PEDALING 4 PEACE

Yesterday we started with a workshop for 17 children, between 3 and 10 years old. At the beginning of the war, these Hungarian-speaking children fled with their families from Ukraine, where they belong to one of the many minority groups. We sang, danced, played theater games and learned circus tricks that they showed to others later in the day. In the afternoon a show was scheduled for them and 100 others. However, the buses that should have brought them had dropped them off at the wrong address. Clowns normally embrace accidents, but this was very unfortunate. We tried to fill the time while we waited for them, but at a certain point it was decided from above that they would not come anymore and that the show could begin. Fortunately, some other people showed up, including a number of people with physical limitations who also received an initiation into a number of circus techniques after the show. It was a great day full of fun games, new experiences and lots of smiling children!

Edgar, a Hungarian gipsy priest hosted us for our first intervention of part 2 of our clowns without borders mission in Hungary and Ukraine. We drove to Uszka, a small village on the Ukrainian border and not far from Romania, populated for 90% by Gipsies. The local church community provides activities for the young ones and also has a small temporary shelter for refugees. A bit more then 100 locals , mostly children and minors, waited the clowns for our musical circus show and workshop. We had great responses from our audience and a good bunch of the children joined us for a workshop with lots of BIM: Breathing (singing, laughing, ...), Imagination (through a few theatrical games) and Movement ( circus, games and dance).

The mission of clowns without borders that I joined already started a few days before my arrival. Cie Balancetoi and Kevin Brooking played and organized workshops for different types of displaced children. Here is a (machine) translation of the report that Clowns Sans Frontières Belgique/Clowns Zonder Grenzen België sends out via its mailings list. English (machine translation) Français (originale)

What an irony, its world bicycle day, and today I left my bicycle temporary behind to leave with a car full of clowns and lots of gear for a first part of our mission in North East hungary, in the border region with Ukraine. But oh, what do I love these challenging exercises to load up a trunk with what seems to much stuff. Tomorrow we have our first workshop and show. We reached our target goal for the crowdfunding but donations for financing more circus equipment for our clowns without borders mission are still welcome on www.cmsf.be/p4p

We are in Hungary, we have done 66.6 km today already 😈, more or less 170 km to be done to Budapest where my mission with clowns without borders starts on Friday! We are in Hungary, we have done 66.6 km today already 😈, more or less 170 km to be done to Budapest where my mission with clowns without borders starts on Friday! You can still support our missions and the purchase of circus materials by donating on for our crowd-fun-ding!

Cycling again since yesterday. We left the Zwetschke community to meet again with the Danube river. Yesterday a bit up but mostly downhill into the beautiful valley of the Krems. And then next to the Danube to Vienna.

As a photographer I don't appear so much in my travel photos, but here's one portait of me on the local city's square. Yesterday we did a small excursion to Zwettl, the closest by small city with the same name as the river that passes right next to the community where we stay. Again the typical colorful views in the streets. Tomorrow we leave for the last week of cycling to Budapest via 2 other capitals (Vienna and Bratislava). The crowdfunding is going well but still needs the last 25% of our target (if not we don't receive at all). So donate on www.cmsfbe/p4p or ask for my account if you find registration too much of a hassle.Tomorrow we leave for the last week of cycling to Budapest via 2 other capitals (Vienna and Bratislava). The crowdfunding is going well but still needs the last 25% of our target (if not we don't receive at all). So donate on www.cmsfbe/p4p or ask for my account if you find registration too much of a hassle.

We left the Doneau/Danube route, not because we got lost but to take some time off the bicycle and do some volunteering in a small community in lower Austria for a few days. Going away from the river valley means more climbing. Our 70km day (with heavy winds) felt like a 100+ km day. But the green hills full of meadows and forrests were stunning and this totally worth it! You are still very welcome to participate in my fundraiser for clowns without borders: Pedaling 4 Peace . We are just over half of our goal, so donate now!

After a resting day we are back in the saddle, following the Danube into Austria. We had to take a waterbus, with skipper Gigi on the trumpet.

Luckily not always next to the river, that would be a bit boring,but the Doneau cycling path it's kinda the last (not so) straight line to Budapest...

One of the recent foreign missions of the belgian clowns without borders was a visit to the clandestine refugee camp in Dunkerque (France). We intervened with clowning, music, juggling acrobatics and we played some games with the children our performance. Make your donation to our crowdfunding so that we can keep on investing in these human beings by sharing skills that can bring joy, some distraction from everyday worries and that can lead to new opportunities!

What a great time of the year to ride bicycle through Europe! Despite the fact that while writing this, the rain is hitting my tent with the typical noise that makes, we have been quite lucky with the weather. ☀️ And the spring season which is full of (new) life, vibrant green colours and breathtaking smells from all the flowers is, just as the other seasons is such a beautifull season! My @pedaling4peace crowdfunding campaign has recovered after its slow start but we are far from there yet. Make a donation to help us finance circus equipment for the missions clowns without borders Belgium, like the one I'm pedaling to for Ukrainian refugees in Hungary!

Great departure ceremony on grand place Brussels. Good start with some nice roads in the "forest de soigne", some nice historical buildings, nice sunny landscapes.