Circus Zambia, a Lusaka based Social enterprise was awarded the life+ award on the 9th of June in Vienna, Austria. Circus Zambia received the award in front of thousands of people during the LifeBall. The Lifeball is Europe biggest HIV/AIDS prevention fundraising event, attended by thousands of people each year and broadcasted live on different European TV channels.
This year the event was attended by celebrities such as Katie Holmes, Lindsay Lohan and Dita Von Teese. Circus Zambia won the Life+ award, an award supported by MAC Cosmetics that is awarded to organisations that tackle the HIV epidemic in an innovative way.
Circus Zambia was represented by Gift Chansa, Artistic Director and Charlotte Groen, Executive Director. Gift Chansa accepted the award together with Bill Roedy, CEO and Board Chair of MTV and Georgia Arnold, MTV SAF CEO. During his acceptance speech Gift spoke about the stigmatization and discrimination of people who are HIV positive and how this leads to problems with adherence. Therefore, more people die of a disease that can be kept under control. He urged young people to know their status and discuss HIV and sexual reproductive health in constructive way.
Georgia Arnold commended Circus Zambia for its work and for making sure that young people around the world have more knowledge on HIV, know their status and use protection when sexually active. Circus Zambia works together with MTV Staying Alive Foundation since 2017 in its project ‘Clowns for Condoms’. In this project Circus Zambia uses comedy, laughter, circus and clowning to teach youth about HIV prevention. Since 2017 Circus Zambia has reached over 15.000 people with messages that can save lives.
Gift Chansa and Charlotte Groen were guests of honour during the last LifeBall event ever held and enjoyed a gala diner, red carpet and opening ceremony with other VIP guests. Gift said ‘’It was an amazing experience to be part of this unique event and get to walk down the red carpet, speak in front of so many people and enjoy the glamour.
But the important thing is to celebrate all the young people we work with and the positive life choices they make. HIV can be eradicated if we use innovative and engaging ways of convincing people to do the right thing.
Circus Zambia was founded in 2015 by Gift Chansa, Charlotte Groen, Benard Kaumba and Amos Malokwa. As a social circus the aim of the organisation is to use circus to teach young people life skills, educational skills, circus skills and provide employment to young people. 3 of the 4 founders are born in raised in Chibolya, which means the company is a grassroots organization with a real connection to Zambia’s youth and the issues pertinent to society.
As a social enterprise Circus Zambia raises part of the funds needed for its social programming by providing entertainment services. You can support the organization by booking Circus Zambia to perform at corporate events, do workshops with youth or for team-building, and for birthday party entertainment. Circus Zambia also has a creative hub in Kabulonga, where it hosts different shows and events and which you can hire for your own events.