In our universe, imaginative play is a tool — a bridge for people experiencing displacement caused by conflict, political turbulence, economic struggle, and environmental crisis.

El Salvador, where people face multiple causes of displacement, found itself in the spotlight of a tour in November 2023.

Join us under the big top to learn how clown energy brought play, laughter, and relief to people in El Salvador.

Families Face Multiple Causes of Displacement in El Salvador

For decades, deadly gang violence has shaped life in El Salvador. To find safety, many young people left their homes and family members to migrate north. El Salvador has also become a destination for Venezuelans escaping dangerous political and economic conditions.

Even as deaths and migration continue, arbitrary arrests of men suspected of gang activity have added to the heartache.

You love to laugh — and you know how much laughter has helped you through difficult moments.

You can give the gift of laughter to a child in crisis every month with a donation of just $11 monthly.

For these reasons, CWB-USA planned a tour for November 2023.

No one anticipated that the stage was also set for another cause of displacement: Tropical Storm Pilar.

Navigating a Red Alert: Tropical Storm Pilar

Clowns Without Borders performances aren’t just fun, they’re strategic endeavors. 

When Tropical Storm Pilar hit, the red alert prompted even more caution than we’d already applied and anticipated.

Hundreds of people left their homes to seek safety from the storm.

Bringing laughter must never jeopardize people’s safety, both the journey to the performance and the gathering itself, nor inadvertently divert vital resources.

Fortunately, adapting to fresh traumas of already vulnerable groups isn’t a new dynamic for CWB. We’ve been here before. Just weeks before the El Salvador tour, we redirected a tour in Guatemala to assure audience safety during political protests.

After the storm subsided, CWB-USA artists were ready to bring the transformative power of laughter.

Sharing the Vibe: Clown Energy and Laughter

So what happened when our artists could safely gather children and families for clown shows in El Salvador?

Here are stories from the events:

Our first show was intimate, with only 32 people in attendance. All were migrant adults and children seeking refugee status and asylum.

There were lots of excited parents who were thankful to see their children so happy and taking part. A group of kids, 8 to 11 years old, said they’d, “never seen magic before.”

Aileen, 6 years old, volunteered to come on stage. With assistance, she made an egg appear out of thin air. When asked to throw the egg into a basket, she said she couldn’t do it.

CWB artists offered her space to leave the stage but also offered encouragement. She compromised by saying, “I’m going to throw it as well as I can.”

As the audience cheered her on, Aileen threw her egg.

She got it in the basket on the first try and left the stage with a huge smile on her face!

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At a school in the town of Santa Maria, Edwin, who’s 9 years old, asked where Josie was from. She said the US.

Josie asked Edwin if he had ever visited the US and he said, “No.” And added that he wasn’t able to get a visa.

Then she asked him if he’d ever seen a clown before. Edwin said, “Yes. But they weren’t as great as you and you made us laugh a lot more.”

In Panchimalco, a town that’s considered one of the most dangerous in the country, there was a special older participant named Marcerito. On stage, she shared her huge smile and youthful energy. Audience and artists alike delighted in her joy.

Clown Energy for the Back Pocket: A Special Abracadabra

You know the word “abracadabra” makes magic happen. But the clown energy on this tour intended for people to recognize the ever-present source of magic within themselves.

During each show, the audience shouted, “Mi vida es magica!” (“My life is magic.”) to conjure enchantment.

After the show, audience members would approach artists and repeat the phrase, “Mi vida es magica.” It became the anthem of the tour.

Now it’s your turn! Say it with us: “Mi vida es magica.” “Mi vida es magica!”

Jed Doherty, a CWB artist who performed in El Salvador, shares a story of a child who made the magic his own:

Conclusion

CWB-USA holds clown energy for crowd after crowd after crowd, making laughter happen amid complex realities of displacement.

Our El Salvador tour was planned in collaboration with our local partner ACNUR and Tour Leader Ricardo Bamaca (Guatemala) and featured artists Josie Mae (United States), Jed Doherty (United States), and Val Juarez (El Salvador).

