BLOWING BUBBLES AMID THE RUBBLE

By Iskandar Syah Ismail alias Dr. Bubble

It was a pleasant surprise when MERCY Malaysia’s President, Datuk Dr Jemilah Mahmood, contacted me asking whether I would like to clown for the traumatized children in the earthquake hit city of Bam, Iran. All I could remember was that I just said YES immediately!
So within two weeks, I arrived in Bam with nine other fellow mission members including doctors, psychiatrist, dentist and non-medical volunteers of MERCY Malaysia. Our task was to continue providing medical and psychosocial support to the victims of the earthquake that hit the city in the early hours of 26th December 2003.
We were stationed at the former Italian Field Hospital in Baravat, 5 km from the city of Bam. MERCY Malaysia volunteers lived in tents like the thousands of Bam survivors whose small and grubby white tents would be home for the next couple of months, surviving the cold desert nights and hot summer days.
During the four-week medical and laughter relief mission, I managed to clown in three major field hospitals in Bam. These included the International Committee of Red Cross Field Hospital, The Indian Army’s Earthquake Relief Hospital in the centre of Bam and our own MERCY Malaysia Field Clinic. My clown character, Dr. Bubble would enter the wards and blow soap bubbles with the children, checked happy heartbeats using his special sink-plunger stethoscope, performed red noses transplants to patients and snapped away photos using his polaroid camera. He even “bribed” the medical staff with a red nose, in order to gain access into the wards. Dr. Bubble also performed the ‘ultrasound scan’ on male doctors’ tummies to check whether they were pregnant!
The medical volunteers of the MERCY Malaysia field clinic in Baravat camp were even sporting enough to give Dr. Bubble his own consulting table during the clinic operational hours. In the clinic, Dr. Bubble would perform artificial smile and red nose transplant operations and the plate”let” spinning test with the young patients who came to the clinic.
Being the only hospital clown doctor around in Bam, the demands for my service was very high. As I entered any field hospital, I would be whisked all over to see the patients in the wards. I had not only clowned with young patients but also adults. There were so many magical incidences that happened during my clown-rounds and one wonderful incident is still fresh in my mind.
As I was leaving the wards one day during aclown-round, the nurse called out to remind me that I had forgotten to visit one shy boy. His name is Kanush. I found out later that he and his mother (who was now paralyzed as a result of injuries sustained during the earthquake) were the sole survivors in his family. I noticed him sitting quietly and withdrawn on his camp bed whenever I was clowning with other patients. However, my clown character Dr. Bubble would not usually disturb a quiet and shy child, so I just continued to interact with others around him. Somehow, during the routine I totally forgot about little Kanush. So dutifully Dr. Bubble returned and performed a red nose transplant on him and snapped some photos with him. Kanush remained quiet and shy. So Dr. Bubble left him with a clown sticker and waved goodbye. As I walked out to mingle with the doctors outside the tent wards, I realized Kanush had come along and stood among us. I bent down and squatted next to him and through a translator I asked Kanush for a goodbye kiss. Without hesitation, he kissed me! I felt like I was flying in the air! That was such a special moment which will always remain in my heart and mind.
On another clown round, I found a cute and ever smiling little girl lying and holding a photo frame. I could clearly see that there were three children in the picture but she was not one of them. Our translator told me that her mother and all her siblings in the picture did not survive the aftermath. All she had was her father who would remain close to her at all times. There were moments when I just wanted to cry when I looked at the children in the wards but I constantly reminded myself to stay in character and hold my emotions. During the two hour drive from Bam to the airport on our journey back to Malaysia, my team mate and resident poet Dr. Al-Zamani Idrose read his poem about me in the car. At that point, I could no longer contain the grieving of a clown and just cried. The poem evoked all the pent up feelings I had kept inside my heart during the clowning stints in Bam.
My Clown character, Dr. Bubble was a hospital clown doctor. He was basically trained to perform one-to-one interactions with bedridden patients. However, there were circumstances when he had to change his role from a clown doctor to a stage clown or circus clown. The Indian Army Hospital authorities were so impressed with Dr. Bubble’s work in their hospital that they personally requested for a night performance to be held for their soldiers who badly needed a morale booster. Thus, on the final night before leaving for Malaysia, Dr. Bubble held a special performance for the Indian Army soldiers in their camp. The night was filled with songs, poems, laughter and smiles. Dr. Bubble unsuccessfully tried to sell off his special ‘satellite’ dish and a packet of Made in India’s Instant Rasam Rice to the soldiers! The soldiers were even playful enough to participate in the comedy skits by Dr. Bubble. For his special service, Dr. Bubble was awarded the honorable rank as a ‘Colonel’ by the Indian Army Hospital Commander, Colonel Talan. What a special night indeed!
Being the ‘dalghaj’(clown in Farsi), I was always swarmed by children in the camp asking for ‘bazi’ (or toys in Farsi) even when I was not in my clowning character or costume. I would always politely say NO to them. That was the first rule of clowning taught by my clown teacher, Shobi Dobi. "Never give giveaways or trinkets!" he said and this was reiterated by the famous doctor cum clown, the infamous Dr. Patch Adams. Doing so would make us vendors instead of giving our clown-self to the them.
I met Easer, a young Iranian boy in Bam. While the rest of the children would be asking for toys, Easer asked me for ‘bazi fikria’ instead. I could not understand this until Hashem our translator revealed the meaning of the words. ‘Bazi fikria’ literally translated meant ‘games or toys to think’. Immediately, I brought him to a quiet side of the camp and taught him and his friend how to do simple rope tricks taught by the famous Houdini. Through our translator Hashem, I told them "I will leave soon, but you can continue teaching others how to do it". It was just a simple rope trick but it made me realized one thing, "If you give fish to people, it will feed them one day, if you teach them how to fish, and it will feed them forever".
As I looked back, it was quite interesting to note that in the land famous for its literary figures like Rumi, Ferdowsi, Omar Khayyam and Saeedi; clowns are no strangers to the rich and varied Persian culture. In fact, I came to know about a famous clown or court jester named Karim–shire-ee, who belonged to the Qajar Dynasty hundred of years ago. ‘Dalkhaj’ or ‘dalghaj’ is the Farsi word for clown and it literally means ‘sadness in happiness’.

In Dr. Bubble’s case, he tried to bring ‘happiness in the sadness’. It was such an honour for me to be a part of MERCY Malaysia’s volunteer mission and to be able to bring some smiles and laughter to the people of Bam.


Clowning Photos in Bam, Iran

Absolutely FANTASTIC post. You made me laugh and cry and renew my vows of caring clowning. THANK YOU for these stories and for your gift to Bam, Iran. You made my day.

Thank you for sharing your stories with us. I felt like I was right there with you. I'm sure Kirim-shire-ee was right there with you. What a wonderful opportunity.