Lombok Projects
Lombok Earthquake Relief (Jan-Mar 2019)
CircusAid engaged hundreds of Lombok residents in circus activities as a form of trauma healing in response to the August 2018 earthquakes. They trained 8 young adults in program facilitation techniques and they have since continued running circus programs for their communities. The programs promoted physical, cognitive, social, and emotional capacity building using circus disciplines of juggling, hula hooping, acro-balance, slackline, aerial acrobatics, and clowning.
“My experiences joining CircusAid (were) so much fun. It’s not only because of the games (and) activities we’ve done but also there are some values in every activity that teach me how to (be) self-directed, build networking and togetherness with friends, trust and fun as well. I’m glad to have (had the) opportunity to join CircusAid”
Meet Lia Marsandi.
Lia works for Harapan Baru Lombok, providing translation for trauma healing circus classes in Gurung Sari and Mataram. In January 2020, she joined CircusAid Lombok as a translator for the Holistic Circus Therapy (HCT) Professional Development Training and then expanded her role to Director.
The HCT/CircusAid Professional Development Training of 2020 created CircusAid Lombok, the island's first Social Circus organization, with facilitators from Harapan Baru, Peduli Anak, Kinderoase and Endris Foundation.
Lombok 2020
The CircusAid Train-the-Trainer Project Lombok 2020 was hosted by Peduli Anak, a foundation for underprivileged, former street children on the Indonesian island of Lombok. Ten social workers and counselors from four foundations participated in four weeks of training to learn therapeutic skills that provide trauma recovery and life skills development for children and youth in their communities.
Trainees learn the basics of acrobalance, juggling, aerial, slackline, poi and interactive games. Group discussions encourage critical thinking and programme organization and planning. In the afternoon, they implement a programme for two groups of 10-15 kids of varying ages. This requires trainees to collaborate in the planning and facilitation of appropriate activities and grading tasks to different abilities.
This project aimed to equip participants with occupational therapy informed circus facilitation skills to help heal trauma and promote cognitive, emotional, physical and social capacities for their communities. Internal project evaluation was completed by Temple Moore, MScOT, MScGHD, who has education and experience in occupational therapy, trauma-informed approaches, qualitative research and community-based interventions.
See full project evaluation HERE
Outcomes
100% of participants felt their self-confidence and teamwork skills had increased as a result of the training.
90% of participants report their communication and leadership abilities increased as a result of the program.
"My self-confidence has been increasing because I feel brave to speak in front of people when in the beginning I was not feeling brave enough...now I get used to it. For example, in leading a game and delivering the explanation of the game or in the evaluation time." -Amar
Before I join the training, my communication with the kids was less. But after I joined the training, I feel confident enough to talk more with the kids. For example, in directing the kids we got the clear plans for what to do and how to direct them." -Rifky
"The leadership is not only giving a task, directing but also a leader should be listening to the opinions from others, be tough, creative and professional and treat everybody fair." -Kholid
“It’s about being organized that I learned from CA, how to do teamwork with the all the participants and how to make good communication among all of the participants.” -Gugel
“Especially doing meaningful activities when they are working with children, so they're not only focusing on directing the children like okay we have a schedule here and they have to do this, this. They have to follow the rules. But there are more aspects than that when you work with children. You are responsible for their well-being, for their happiness and CircusAid teaches them tools to do their job in a more fun way. Not as too formal or strict... But they can help children through games and activities that the children also enjoy. So, in a way, the children will (participate) according to the rules and schedules but they do it in a fun way and they don't even realize it! So that's why it's really helpful. "
-Martina Natratilova Fetter, Co-Founder of Yayasan Peduli Anak:
Lombok 2020 Evaluation Report.
This report describes the process and findings of an outcome evaluation completed for The 2020 CircusAid Lombok Train - The Trainer Program. The evaluation aims to understand participants’ perceptions of the training, their acquisition of knowledge and skills, and their ability to continue to provide services. Results from this evaluation aim to report on the impact of the project to current stakeholders, share the outcomes and benefits with a wider audience, and again support future projects.