Check out this Instagram reel from the El Salvador tour:

You Can Help CWB Plan the Next Tour

A gift to CWB-USA is a gift of laughter to children and families who are experiencing crisis. The laughter becomes a moment of shared joy by which children and community members build resilience.

Will you join us in spreading joy and laughter?

Refugees may cross national boundaries to seek safety, but IDPs are unable or choose not to do so.

Aid organizations often can’t help IDPs because of unsafe conditions. For these reasons and others you’ll read about in this post, Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called IDPs, “among the most vulnerable of the human family.”

Read to the end of the post for information, photos, and a video about IDP communities Clowns Without Borders-USA has supported.

Who are Internally Displaced People (IDPs)?

Do you know someone displaced due to conflict or natural disaster?

The number of IDPs across the world has been increasing for some time, but in 2022, the population of this group jumped to the highest level ever.

By the end of 2022, people displaced from their homes worldwide reached 71.1 million, with 88% displaced because of conflict and violence. Disasters caused the displacement of the remaining 22%.

Note: Data in this post is from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre’s GRID 2023 Report unless otherwise noted.

Who are Internally Displaced People (IDPs)? by Maggie Cunha

Where are IDPs?

Internal displacement occurs worldwide.

At the end of 2022, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 45% of the world’s total IDPs, with nearly 6 million in Democratic Republic of the Congo and 4.6 million in Ethiopia.

The Middle East and North Africa join sub-Saharan Africa as regions with the most IDPs in the world (18%). Syria had almost 7 million IDPs by the end of 2022 and Yemen had 4.5 million IDPs.

The war in Ukraine has caused the internal displacement of 5.9 million people.

IDPs and Urbanization

Most IDPs live outside formal camps, separating them from most humanitarian services. In urban areas, IDPs may have better access to education, housing, and healthcare services if discriminatory laws don’t block that path.

Another challenge IDPs may need to navigate? The people who already live in urban areas.

Urban residents may see an influx of IDPs as competition for housing or jobs. This can lead to harassment, discrimination, or violence.

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions About IDPs

What does IDP stand for?

IDP = Internally Displaced Person. IDPs = Internally Displaced People.

What is an internally displaced person? Who are internally displaced persons?

A simple definition of IDP is from Wikipedia: “An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country’s borders.”

You may feel challenged to see internally displaced people (IDPs) as more than a distant, nameless group of people who you have nothing in common with.

But, at CWB, our supporters journey with us to where IDPs live, work, and play. We meet people, learn their names, and offer games — many, many games. Children and families connect through the magic of play and laughter.

And we share their stories.

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Are internally displaced persons (IDPs) refugees?

No, IDPs are not refugees.

To be considered a refugee, a person must cross their national border. If a family has the same experience as their neighbor but doesn’t leave the country, they will not have the chance to become a refugee. The neighbor that crosses the border has the chance to become a refugee.

Unlike refugees, internally displaced people, or IDPs, do not have a special status in international law. “Internally displaced person” is a descriptive term that does not come with rights or privileges.

What challenges do internally displaced persons (IDPs) face?

IDPs face many challenges:

• IDPs leave their home, and so leave behind a job, property, and livelihood
• IDPs are often out of reach of international aid organizations
• IDPs may not eat regular meals
• IDPs may get injured or lose loved ones to violence
• IDPs must rely on their government for support, which may not come
• There are more IDPs than refugees (over 2x), but receive less global attention
• International law does not protect IDPs from violence or persecution

What rights do internally displaced persons have?

Internally displaced people, or IDPs, have the right to the same freedoms and rights as everyone else in their country. However, a crisis may limit those rights, especially if the government responsible for protecting IDPs is also persecuting them.

Unlike refugees, IDPs lack protection under international law. The United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement sets out government responsibilities toward IDPs, but it’s not international law.

Below are documents for further reading.

• African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (“Kampala Convention”), 22 October 2009
• International Standards Relating to Internal Displacement

You love to laugh — and you know how much laughter has helped you through difficult moments.

You can give the gift of laughter to a child in crisis every month with a donation of just $11 monthly.

What are the causes of internally displaced persons (IDPs)?

