25.June 2026

Emergency Smile in France: March 2026

For the first time, Emergency Smile International brought its work to the North of France. Over three weeks, a team of three healthcare clown artists worked alongside local humanitarian organisations in the Calais and Dunkirk regions—one of Europe's most challenging environments for forcibly displaced people.

A region in transit

Between Calais and Dunkirk, an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 people are present at any given time, many of them waiting—sometimes for weeks or months—in makeshift living sites in forests and open spaces, without official shelter. Police regularly dismantle these living sites and remove belongings. The conditions are especially difficult for the many unaccompanied minors and children who live there.

Most people in this region are attempting to reach the United Kingdom, often by sea crossing. During the three weeks our team was there, at least six people have died attempting the crossing. This is the context in which our healthcare clown artists Marko, Lucia and Jan worked—led by Head of Mission Salomé.

With unaccompanied teenagers

The team worked repeatedly with groups of unaccompanied teenage boys, aged 14 to 17, at two separate facilities: a day care and shelter run by France Terre d'Asile in Saint-Omer, and a day centre run by France Terre d’Asile in Longuenesse. Both spaces offer young people—many of whom had journeyed through multiple countries—access to basic services, rest, and moments of normality.

At each visit, the artists began by parading around the space to invite the teenagers to join. What followed were interactive Clown Shows and Circus Smile Workshops where participants learned to juggle, tried circus props, and played together. Staff at both locations described the young people's engagement as striking—many stayed from start to finish, and a few became so absorbed they began teaching tricks to others who joined later.

'They go from student to teacher,' Salomé noted. 'It's very empowering, especially for the teenagers—and they get to be children again.'

Clown Show at the France Terre d’Asile day care and shelter for unaccompanied minors

At food distributions and open sites

Working alongside SALAM— an organisation that distributes daily breakfasts in Calais and regular lunches in Grand-Synthe—the team attended four distributions, each drawing hundreds of people. The artists worked the queues, reducing tension, greeting people, and creating small moments of connection in one of the most exposed settings imaginable.

The clowns parading on their way to a breakfast distribution with SALAM Calais

As the weather warmed, more women and children began to appear. Children at the Grand-Synthe distributions responded immediately to the artists, pulling them into small games and activities of their own making.

Two further open Circus Smile Workshops took place in partnership with Kaleidoscope—one at the Secours Catholique day centre, one at an outdoor phone-charging station managed by Channel Info Project. Around 40 teenagers and 40 adults took part in each session, moving in and out as their time and needs allowed.

With families in safe houses

Two safe houses—temporary shelters offering women and their children a few days of rest before continuing their journey—welcomed the team for visits that became some of the most memorable of the mission.

At La maison Maria Skobtsova in Calais, six children and their mothers took part in a Clown Show followed by a Circus Smile Workshop in the garden. A moment in the show where all the children performed together for their mothers stayed with the staff and participants long after the artists left. near Calais, six children and their mothers took part in a Clown Show followed by a Circus Smile Workshop in the garden. A moment in the show where all the children performed together for their mothers stayed with the staff and participants long after the artists left.

At Maison Sésame near Dunkirk, the team returned twice over consecutive weeks, working with many of the same families. During the second visit, held outdoors in warmer weather, parents joined in with a parachute game, laughing and running alongside their children. Staff noted how important it was for the parents to have that space—people who carry enormous worry about what comes next, and who rarely get to set it down.

Circus Smile with children after a Clow Show in a safe house

'The children speak a lot about the boats,' Salomé shared. 'It matters that they can forget about it for a moment and just play.'

The team also worked four times alongside Project Play—an organisation dedicated to bringing play sessions to children in the locations where they live or seek support. Three sessions took place at the children's section of the Secours Catholique day centre; a fourth was held together at the Maison Sésame safe house.

Activities for children organised with Project Play

Caring for the people who care

The team ran two Humour Relief Workshops for staff from partner organisations. The first was with a nine-person team from Médecins Sans Frontières. The second brought together staff from Project Play and Kaleidoscope—held on a morning when everyone had learned that four people had died at sea the night before.

These workshops offer frontline workers space to release tension, reconnect with one another, and find moments of levity in work that demands so much. For organisations working day after day in extreme conditions, that space matters.

The beginning of something

This was Emergency Smile International's first visit to northern France. The team worked with eight partner organisations across a range of settings—from drop-in day centres and food distributions to safe houses and outdoor sites—reaching children, teenagers, adult men, and families, as well as the staff who support them.

The context is unique in Europe: people who have often been on the move for months or years, caught between exhaustion, uncertainty, and hope. In that environment, even a short encounter—a juggling trick learned, a laugh shared, a moment of play—carries real weight.