Circus gives great opportunity for young people in Ethiopia. It protects young people from being on street and vulnerable to substance abuse. It will keep young people healthy. It teaches discipline. It creates jobs. It supports many to further education and training. And when circus artists are contracted abroad, they are able to help their younger sisters and brothers to attend better schools.
They support their family, community and the country. They build self-esteem, learn a language, travel the world, and have a better understanding of what they can do when they get back to Ethiopia.
Challenge: Even if our students come from very underprivileged backgrounds we never promote our kids with poverty. We promote their talent.
If you are reading this and you want to help, it should not be because you feel sorry for these young people, but to empower them and to give them a chance to grow. How you can help us grow.
Help us grow by helping us to build a home for the Circus Center.
By helping us promote our work. By offering a contract to a young talented artist. By offering to teach our students. By becoming one of our circus tribes.
The biggest challenge we have had for a long time is a space. All the circuses are in the government buildings, which are for multipurpose use. The circus will be lucky to have a few hours in the space. The kids have to pack all the mats and materials everyday. We can’t have mirrors in the space because a functions take place in the same space like a wedding. This also means we cannot use the space for long. And especially school kids cannot use it for a any length of time, because most of the time the space is booked by other groups.
During the wedding season the worst part is when the space is hired by others for almost 3-4 days a week. This slows down the training and the young people lose their connection with us. The circus artists get frustrated with the lack of training. We cannot offer private classes to support the circus because the hours are too limited and we need to take time for the kids who choose a circus career. The spaces don’t have proper changing rooms, and the girls and boys change in the corner. This makes them uncomfortable and affects their privacy. The storage room for our props and costumes is a big problem. Because we don’t have one, we normally keep the costumes in the kids’ houses. Our mats and circus materials get damaged because we don’t have a place where we can keep them. We sometimes have to leave them outside in the shade, which damages the materials and makes it hard to keep them clean.
The biggest problem we have is safety. We don't have the things we need to protect the artists when they do difficult tricks. This also becomes a big issue teaching all the kids, and leads to the potential for serious injuries.
Not having a performance space in the country for all the participant we teach, this means they miss out on so much support from their family and community. They are well received all over the world, but once they are in Ethiopia, their parents never see them perform under light or in a circus event. Even the people in the government haven’t seen them perform on their own stage in Ethiopia. Without this visible presence, there is lack of understanding from the government about the benefit of circus for children, young people and young artists.
Facts: More than 70% of the Ethiopian population is under 30. More than 48% is under 15 years of age. We have a population of 110 Million, and most are very young. The youth demographic is the biggest stakeholder in Ethiopian society and it is important to create a sustainable community for them in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia's biggest export is coffee. Exporting raw coffee benefits Ethiopia less, but when Ethiopia started roasting coffee and grinding it, not only did it open up jobs for many people, but also created ‘made in Ethiopia’ products. Circus can be the same as coffee. We have a very unique culture and amazing circus talent. We believe we can export this from Ethiopia.
The benefit of having the Circus Center in Addis Ababa:
Is that it is for the whole of Africa As Addis Ababa is the capital city of not only Ethiopia, but of Africa, as it is a home for many embassies and diplomats Addis Ababa is also a center for African countries, they transit here before they go home It is a conference city, like Europe’s Brussels, for Africa. The United Nations and The Organisation of African Unity are both in Addis Ababa.
Having the Circus Center will allow many things to happen for young people in Ethiopia and all of Africa.
We can teach our kids in a safe space.
Having all the facilities like shows, changing rooms and lockers will give confidence for our youth, especially the young girls.
The paying students will sustain the schools and the trainers.
We can run master classes by inviting trainers to come to our space.
We can have exchange programs from all the schools around the world.
We can teach our visitors traditional dance, traditional painting and our circus specialities like Icarian Games, Group Acrobats, and Ground Acts.
By having regular performances, the young artists not only gain experience performing in front of the audience, but also inspire many young people.
The performances will also help us sustain the space.
We will run different classes like, traditional dance class, ballet, tap dancing, painting…
By having a metal and wood-work shop we will teach young people to make their own props and how to take care of them. Most of the time we use recycled materials and we would love to develop that in our workshops, to create unique Ethiopian props.
Having a costume workshop will help us a lot. Ethiopia has a unique culture and by having a costume room, will allow us to design our own costumes, with our own cultural influence, within our studio.
Having an Ethiopian circus space means also we can set up professional photo shoots within the school. It is very hard to find a photo studio with height in Ethiopia to take our photos, and being able to do so in the center will help us showcase the artists in their very best light.
The Library will help develop literacy amongst our youth. We would love to teach our artists English, French and other languages to increase their employability, and to empower them on tour.
The Circus Center will also be open for tourists – guided tours will provide our space with income, and we hope that this will encourage donations too. We will host residencies in our space for circus groups who would love to come and perform in Ethiopia, this will create valuable cultural exchange amongst other nations and Ethiopia. There is so much to discover in Ethiopia, and so much for Ethiopians to discover about the world through the art of circus.
I hope you can join us as on this journey of celebrating our culture, training our young people and showcasing our circus artists!
