As goals go, it couldn't be simpler: to bring a smile to the face of a child. And yet, for all the simplicity, it's easy to forget how many underprivileged children in Beijing live without the love and protection that comes from a happy family upbringing. For three years Magic Hospital has been entertaining children in the capital's pediatric hospitals and orphanages with their clowns and volunteer English teachers, but now the charity is embarking on their most ambitious project yet. They hope to bring smiles to 1,500 little faces as part of their city wide T-Shirt Day.
On Saturday June 3, over fifty volunteers will arrive at eleven different hospitals, orphanages, and special schools bearing gifts of white T-shirts and coloring pens. In effect a blank canvas for children to experiment with, the idea is to encourage creativity, self-confidence, and plain, simple fun. "It is an art therapy idea to get the kids to express themselves using an interesting media. Give them a blank canvas, which they can go wild on with their pens and get to keep at the end," explains Hannah Oussedik, one of the volunteers heading the project.
Including the Village of Sun, which houses children whose parents have been incarcerated, and the Stars and Rain Education Institute for Autistic Children, the event is the first of its kind for China. Each child will be presented with a bright red box covered in yellow stars inside which they will find a T-shirt, pens, paper and a Nestle milk drink. "Some of these kids never get nice gifts," says Oussedik, "so we will give them their own special box which they can write their name on."
Founded in 2003 by Claudia Vogg, who has since left China, Magic Hospital began by organizing weekly clown visits to local hospitals to cheer up children otherwise preoccupied by operations and cancer treatment. Partly inspired by the film Patch Adams, which stars Robin Williams as a doctor who tries to use laughter as a form of medicine, Magic Hospital employed the Mcdonalds trained Liu Brothers to crack jokes and play educational games with the kids. Gradually expanding, the group now arranges regular day trips to Beijing Zoo and other cultural sites for autistic children and the offspring of migrant workers. Now they hope to go national with a possible link up with a child protection center in Xi'an.
"One of our hopes is to reach outside the Beijing area and into the countryside. Perhaps we can create a mobile team that can go out there," says Magic Hospital assistant Ted Maloney. "As our main focus is underprivileged kids, whether they are sick kids in a hospital or migrant workers' kids or homeless kids, wherever there is a need we want to give these children some semblance of a happy childhood."
Currently looking for volunteer support and contributions for next month's massive event, the children will have a second chance to view their masterpieces, as photographs of their work will go on display from June 18 at the C.D.Q Art Studio in Dashanzi.
Says Oussedik, "The whole belief behind Magic Hospital is to bring laughter and happiness to the faces of the children. If we can do that we have achieved."
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