Clowns delight children with cancer

Alberto D. Pérez (text & photos)

The young patients joyfully hug a young girl with a red nose. She is Aniet Esther Venereo, a member of La Colmenita, the Cuban theatre group which delights spectators, both children and adults.

But this isn’t one of La Colmenita’s regular shows. This time the setting is different.

The show took place in the Pediatric Care Ward in the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology, more commonly known as the Havana Oncology Hospital, where members of the artistic group visited young cancer patients receiving medical treatment, bringing them moments of joy and affection.

The prestigious theatre group is currently participating in summer tours and shows around the country, performing for the Cuban public in various cities, but without forgetting its obligations to children and the elderly, who they dutifully visit in hospitals throughout the capital and other cities around the country.

La Colmenita follows the path set out by other clown performance companies called therapeutics, linked to medical treatment of children and the elderly. The companies are formed in different Cuban cities, or of professionals who have traveled to the country from Canada and the United States, to perform for patients in children’s and general hospitals, as well as for seniors in institutions.
According to specialists, in regards to human behavior, the presence of the therapeutic clowns has - on numerous occasions - contributed to accelerating the recovery process, and alleviating stress and anxiety resulting from prolonged hospital stays and treatments.

Very young patients such as 11 year old Luis Enrique Jaque, who is in the fifth grade, embrace the clowns with great joy and interest. Luis Enrique lost his left arm, amputated from his mid forearm, due to a cancerous lesion. But today he is overjoyed. It turns out that La Colmenita invited guitarist Alexander Martínez to participate in the visit.

Alexander, member of a Havana based band, is a unique artist. The young man lost his left arm almost to the elbow in his early youth, but is adapting to a prosthesis and playing the guitar with the same ability, as if he had two arms.

He plays for all the children but in particular for Luís Enrique, who doesn’t miss a single beat of this very special concert. Before his eyes, a new possibility and new world have now been opened.

La Colmenita’s visit has illuminated a promising future. "Will I also be able to play the guitar," he asks Alexander.

"Of course you will, and you will be very good and very famous," the musician responds. An enormous smile lights up Luís Enrique’s face.

In the hospital, children suffering from cancer let loose their joy. The red noses of La Colmenita have brought toys and the children are delighted. One of the patient’s mothers, watching the scene before her, silently wipes away tears. They are not tears of sorrow; they are tears of joy, seeing her son and the other children enjoying the visit.