Israeli medical clowns spread joy to Taipei, Hualien

Taipei, June 3 (CNA) Two medical clowns from the Israeli Dream Doctors Project brought joy and laughter to about 800 people in Taipei and earthquake-affected Hualien over the past week, the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei said Monday.

Invited by the Israeli representative office, the medical clowns -- Yaron Sancho Goshen and Nimrod Eisenberg -- participated in 22 events, including 16 visits to schools and care centers in Taipei and Hualien County, which was devastated by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake on April 3, after they arrived in Taiwan on May 26.

More than 350 children and 420 adults enjoyed the laughter brought by the two medical clowns.

That included a visit to a daycare center for the elderly in Taipei on Monday, during which the duo interacted with more than 50 seniors, employing light music, funny gestures and magic tricks, causing the crowd to laugh and applaud.

After the performance, Eisenberg told CNA that they are happy to have the opportunity to share their work and passion for clown therapy with people in Taiwan, saying that their time in Taiwan felt like home as everyone they met accepted them with warmth and love.

Having gone on a five-day trip to earthquake-hit Hualien, Eisenberg said that they wanted to address the problems and trauma left by the April 3 earthquake with their experiences of providing hope and emotional support in other disaster-stricken areas.

One time, when playing a funny game that teaches children what to do when a quake strikes, Eisenberg witnessed a 9-year-old girl gaining the confidence to give the correct instructions to others.

"It was really beautiful for us to see how the children change their emotional situation by what we play with them," Eisenberg added.

To Goshen, Israel and Taiwan are different in many aspects, but they can easily connect with Taiwanese through the common language of laughter after interacting with both the children and adults.

"We say we came to give laughter, to encourage the people -- I think we both got encouraged by them," Goshan said, adding that the hospitality he received from Taiwanese made him feel warm in the wake of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Israeli representative to Taiwan, Maya Yaron, said that although it is a difficult time for Israelis, the Israeli representative office wanted to invite the two medical clowns to Taiwan after the earthquake "to show our care and solidarity with people here in Taiwan."

Both Eisenberg and Goshen are members of the Dream Doctors Project, an Israeli non-profit organization that integrates more than 100 professional medical clowns, "Dream Doctors," into Israeli hospitals by training them to work as members of multidisciplinary care teams, according to the Israeli representative office.

These "Dream Doctors" also participated in humanitarian relief missions with the Israel Defense Forces, traveling to areas affected by disasters around the world and using music, games and physical performances to help victims regain their smiles and heal their bodies and minds.

Eisenberg and Goshen were scheduled to leave Taiwan on Monday evening.