as they watched Mimi.
And I have more pictures and things to say about these 2 special days, so I will share more about our time in Mahdia next week. In the meantime, I highly recommend spending time with people with disabilities. They love to laugh as much as everyone else.