Conflict or violence forces 88% of IDPs to leave their homes, while natural disasters like storms, droughts, fires, or floods displace the remaining 22%.

What are the needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs)?

IDPs’ needs may include food, shelter, healthcare, education, and childcare. However, getting help to IDP communities may be difficult for aid organizations because of dangerous routes.

The good news? Informing yourself about your government’s policies toward international conflicts can help IDPs. This is especially true when your government knows that you care about IDPs enough to affect the way you vote and contribute to civic life in your home country.

What are the examples of IDPs?

Great question!

Clowns Without Borders has gone to many IDP communities.

In the last section of this post, you’ll learn about people from IDP communities we’ve supported (including tour photos, videos, and links to blog posts).

IDPs and Clowns Without Borders (CWB) – USA

Clowns Without Borders-USA has supported IDPs across the globe. For a larger sample of our work, check out our blog.

The Middle East

Iraqi Kurdistan is an autonomous region in northern Iraq where stateless Kurdish refugees and IDPs represent about 28% of the population. CWB toured the region twice in 2022 to establish a new partnership.

East Asia

There are currently 1.5 million IDPs in Myanmar. CWB toured here in 2018, performing a mine safety show for internally displaced children in partnership with Mines Advisory Group. This video is a taste of the project.

The Americas

Agricultural intrusions onto their lands constantly threaten Indigenous communities of Southern Brazil. CWB exchanged art with the Guarani people in 2019 and again in 2022.

Colombia is currently home to 4.8 million IDPs. Here, CWB toured 10 times since 2009, most recently connecting with youth who are at risk for gang recruitment.

In El Salvador and Guatemala, CWB laughed and played with IDP families who fled their homes because of violence or climate disasters.

“Thank you for bringing us laughter. The community needed it.

Thank you for being professional and different.”

– Ken, a grandfather from the audience Guatemala, 2022

Conclusion

You can help internally displaced people, or IDPs, by connecting with organizations that support them.

At CWB, we share the faces (often smiling and laughing) we meet on tour with our supporters. Because people connect with people, not statistics.

If you’d like to hear stories about displaced people regularly, join us by signing up for our weekly newsletter!

The UNHCR estimates there are 68.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide: 40 million internally displaced people (IDP); 25.4 million refugees; and 3.1 million asylum seekers. There are also an estimated 10 million stateless people, or people who are denied nationality. In these terms, “displacement” means someone who is forcibly moved or removed due to armed conflict, violence, human rights violations or natural/human-made disasters. Displacement mobilizes CWB into action because our tours respond to people experiencing crisis. When a project partner asks us to come share laughter, we do our best to oblige. But as global politics shift and change, late-20th century and early-21st century displacement has started to take on a distinct quality: protraction.

Is displacement changing?

Thanks to our news cycle in the United States, it’s easy to picture acute crises like earthquakes or bombings. It’s more difficult to conceptualize protracted displacement caused by intersecting problems like lack of water resources due to agricultural mismanagement and climate change, or civil war resulting from the legacy of colonialism. The UNHCR defines protracted displacement as displacement for five years or more, yet from 1974–2014 fewer than one refugee crisis in 40 was resolved within three years. In fact, more than 80 percent of all refugee crises lasted for 10 years or more.

How does CWB respond to protracted displacement?

CWB frequently interacts with communities experiencing protracted displacement, including our 2018 tours to Colombia (Coastal Tour and The Department of Cauca), Lebanon and Myanmar. The media image of refugee camps does not reflect reality for many people experiencing protracted displacement. It’s an increasingly urban and dispersed phenomenon, with (in 2015) at least 59 percent of all refugees living in urban settings. The increasing frequency and length of protracted displacement results in migrant and IDP situations that challenge preconceived ideas of what a crisis looks like. For example, many refugee camps are essentially settled, with established systems of support both formal and informal. But does that mean people no longer live in crisis? What kind of role does laughter and levity play in situations that feel intractable instead of sudden?

We’ve found that, along with planned performances, CWB tours help carve out space for communities to come together over joy. Communities constantly build their own resilience, but play and silliness help reinforce an opportunity to forge connections within protracted displacement.