Walking through the dull and stagnant corridors of the hospital, the sense of sickness, lethargy, and monotony is overwhelming. In the wards lie ill and listless children, holed up in the hospital for weeks and months on end. Many of these children, some as young as two years old, are from families who live far from the hospital (some come from all across China) and cannot afford to take time off work to care for and keep their ill child company.

The hours run tediously together, day after day, procedure after procedure. In the midst of this bleak time, Magic Hospital, a not for profit organization in Beijing, are doing all they can to bring colour, fun, and laughter into the lives of these kids. In a whirl of stripes, pom-poms, red noses, and magic, Magic Hospital has been sending in the clowns to three Beijing children’s hospitals for 15 years, bringing giggles and excitement.

As we all know, laughter is the best medicine. For some of the children it is their first time seeing a clown or professional entertainer, and the children sit entranced, spell-bound by Mr Liu, Magic Hospital’s longest serving clown with the infectious giggle and awesome magic tricks. Clowns and Co is Magic Hospital’s main program, and they send professional clowns to three different hospitals in Beijing every week. Clare Holstein, one of the volunteers, says it is a fantastic way to ease the pain of the patients and break up the boredom that comes with long hospital stays. The clown performs in the ward for about 2.5 hours and does a craft in addition to the show.

In addition to the Clowns, Magic Hospital also has a program called ‘Abracadabra’, modeled after the Make-A-Wish Foundation. If funds allow, they hope to fulfill at least two children’s wishes this year. When the weather allows, Magic Hospital also organizes ‘Outdoorsy Day’ which are seasonal events for the kids and include field trips and mini-summer camps, entirely paid for by Magic Hospital for underprivileged kids.

Playtime also occurs every Saturday with a group of volunteers who visit the children’s ward and play and sing with the children. They love getting visitors and are happy to just play games and see new faces.

Magic Hospital is definitely doing something special here in Beijing, and while they are not short on programs or volunteers, they do need the funds to make it all happen. If you would like to donate, sponsor a field trip, or run any fundraising event, please contact www.magichospital.org.

Photo: magichospital.org

Etonkids rocks, quite literally! They will be hosting a musical charity event this weekend at DDC (January 20)  to get you and your friends (or kids of an appropriate age) your musical fix.

Performing will be such fixtures of the Beijing live music scene like Joker’s Belief, Dan Taylor, Solid Gold, and Nocturnes. It just so happens that three of the four of these stupid good musical acts listed feature teachers from Etonkids. What’s more, and probably the best part of all is that all proceeds go to a great cause! This goal of this event is to raise awareness for the Magic Hospital charity so they can continue carrying on the great work that they do.

Magic Hospital was born at Beijing Ertong hospital 15 years ago. They work with sick, hospitalized, handicapped, orphaned, abused, and at-risk children aged 0-18 who are permanently or temporarily deprived of a carefree and fun childhood. Like all charitable organizations, they depend on the kindness of those willing to donate to keep their doors open, and those beautiful children cared for.

Through the tireless dedication of determined volunteers, endless energy of Chinese clowns and other performers, art and English teachers, the support from the hospital and orphanage staff, international schools, individuals inside and outside China – Magic Hospital was able to form a compassionate organization committed to making a positive impact in the lives of these sick, neglected, and lonely children.

Once again the show will be going down on Saturday, January 20, at DDC (doors open at 8:30 pm). Tickets are RMB 60 advance, or RMB 80 at the door.

While this show probably wouldn’t be the ideal Saturday night activity for younger kids as it starts at 9 pm and will likely be going late, we full-heartedly support parents of teens to bring your kids to check out these bands as this should be an eye/ear-opening experience for any young person interested in the wonderful tradition of songcraft. To top it all of a wide variety of genres should be explored on this night ranging from folk and rock to R&B so that nobody will be going home without a foot tapped or hip shaken.

Dulwich College Beijing hosted their 2014 Founder’s Day on Saturday May 10. The day was a celebration of school life at Dulwich College, to showcase the talents of its students and provide a fun filled program of events, food and entertainment for the entire school community.

The Friends of Dulwich put on a delicious International Food Festival, with 16 stalls selling food and drink from the different countries and regions represented at Dulwich. Some stalls had activities; from how to make Kimchi with the Korean parents to Henna tattoos on the Indian stall. I helped organize the UK stall this year, where we sold hundreds of glasses of Pimm’s and dozens of gorgeous cakes, all donated by our parents. Each stall also put together their own hamper, stuffed full of goodies from that country or region. The Australia/New Zealand baskets were particularly popular in the hamper raffle, perhaps due to the number of bottles of wine they contained…

All profits made from the Food Festival, hampers, and drinks sold on the day will be split; fifty percent going to the Dulwich Student Enrichment Fund and fifty percent to charity – to schools in Li County in need of school equipment. The total raised at this year’s event was a staggering RMB 120,000, a superb achievement.

The day began with a dragon dance and an international flag parade. With 45 different nationalities represented at Dulwich, it was wonderful to see students from across the year groups proudly carrying their country’s flag. As well as sports matches, different year groups sang and performed on the main stage throughout the afternoon.

Ever popular with younger children, Mr. Liu the clown from Magic Hospital performed two shows in the Early Years activity area. Magic Hospital offers support to hospitalized children in Beijing.

The evening’s entertainment included a Pop Idol competition, won by Keevern Lai of Year 10 and a Battle of the Bands, won by “Trap Card” with Ethan Ooi, Kartik Jain and Gabriel Tan. To close the event, the school Orchestra played synchronized with an impressive laser show.

Founder’s Day is not only a celebration of the school and all its achievements, it’s a way of bringing together the diverse parent community and its students to help raise money for charity, all whilst having a huge amount of fun.

beijingkids Shunyi Correspondent Sally Wilson moved to Beijing in 2010 from the UK with her husband and son. Her daughter was born here in 2011 and both her kids keep her happily busy. In her spare time, Sally loves to stroll through Beijing’s hutongs and parks. She is a (most of the time) keen runner and loves reading: books, magazines, news, and celeb websites – anything really. Sally is also a bit of a foodie and loves trying out new restaurants.

Photos courtesy of DCB and Sally Wilson

Magic Hospital is one of those charities we always feel good about supporting. It does its work — providing fun and hope for critically ill children with clowns, toys and other distractions — on a grassroots level here in Beijing.

beijingkids sponsors its annual fundraising quiz night and never passes up a chance to give them some attention for their events and periodic need for volunteer recruitment.

While on the subject, Xinhuanet ran a great profile of Magic Hospital’s work written by Laura Nichols here. Check it out to find out more about this laudable organization and see if you don’t feel inspired to offer them some help.

Turn up at the Sanlitun location of Schindler’s for what is quickly evolving into an annual tradition: the Magic Hospital Charity Quiz Night.

Teams of up to 8 are welcome to join (reservations suggested – team slots are filling quickly as of this writing).

All proceeds from the evening’s festivities will go directly to Magic Hospital, an organization that helps local hospitals, migrant schools and orphanages with programs such as music enrichment, clown visits and outdoor adventure days.

RMB 100 gets you in the door and 3 raffle tickets. The action starts precisely at 8pm but you’ll want to turn up early to get prime seating and partake in a special dinner menu on offer from Schindler’s.

Quiz teams will be competing for prizes including Plasterd T-Shirts gift packs and ceramic Beijinger beer steins.

Serving as quizmaster will be Plastered’s very own Dominic Johnson-Hill, who promises a fun-filled quiz.

To reserve a spot for yourself or your team, email fundraising@magichospital.org.