Alternative lifestyle for russian street children

Nordic summer can be sunny and warm if you spend it with the circus!

The younger group of Upsala-Circus spent two months in a big wooden house in a small village by the Estonian border. It's a great opportunity for kids to have a healthy and fun vacation. Most of the families we work with don't have any resources to take their kids out of the city. The circus camp allows the young artists to continue their trainings and stay out of trouble in the city streets, which is highly likely if a neglected child spends all her or his school summer break time at home.

In our camp the younger group went through all the challenges of socialization. They had their difficulties, but became great friends and a fine circus team with their own responsibilities. They all learned to cook and do dishes, make saltos and juggle with sticks, pine cones and apples that grew in our garden by the house. Long and dark evenings made the children read books, which was impossible for some of them just a few months ago. They learned to speak up and discuss things, to write letters to each other and to the circus trainers, with wishes and requests, to tell stories and just be friendly every day.

Finally, in August a Swiss circus Toameme came to visit: a bunch of fun young European artists, none of which spoke Russian of course, and our artists hardly speak any English. Upsala-Circus and Toameme trained together and staged a great circus show. It was obvious that the participants of that show understood each other perfectly even if they didn't speak the same language. Or rather they do: the circus one, the universal language for all the social classes, cultures and continents.

When the kids came back from the camp, they seemed to have grown up at least a year. Suddenly they were calm, mature and unbelievably open-minded. And most importantly, they want to continue their circus work: to spend more time together, to meet new friends from other countries, to see the world around them. Their world stays the same, they just approach it differently now.

Thank you for your interest in our work! Your donations make our everyday work in summer, fall, winter and spring possible. Please see the pictures of our young artists in the summer camp.

Yours,

Upsala-Circus