ChildLine North West teamed up with the international project Clowns Without Borders to help bring a message to the children in North West schools about verbal, physical and sexual abuse.
The clowns spent last week with ChildLine in Potchefstroom where they performed for over 10 000 school children from different primary schools and high schools.
The goal of this project is to bring a message to children about abuse in their households – whether it be physical, sexual or verbal abuse, showing them what it looks like and what they can do when they are in an abusive situation.

According to ChildLine’s provincial director, Alice Carnell, their target was to reach 12 000 children.
‘The idea is to address more serious issues on a lighter note and let the children laugh while learning about these very real issues in their communities,’ she says.
Sibusiso Khambule, the project manager for the tour, says that the story they portray is about child abuse but what is mostly highlighted is bringing laughter while dealing with those issues.
‘It is about physical abuse and rape but even neglect is a very serious kind of abuse and we want to deliver that message through our performance.
‘One of the main goals of the show is to bring laughter and healing in a difficult situation,’ he says.