Turkey has often been described as a “magical” country with its amazing scenery, vast history, and seemingly endless curiosities that can be found in just about every corner. Meet Jamie, a magician who’s been spreading some magic of his own across the Middle East and Africa to provide smiles and psychosocial support to vulnerable children. I’ve been working with him as a consultant after having read and witnessed the incredible work he’s been doing over the last few years as a humanitarian magician under his newly registered NGO, Magic for Smiles (MFS).
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I have performed magic since I was a boy, but am also a 30 year humanitarian having worked with different NGOs in various countries in the Middle East and Africa. In early 2016 I decided to bring the two passions together magic and humanitarianism as I felt it was an under-exploited part of humanitarian work with huge potential. Hence I founded the charity Magic for Smiles.
How did you get started in magic?
As a boy eager to impress I expect the mystery and power coming from performing magic attracted me and I just started with a kit, but it developed more in my university years and subsequently. Motivation for doing magic now is more from a humanitarian perspective which is quite unusual in the world of magicians (I go to a lot of magic conventions).
What’s your favorite magic trick?
I have to say my favourites include some of the oldest tricks I have done. The criteria are however not the age of the trick, but what gets the most reaction from the audience and what ranks high in terms of visibility and impact. Hence anything to do with making magic out of oranges is my favourite and I use this theme in almost every show.
What is Magic for Smiles and can you tell us how it got started?
The work underpinning Magic for Smiles started in early 2016 when I was working in Lebanon, but we only became a registered UK charity in March 2019. It sets out to use magic for trauma relief and psychosocial support. Therefore, while entertainment is important in and of itself, there are many other benefits to magic: emotional (happiness, de-stressing, overcoming boredom, sense of wonder, hope), cognitive (concentration, analysis, imagination) and social (interaction, trust building, friendship, self-confidence, motivation). MFS has commissioned some research on the benefits which proves the point but it still remains a novelty which requires promotion and increased learning by experience.
Which countries do you operate in and can you share some of the work you’ve done there?
We work in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon so far – in other words countries with the highest per capita amount of refugees mainly from Syria. We have worked with around 140 organisations and conducted well over 300 shows. Tuition is a much smaller component as the numbers of kids are usually too great but has been successful with some organisations in Lebanon. To date, we’ve worked with the following NGOs across Turkey: Small Projects Istanbul, Human Resource Development Foundation, Association for Refugees, Support to Life, Orphan Association, Concern, and The Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants. All work with refugee children and use psychosocial programming to varying degrees.
Now that you’re officially an NGO, what’s in store for Magic for Smiles’ future?
For the 3 years prior to registration, I was unable to apply for grants as I needed a board of trustees. I got paid by larger organisations, did crowdfunding, but the bulk of the work was self-financed which I can no longer sustain. Now that we are an NGO with a board, I have started applying for grants from small trusts and foundations and have received my first approval last month. It has also coincided with a time when we want to expand regionally. Thus in recent months I have done 3 trips to Jordan and 4 to Turkey. Hopefully we can find a focal point person in each country to help in outreach, product development and even in implementation in some cases, but I don’t want to set up a dependency on funding so we will need a home grown approach with a trigger and maybe seed money from MFS, along with consultancy support.
How can people support your NGO?
We still largely rely on donations and the crowdfunding link remains live. We are hugely grateful for any support we can obtain and stay in touch with all supporters. Your support enables the sustainability of MFS and goes towards expenses (supplies, administrative, operational, etc.), future expansion, and our continued mission to bring smiles and psychosocial support to vulnerable children in the region.
Support MFS At: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/magicforsmiles
How can we learn more and/or collaborate with Magic for Smiles?
All shows are posted on Facebook, many on Instagram, and some on the website all with the same name Magic for Smiles. With very limited capacity (one Founder magician and a board of trustees) we produce newsletters only twice a year, but these and other publications as they come up are on our website. If you’re interested in collaborating, please do send me an email at hello@magicforsmiles.com.
Images courtesy of the author.
