A Clown for Jesus: Hugs, Bible Studies, Clown Ministry Mark Outreach to Poor & Homeless in Costa Rica

San José, Costa Rica—Hugo Salas has what it takes to be a clown. He is young, extremely energetic, very outgoing, humorous, happy, people-loving and intensely serious.  And, he is a Christian—a Christian clown.

But, Hugo did not always have those characteristics. In fact, for over 15 years he could not speak—his lips were sealed shut by the traumatic circumstances that marked his childhood and his complete sense of frustration, fear, abandonment and loneliness.

“My dad was 70 years-old and my mother was 13 when they were married,” Hugo says. “It was his fourth marriage.”  Hugo was raised by his grandmother and does not remember ever having seen his father until he was four years old. That was when he discovered that his father was homeless, living on the streets and hopelessly addicted to alcohol.

When he met his mother (a prostitute living and working in a San José brothel), she had no time for him and committed suicide just four months after Hugo first met her.  In between, he met other brothers and sisters. The story was similar—they were living on the streets, victims of alcohol, drug addiction and prostitution.  In reaction to these discoveries he found himself unable to speak except for a few words which came through serious stuttering that made him unintelligible.  “I lived on the streets for several years, involved in the same things that destroyed the rest of my family,” he remembers. “Then, a friend, also a street person, came back to the streets after a time away and I immediately saw that he was a changed person. He had accepted Jesus Christ and turned his life around.”

Hugo agreed to go to church with his friend, and there heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ that can completely transform the life of the most hardened sinner.  That decision set him off in another direction that led him to work among the poor and disposed through Christ For the City International (CFCI).

CFCI works in a number of countries around the world to meet the greatest needs of the poorest cities. The mission’s purpose is to help people transform cities by transforming lives.  Missionaries from CFCI accomplish that by determining what needs people have, meeting those needs out of the love of Christ and building relationships so they can share the Gospel and change lives.

Today, to watch Hugo as he moves among the children of the poverty-stricken community of La Cuenca on San José’s outskirts, you see a very different person.  Children come running through the dusty, dirty pathways of the community to receive a hug, and another hug, and yet another hug.  It seems that hugging is an important part of Hugo’s ministry. “When I was young we never received hugs. Here, I give hugs to all of the kids. It is a part of God’s love.”

Leading a morning Bible study for about 60 community children, Hugo seems never to grow tired. “A-le-lu-YAH!,” he shouts, the children shouting right along with him. “A-la-lu-YAH!,” he shouts again followed by the children who jump to their feet on the last “YAH”—loud enough that certainly their mothers in nearby shacks must think they are in the same room.  The round of verbal and musical calisthenics continues for a half hour—Christian songs, cheers to the Lord and, for good measure, a few more rounds of A-le-lu-YAH!

It’s all a warm up for the Bible study—today about Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead.  Hugo reminds the kids that Jesus was where he should have been, just in time to meet Lazarus and heal him as needed. “Jesus never arrived late,” he explains to the wide-eyed children. “He always arrived on time,”—an appropriate reminder for children in a society where arriving on time is often out-of-vogue.

A few more hugs, and Hugo turns the children over to other leaders while he talks about his other ministries. “The Lord gave me the gift of dressing as a clown for my ministry,” he says.  Hugo spends several days a week as Tickles the Clown in hospitals, prisons and on the streets among addicts.  “Some days I arrive at the hospital at 8 a.m. and don’t leave until 9 p.m.,” he explains. “I talk with families who have lost a baby or received bad news.”  “I’m often in the streets, talking to people on drugs, going with people to the emergency room, visiting them in the jail,” he says. “A clown is able to talk to lonely people. They often cry in my arms.”

Hugo says that the anonymity of a clown opens the door for people to tell him their problems and opens them to hearing God’s word. “As a clown I work personally with people, individually, not in groups.”

For example, Hugo worked individually with an eight-year-old boy he found on the streets of the suburban town of Alajuela. "The boy had a head-ache and asked a drug addict for some medicine,” Hugo remembers. “The drug addict gave him an illegal drug that rendered him unconscious. When the boy awoke, he was disoriented and surround by police.”  Hugo recognized the boy as someone he had met a few weeks prior and had taken out for ice cream. He tried to get close but the police refused to let him. He eventually found a way in through a back entrance and was able to get near the boy.

Hugo began to pray for the boy and within about 30 seconds, the boy sat up and shouted, "Hey! You are the guy who took me out for ice cream!  Let's go again!" The people around were amazed and wondered who Hugo was. Hugo knew that the boy had been healed instantly. 

Some days on the streets, other days in hospitals or prisons, but on this day, Hugo works among the kids in the squatter settlement of La Cuenca. And all if it is for God. “I have a full life in Jesus Christ,” Hugo affirms as, finished with their lessons, the children spill out of the CFCI center’s doorway looking for their friend, the clown.

More information about Christ for the City International can be obtained on line at www.cfci.org or by writing to Christ For the City International, P.O. Box 241827, Omaha, NE  68124-5827 or by calling 402 592 8332 or toll free, 888 526 7551.