Right now I'm sitting here and I honestly cannot remember when Red Nose Day in England happens. I think it's March or sometime near there but I honestly cannot remember. I suppose that I could look it up, but it doesn't matter because I want to talk about Red Nose Day in Portugal, and the whole thing is done quite differently here.
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| Photo courtesy of the Official Doctor Clown Website |
Firstly, it's not even called Red Nose Day. It's called Operation Red Nose and it is organised like a campaign, starting in September and culminating on October the 31st. It has been running since 2002 and it is very different to England's Comic Relief Day. Operation Red Nose (Operação Nariz Vermelho) is not so concerned with evenings of comedy mash-ups on the television but instead focuses on that old adage that "Laughter is the best medicine" and sends "Doctor Clowns" into hospitals, and in particular, in to children's wards, to keep the children smiling. There is a larger International movement which operates along the same lines, sending in the clowns (sorry couldn't resist!) to hospitals all over Europe to children's and elderly wards, to bring some happiness to those unfortunate people that are stuck in hospital, feeling sick or waiting nervously for an operation, and Portugal's Operation Red Nose is just a small part of that. I've no idea why it hasn't taken off in England in this way, but it should.
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| Photo courtesy of the Official Doctor Clown Website |
Anyway, I'm going to include some links here, so that you can easily find out more about how it works and see for yourself some of the Clowns at work. If you'd like to visit the official Doctor Clowns website, you can
Click Here. If you'd like to read (in English) about what they do in a recent Portugal News article, you can
Click Here.
So, can you help? Well, yes you can. Operation Red Nose is sponsored by Colgate, who obviously want everyone to have nice big shiny white smiles, and you can donate a "Smile" through the Colgate website. It's easy! Click on
This Link to go to the Colgate website and then Enter the site by clicking where it says "Entrar No Site". You'll see three big red buttons at the bottom of the page. The left one will donate 1 smile (Sorriso) for a click. The middle one will donate 2 smiles if you click and then share it onto your facebook page. The right one will donate a smile in exchange for a picture, but I'm not sure what or who you are supposed to upload a picture of, so click it if you dare! (It would probably make someone smile somewhere!) So, please, do it now. It only takes a second to click and donate a "Smile" or two and that in turn will help a poorly child to smile too.
