Refugee children show their 'resilience' with Athlone circus show

By Rebekah O'Reilly

A circus skills show which involved children from a variety of nationalities and backgrounds, including some of those living in direct provision in Athlone, took place in Burgess Park on Saturday afternoon last.

The Spotlight Athlone Circus Show, was based around a theme of 'Resilience'.

The unique performance saw kids from the ages of six to eighteen giving the show of their lives.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent, Gerry Callaghan of the New Horizon Refugee & Asylum Seeker Support Group explained that the Athlone-based children had been taking part in circus skills workshops in preparation for last weekend's performance.

"This is Galway Community Circus, and this is their third year doing this event," he explained. "They've taught [the kids] circus skills. It's great for building confidence, and self-assurance.

“We started off by going to Galway Circus, and now we brought them here."

The circus show involves a range of very challenging skills which the children learned over the course of two weeks, including everything from tightrope walking, to human pyramids, to juggling.

"For two weeks we have run four day sessions for learning circus skills.

“The younger kids [would train] in the morning, and the older kids in the afternoon," said Gerry.

When asked about how involvement in the circus show had impacted the children, he said: "It's an incredible experience to watch. The motto [for the performance] is 'we can't do it yet' - and it's a great motto. If people didn't know how to juggle, they [can learn] how to juggle in an hour's time.

"The Spotlight circus have this word called 'resilience'. They are responding to problems, and crises, and catastrophes, and it shows that they can actually take a deep breath and keep going on."

The New Horizon volunteer said that the circus show this year was particularly special due to the involvement of two Foroige Youth Workers, Anastasiia Donchenko and Shelly Dunican.

Anastsiia, who is originally from Ukraine, shared that this is her second year helping to run the circus project since joining the team at Foroige.

She said: "I learned how to help people, how to support them, and how to [enable] them to do what they want - but still be near to support them in times when they need my support."

The youth worker shared that the circus involved children from all different backgrounds, including children who are refugees and live in direct provision.

Anastasiia said: "Again we have a lot of Ukranian young people, and different nationalities like Irish young people, and people from Africa.

“I support them, and give them time to try different things that they never did before."

When asked how she thinks the kids benefit from the circus skills worshops, she echoed the same sentiment as New Horizon's Gerry Callaghan.

"It's good for them to try more skills - they can build their confidence. They try to work together, so it helps them to [build] relationships.

“It will help them with the future so they're not afraid to try something new," she explained.