TV: Bending the rules

CHILDREN have always dreamed of running away to the circus but the Big Top now offers a life-line for desperate children in Mongolia.

The harsh winters in this desolate region, where temperatures can plummet to minus 40, mean that in the capital city of Ulan Bator many homeless children are forced to live beneath the streets in the sewers.

But 50 of them were rescued by aid worker, Mark Laporte who devised a plan to show the children a way out of their wretched lives.

They were given shelter and introduced to Cecile Trufaut, a professional juggler and mime artist from Cirque du Soleil.

Cecile joined Laporte's aid group and set up a summer camp in Mongolia for the sewer children. Tonight's documentary watches the children gain self-esteem as they learn skills such as juggling and acrobatics.

The camp is not just a temporary diversion for the street kids, but offers the opportunity to make a living as entertainers instead of resorting prostitution and petty theft.

Ulan Bator is at the heart of an empire that once ruled the world. Over one third of the country's population live here, most of whom are unemployed and poor.

Marc Laporte became involved with Ulan Bator's sewer children while working for the Save The Children Fund. Laporte is from Quebec where Cirque du Soleil started and that is how he met Trufaut.

Together they started a unique program called Cirque du Monde, hired to travel the globe and teach circus skills to street children.

One of the Cirque's founders, Daniel Gauthier and his wife Helene, adopted their children from Mongolia several years ago. They helped set up the camp to help the children they'd left behind.

In Mongolia's short summer, Save The Children will run the camp in partnership with Cirque du Soleil. Many of the children who attend come from broken homes or are picked up in the streets and sewers by Marc Laporte's staff or the police.

Once the camp closes the children will not be forgotten, they'll move to shelters in Ulan Bator where they'll continue their training as well as receiving an education.

Arselan is one of the camp's students. He was abandoned as a boy when his stepfather lost his job. He ran away and began robbing passengers on trains.

Police picked up Arselan and brought him to one of Save The Children's shelters. He's been part of the school for three years and it's given him a new lease of life.

Trufaut believes that teaching circus arts is a natural way to connect with street children from the very bottom rung of society. Success at the camp gives them much needed self-confidence.

Marc and Cecile caution that the camp's purpose is not to create circus professionals, although two of its students have already been accepted to the Mongolian State Circus.

The ultimate goal is to build self-esteem, provide job training and education and offer the children a chance to take control of their own lives.

At the end of the summer the children get to perform under a big top with an esteemed audience of Mongolia's politicians and foreign diplomats.

This triumphant night proves, if nothing else, that the magic of the circus is alive and well in Mongolia.

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