In Nairobi we work with Sarakasi’s hospital program. Sarakasi is a non-profit performing arts development trust. “Sarakasi” is the Kiswahili word for circus or acrobatics. Established in 2001, Sarakasi's aim is to provide a place for Kenyan artists to not only improve their skills but improve their lives. The trust's now-famous cultural exchange program continues to grow, sending hundreds of Kenyan performers on tours and performances overseas, while the region's most comprehensive artistic training program delivers its unique blend of hope and wellbeing to dozens of orphanages and community centres in some of Nairobi's poorest neighbourhoods. Sarakasi has legitimately become a “way out” and a road to a better life for many unemployed youths and street kids. When you walk the slums of Nairobi these days – including Africa’s largest, Kibera - you'll often come across a troupe of acrobats practicing their pyramids.
 
The Sarakasi Trust Hospital Project was piloted by the organization in September 2006 as an extension of its training and outreach program.
 
Sarakasi’s Hospital program sends clowns from the troupe to the hospital. Children who are admitted in Kenyatta Hospital (the country’s largest government hospital) are mostly from underprivileged backgrounds. The duration of their stay is 2 weeks up to 8 months or even longer. The children are treated for minor to chronic illnesses, like cancer, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, sickle cell anaemia, malaria, etc. It's common for the kids to not be discharged and kept in hospital by management because the parents or guardians are unable to pay the bills: you don’t pay; you don’t get your child. Other children are abandoned. Some children have been here for years.

The kids, coming from very poor areas all around Kenya, go through the hospital experience almost entirely alone, without family. The wards are often overcrowded and 2 or 3 children share one bed. There is little or no time for personal attention or privacy for the child. Considering the difficult financial circumstances of the hospital, entertainment for the children is not a priority. 

Sarakasi Trust helps the kids have a positive awareness and management of their illness and a meaningful stay in hospital by offering an educative and entertainment program. It has been proven: laughter is medicine. We want to help reduce the stress and anxiety that many children and their families experience in hospital and, by doing so, contribute to their recovery and mental wellbeing.
 
At the same time we want to work closely with the hospital staff members to sensitize them to the positive effects that play can have on the children’s recovery in order to encourage them to embrace this process.  Sarakasi Trust attends to children between the ages of 2 to 12 years old through creative, educational and entertaining activities. We are targeting a group of 40-60 children per session who are mobile enough to participate and we make a point to reach out to bedridden children as well. We want to expand our visits to other wards throughout the hospital such as the cancer ward and burn unit.