Magicaid: (entertainer Paul George).

Near the beautiful city of Canterbury lives a self-taught entertainer who spreads joy and happiness far beyond the British Isles. Paul George travels to crisis areas overseas with his show `Fred Bear and the Magic Mice' bringing magic and wonder to the lives of children.

After 17 years' experience running his own rural educational centre to bring inner city children into the country-side, George decided to follow a lifetime dream of becoming a fulltime entertainer. As Jester Minute, he has become a popular act for corporate parties.

In May 1999 he joined the British humanitarian aid Convoy of Hope (see FAC January/February 1993), based in Canterbury, to visit refugee camps in Macedonia. It was a life-threatening trip with missiles firing over the ferry they were on, frightening explosions in neighbouring Kosovo and finally being held up by the local Mafia and then released in exchange for medical aid. Yet this didn't stop George from going several times to Kosovo that year and performing Jester Minute ankle-deep in mud and soaked to the skin by rain. Needless to say all these trips were accompanied by difficulties with local authorities as well as technical problems and living-on-wheels inconveniences.

In January 2000, George was invited by British Aid for Deprived Children to entertain the children of Chernobyl over Orthodox Christmas. Now he had to face the bureaucratic routine of stamped papers, constant customs checks leading to the confiscation of pens, toiletries, clothing and chocolates `for analysis', and unauthorized police fines on the roads. None of this stopped him. George gave four days of non-stop magic shows in sanatoriums and clinics.

Struck by the poverty and living conditions of the badly contaminated children, he decided to return to the Zelenei Gei Recuperation Sanatorium with more aid. `Many of the children have very little apart from their illness,' says George. `Two small boys about six years of age and quite inseparable helped me in a magic show. Their prize was a Matchbox diecast car each. You would think I'd given them Fort Knox.'

He managed to take a ton of paint, several rolls of carpet, games and equipment for a non-existent games-room, and even vitamins, bedding and medical supplies--all thanks to the generosity of his local community in Kent. `It's amazing how responsive people can be,' says George. `The aid pops up from where you don't expect it.'

It's not at all easy to spend half of your time on earning money as a medieval jester and magician and another half on tiring trips overseas. He could have been enjoying a peaceful family life. He is lucky that his wife Gill and two grown-up children are supportive and sometimes even join his trips.

Now Paul George is preparing for his next trip to Chernobyl this spring. He was planning to go there for Orthodox Christmas but realized there was not enough time to raise the money and find the necessary supplies. Nevertheless, Paul and Gill decided to send Christmas gifts to the 103 staff working at the sanatorium--a $5 note in each greeting card, which is big money in the Ukraine. Now that, they will say, is magic.