The Brian Boswell circus is back in Gaborone city. For the past decade, the Gaborone Secondary School sports grounds have played host to the famous and entertaining circus from Cape Town. The Cheshire foundation of Botswana, which helps people with disabilities, has brought the circus annually for more than a decade. Mr. Masebola, one of the managing directors of the Cheshire foundation says the circus makes close to P250 000 annually. ‘The money we receive comes as a donation and we use the funds for the development of the Cheshire foundation.’ ‘We use it as capital expenditure and also for the running costs of our non-governmental organization.’
Leteng Bopadile, a standard 3 pupil at Hillcrest International, says she enjoyed herself at the circus this past weekend. Apart from the acrobatic clowns, she says she saw animals like elephants, tigers, snakes, horses and lions. ‘I had fun with my friends Hazel and Ame,’ she said. ‘My mom bought us ice cream, pop corn, lollipops, candy floss, hot dogs, drinks and then we went home.’
Bozo phobia also known as Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns. Coming to think of it, clowns can be really, really creepy. No wonder why they are called funny names like Bobo or Koko. They go around wearing white face paint, red noses and fright wigs. People, or perhaps children in particular, all have the right to be scared of clowns. They are two faced and demented. Look at the likes of Charlie Chaplin. Although he was a good clown, he always looked down with his sad sack frown.
A typical good example of why people should be afraid is the notoriously infamous John Wayne Gacy. The man was an entertainer of hospitalized children in circus regalia by day and a brutal rapacious killer at night. This unbelievably freaky circus rapist has inspired an entire genre of horror movies. This includes classic horrors like Clown house, Killjoy, Stephen Kings IT, Fear of Clowns, S.I.C.K and Dead Clowns and more.
Mrs. Ronelle Tonkin, a psychological nurse by profession says there are cures for Bozo phobia.
‘This is a really hard to conquer problem,’ she says.’ If someone suffers from phobia s, they are more like anxiety attacks including cold sweats and chest pains.’ ‘The very thought of an attack can cause one.’ According to Mrs. Tonkin, there are a few physical exercises that can help calm down bozo phobic people, when the threat of becoming totally unhinged sets in. ‘Taking deep breaths will help increase your oxygen intake and slow your heart rate during anxiety attacks,’ she said. ‘Exercising can also help, this should have some relaxing effect, and at the very least you’re burning calories.’
For those interested in attending the circus this coming weekend, tickets are still available. They are sold at P40 for side seats, P50 front row seats and ring side costs P60. Tickets can be purchased at the GSS sports grounds. See you there!
