JyJou’s Ukrainian Tour: a Small Project with a Big Heart

JyJou at Ohmatdyt.

When The Small Projects Team shared an idea about a French clown wanting to perform for children in Ukraine, I knew right away where he needed to go. My background in psychosocial support at Zaporuka Foundation helped me understand which places would truly benefit from moments of joy — and how these small interventions can make a real difference in children’s emotional worlds.

The coordination part felt natural.
My early career in film production taught me how to organize, adapt, and keep things moving even when everything changes last minute. What was less natural was translating French jokes into Ukrainian on the spot. Some jokes simply don’t exist in Ukrainian, so I had to rebuild them quickly — keeping the rhythm of the performance while inventing culturally appropriate equivalents in real time. At one point, I felt like I was unintentionally joining the clown act myself.

Lviv: oncology hospital & Dacha Family House

The first shows took place in Lviv — one in a children’s oncology hospital, the other at Dacha, the family house where children with cancer and their families stay together during treatment.

These spaces are familiar to me. The staff, the atmosphere, the quiet routines.

Seeing balloons, bubbles, and laughter move through these halls — even for a short moment — felt grounding and right. I assisted, translated, and helped with props, and the children responded with the kind of open joy that always feels honest and real.

JyJou at children oncology hospital in Lviv.

Kyiv: Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital

Next, we visited Okhmatdyt in Kyiv.
It was a simple show in a regular ward — nothing staged or decorated. Children in beds, parents nearby, nurses stepping in and out. We performed between IV stands and bedside tables.

And yet the atmosphere shifted.
Not dramatically — just gently. Enough for children to laugh, for parents to exhale, and for the room to feel a little lighter.

JyJou at Ohmatdyt

Mykolaiv Region: Berizky Artistic Lyceum

After Kyiv, we travelled to Berizky Artistic Lyceum in Mykolaiv region — a boarding school where around 170 children live full-time during the school year. Many of them are orphans or children deprived of parental care. This place matters deeply to me, and bringing a clown here felt simple and meaningful.

Physical comedy made language irrelevant, but I translated where needed, adapted jokes, and made sure Ukrainian children understood the humour. Their reactions were warm and alive — pure child energy.

JyJou and kids from Berizky.

Back to Kyiv: the French School

The final performance was at Lycée Français Anne de Kyiv.
Here, I could finally relax into my French — no translation gymnastics required. The show was full of movement and laughter, interrupted twice by ballistic alerts. We paused, waited, and continued. This is simply daily life in Ukraine now.

And still — the children laughed.

at the french school

What this project gave me

This project wasn’t about large systems or long-term frameworks.
It was small, light, practical, and human.

It brought together different parts of my experience — coordination, psychosocial awareness, cultural translation, and the ability to hold space for joy in unexpected places.

What stayed with me most was this: psychosocial support doesn’t always look clinical or structured. Sometimes it’s a red nose, soap bubbles, improvised translations, and one hour where children can simply be children.

That’s enough.
Sometimes, that’s exactly what’s needed.