Japanese volunteers to give master classes in clown therapy in Vitebsk

VITEBSK, 4 September (BelTA) - Japanese volunteers will give master classes in clown therapy in the Children’s District Clinical Hospital in Vitebsk and the orphanage in the village of Bolshiye Lyottsy on 6 September, BelTA learnt from the Vitebsk Oblast organization of the Belarusian Red Cross Society (BRCS).

A group of Japanese volunteers will arrive in Vitebsk on 5 September. On the same day they will meet with the volunteers of the Vitebsk Oblast organization of the BRCS. A roundtable session scheduled for this day will be attended by members of the initiative group Doktor Nebolit (Doctor No Pain) who have been using clown therapy for several years.

On 6 September the Japanese guests will pay visits to the Children’s District Clinical Hospital in Vitebsk and the orphanage in Bolshiye Lyottsy to give two-hour clown therapy sessions. This will be another opportunity for the local volunteers to learn more about the Japanese experience.

The BRCS noted that this will be the second such visit of the Japanese volunteers to Vitebsk. The first one took place in September 2012. “We had an idea to establish cooperation with the Japanese volunteers several years ago. The initiative group Doktor Nebolit was created in Vitebsk two and a half years ago. The group unites active young people who work as therapeutic clowns in hospitals and other social institutions,” the Vitebsk Oblast organization of the BRCS noted.

The Vitebsk volunteers have attended special seminars for training. They have mastered acting skills, juggling, tricks, animation and plastic arts. Meetings with the Japanese colleagues help volunteers from Doktor Nebolit improve their professional skills.