THAT ALL KIDS SHOULD HAVE A LAUGHING HAPPY LIFE

When I went to Chapas with clowns without borders some years ago I spent most of the time confused...Although I could speak Spanish then I was no match for the Central American slang nor could I work out what the plans were

We were three performers with a Catalan administrator from Barcelona . Only one of us - Luis - had done an expedition before.

We spent two weeks of preparation in DF (Mexico City) meeting other groups who had performed there before and planning our performance. In that time we performed a couple of shows in DF which went well and sent a buzz around the city.

We then were asked to perform in the biggest circus of DF which was about to celebrate its 100 years birthday. We performed in front of 5000 people including eminent politicians. None of the clowns understood what we were doing in Mexico planning to play for 'los indigenes' - they kept telling us that we could make better money in the Circus apaprently completely missing the point that we were there for the love of children laughing. they reminded me of the jealous clowns that were featured in the Disney movie Dumbo. I was shocked at their mentality and the violence behind what their acts consisted of.

We also played at benefits organised by the Zapatistas... these were enchanting mini- festivals with local DF groups and some genuine groups from Mayan Indians, both very spiritual and political. Bags of toys and baskets of food were also collected as donations from locals and philanthropic citizens of DF for the next delivery down to the Chapas camps.

The situation in Mexico was tense since a month before in a Chapas village 43 women and children had been murdered by the paramilitaries. This had shocked the nation and caused a cold and eneasy fear in the camps. Up till then when danger had come to the camp the men of the community had always stood behind the women and children. It had always worked but on this occasion something terrible went wrong and no mercy had been shown.

Mexico's Chapas - sacred lands to the Indians for centuries - is rich in gold, diamonds, oil and uranium. Multi-nationals are desperate to rape the land and the pressures on the DF governement hundreds of miles obvious. With so much corruptilon in Mexico why would anyone care about some old traditions carried on by a bunch of people who were classed at best as 'unproductive'.

So the government had for years moved the Indian population around from camp to camp (the accepted word is 'displacement') with the attempt to break their hold on the lands, and to take over and develop them.

We were told by the intellectuals in DF that everything was fine in Chapas and not to worry, everything was calm and there would be no problems... but as we made our way in a bus to San Cristobal we were checked on the highway and searched by the army. We had been given instructions to say we were tourists and on no account were we to say we were going up to the communities. The soldiers however did not seem to notice the unicycle and other weird objects not normally carried by tourists.

San Cristobal was a tiny city with some of the most extrordinary sights that I have seen. Backpacker tourists roamed around quite oblivious to the fate of the Indians only half an hour away. I saw one day a Paramilitary thug strutting down main street brandishing a huge automatic rifle and covered in bullet belts like some Pancho Villa. Another day a huge Zapatista demonstration took place where all the participants - balaclava-disguised and sporting WOODEN, carved rifles- were shipped in from local villages in open pick up trucks. The parade was surrounded by police with real guns - the whole event like some weird theatre piece. And us - Luis from Argentina, Chrissie a girl from Barcelona and me from Scotland all like fish out of water trying to work out what was going on and who to believe....

Meanwhile a famous Mexican TV actress was acting secretly as our liaison between the camps and the Zapatistas and we made rendez-vous one morning at 5.30, stacked the truck with goods for the camp (I hoped it was only food and not something else that could end me up in a Mexican jail) and set off to the community where we would debut our performance.

Our intention was to be there before 7.00 as the army opened their checkpoint at that time. I couldnt quite entirely work out the strategies of either the army or the Zapatistas but after driving up ghrough stunning country we managed to get into the camp just as soldiers were building the road block.

We spent the day with the people meeting them, preparing the show and sharing their food with them. They had a beautiful rule there - we had brought toys and various clown-effects to give to the kids but we were not allowed to give them out. . The camp leader took them all and then gave one to each of the kids to ensure that no child missed out. I had flashbacks about London kids of Deptford in my younger days and how they'd bully and lie and steal other kid's toys to get more. The Chapas kids could have taught those kids so much with their humility
and pure innocence. Sharing was real there.

In the camp there were other girl volunteers from Sweden, Belgium and Norway. These were volunteers brought in to ensure that the camp couldn't be attacked. The point being that if some European was shot there would be no end of complaint. A few 'unproductive' Indians dead - who would care? Would that make the news in Europe - no!!! but a European - how would the Mexican governement ever deal with the international crisis ?

The camp population was full of gratitude to these volunteers as it definitely had an effect on their survival. It was then I discovered that we were in the camp that the month before had had the massacre.
my heart went out to all there. At one point around 11.30 am suddenly a gunshot was fired outside the camp and the sound reverberated around the mountains. Every single person in the camp froze in silent terror and I felt a fear I had never known before. My own fear and theirs too. Mine of course would be only temporary. Theirs would be for a long time to come....

Our show was in the afternoon and it was great to perform for such an audience. Young and old, men and women convulsed in laughter. And then afterwards a joyous communion as we danced and played music together, well into the night. Our expedition had finally begun.