Kingsley Perera, a clown from Swansea, recently returned from the Tsunami– hit areas of Sri Lanka. Kingsley is the only Asian clown registered with Clowns International and with his strong Welsh accent, it was only the second time he had returned to his native homeland.

From the minute he arrived in Sri Lanka, Kingsley began his perform-ances dressed in his red and yellow clowns outfit. Not just children, but nurses and parents alike, laughed at his antics in hospitals without playrooms, in schools without their roofs and in orphanages without bedding. In some cases he had to negotiate with the army to distribute toys.

To mark exactly 100 days since the giant wave struck, he performed in a Tamil Muslim school where 16 children had died. Teachers and 400 pupils thanked him for lifting their spirits on such a grave day. The clowning man also met up with artists from the UK who had worked with a Swansea school to exchange with a school on the affected island. Supported by UK artists, pupils drew from their memories of the Tsunami as part of a therapy session to aid re-covery from the trauma.

Much of the school’s artwork will now be shared with schools in Wales. Kinsley travelled around the island to explore the impact of the Tsunami and experience the looming poverty. Undercurrents Productions recorded Kingsley’s journey from Swansea to Sri Lanka. ‘The Only Clown in the Village’ will be screened over the summer.