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A sweet story from the Tsunami

Of all the wonderful cornucopia of resources shipped over to aid Tsunami victims, someone finally realized that one thing was missing. A good belly laugh. This article from Reuters tells the story of Elvo, a clown who traveled from New Zealand to Indonesia to help victims:

Aceh Tsunami Victims Find Something to Laugh About
The tsunami victims had never seen anything like it and they were laughing hysterically. Hundreds of children and adults emerged from makeshift huts and tents to watch Elvo, a New Zealand clown, doing funny tricks in this Aceh west coast village, about 160 miles southeast of the provincial capital. Cries of laughter and joy drifted across the football field where the crowds gathered on Tuesday to watch Aaron Ward, 30, an Auckland-born performing artist. It's a sound that hasn't been heard much in this part of Indonesia for weeks. Most of the Kiwi clown's acts involved simple magic tricks using a colorful handkerchief and balloons. But they were enough to amuse the children who lost their homes, friends, schools and in some cases their parents, to the Dec. 26 tsunami that swept the coast of Sumatra island.

I love it -- simple tricks so there is no cultural barrier to cross. Visual sleight of hand, balloon animals. Good stuff. A quote from a member of the audience:

"We can laugh again like we used to. All this time we have been holding back our laughter, but today we can express it again," said Dewi, a mother of five whose house was destroyed by the killer waves.

"It's really important to make people laugh, especially in this sort of situation," Ward, who once performed in front of war-affected children in Kosovo, told Reuters. "Sometimes we can't pull ourselves out of those situations very easily, so to have someone like a crazy clown come over and help you get out of those situations, it's a huge relief for the people ... they just light up," he said.

This guy is probably as leftist a moonbat as they come but I love him -- he is providing the one thing that the relief agencies never thought to provide. Talk about a perfect candidate for Nobel Peace Prize -- a lot better choice than Wangari Maathai, Jimmy Carter or Yasser Arafat. He embodies the true spirit of the Prize -- something the Norwegian Peace Prize committee has forgotten these past twenty years or so. (yes, the Technical Prizes are awarded by Sweden but the Peace Prize is the jurisdiction of Norway) Posted by DaveH at March 1, 2005 10:41 PM