Pudumjee puppets make cancer-hit children forget pain

Cairo: Scores of children at a leading cancer hospital in Egypt broke into a jig momentarily forgetting their pain at a show by veteran Indian puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee.

Pudumjee and the Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust performed a number of sketches, including a clown show, at the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt in Cairo to bring joy to the kids. They also presented the children with gifts.

Hanaa Farid, the hospital’s strategic manager, said the workshop made the children and their families feel happy (for a little while). It also helped the children feel positive about themselves.

“We are always keen on making the children feel that this is not a hospital where they only come for treatment and there are other entertaining activities that they can make,” Farid said.

The workshop on Thursday was organised by the Indian Embassy in Cairo as part of the ‘India by the Nile’ cultural festival and was attended by Ranu Bhattacharyya, wife of Indian Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya.

“We wanted to bring a little bit of our festival to the children,” she said. “I wanted to contribute in whatever way that we can towards sustaining that atmosphere.”

Bhattacharyya said the children, the staff and the parents, who come to the hospital from all over the northern Africa, are the real heroes.

“Every time I visit the hospital, it’s never been sad. It’s always been hopeful. I go back thinking that these children have this wonderful place to come to,” she added.    

Farid added that the most lovely thing about the event was that it made the children interact. “We thank the Indian embassy for bringing this show as they helped our children to spend their morning singing, laughing and engaging.” Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust will perform another show titled ‘Images of Truth’ at the closing ceremony of the ‘India by the Nile’ festival at the Cairo Opera House.

The show is based on the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi. The performance would be a non-verbal, musical adaption on Gandhi. “Through India by the Nile, we wanted to reach out to the youth and audiences of other age groups across Egypt this year. To a large extent, we have been successful. We reached to new audiences with classical performances. We interacted with children with street art and football teams.

“This event at the hospital is another one of those venues that we are trying to bring a little bit of India to our friends in Egypt,” Bhattacharyya concluded.