Magic For Smiles
Jamie Jibberish
Humanitarian Magician
COVID 19 update:
Due to COVID 19 for the safety of all concerned, we have of course paused our live face-to-face shows and tuition and with few exceptions have only been working online for both. We are gradually however also doing face-to-face work in the UK and are monitoring the situation as regards international travel.
Bring smiles to refugee children – through magic!
Donate to Magic for Smiles:
What a brilliant idea – Jamie uses magic to both entertain and support children who’ve lived through the most difficult times. I thoroughly enjoyed his show when I saw it recently. I loved his magic but even more I loved his mission – he deserves our support.
Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, former UK Home Secretary and Member of Parliament.
Magic for Smiles occupies a unique niche in the magic community. In the context of refugees and other deprived children in the Middle East Jamie as a humanitarian magician is right to focus on how these often traumatised children can benefit from the new experience of magic shows and tuition to improve their lives. I very much welcome the progress and support of this wonderful initiative.
Oliver Tabor, President-Elect, International Brotherhood of Magicians
From an academic perspective, Magic for Smiles (MFS) is a highly unusual and exciting initiative for psychosocial support and therefore enhanced wellbeing. The focus on vulnerable children, mostly refugees in the Middle East, provides a further added value. We look forward to seeing how we can work with MFS to further our understanding of the relationship between magic and wellbeing.
Dr Gustav Kuhn, Magic Lab, Goldsmiths University, UK
Magic Shows for
Children Of War
Watch the 60 second documentary
Book Magic For Smiles
Magic For Smiles
Spreading happiness and wellbeing for refugees and other vulnerable children in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and beyond.
The purpose of Magic for Smiles (MFS) is to establish and support magic as a tool to enhance the wellbeing of vulnerable children. To this end, MFS offers magic performance and tuition. We work with Jamie Jibberish, a humanitarian magician. He performs and teaches magic for and with refugee and other vulnerable children in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and elsewhere. In addition, he does some private shows and talks designed to fundraise to subsidize the humanitarian work. Please use Magic for Smiles services to help spread smiles, happiness and wellbeing among these children.
Latest News
Magic Activities
Humanitarian Shows
Magic for Smiles is an initiative for refugees and other vulnerable children in Lebanon and neighbouring refugee-hosting countries like Jordan and Turkey. Primarily it is about spreading smiles, happiness and wellbeing by making short or longer-term impact on the lives of vulnerable and traumatised children. The project as a whole promotes the use of magic for psychosocial support as well as entertainment.
Magic Tuition
Select children of 11-13 years who are keen to learn and perform, and who would benefit especially from improved self-esteem and self-confidence through performing fun magic. They would possess something unique to themselves! Numbers have to be limited to groups of 12 and normally two staff members from the partner organisation are also pre-trained to help with training and follow up.
“By focusing on the beneficial aspects of magic – including tuition – Magic for Smiles through Jamie Jibberish offers exciting improvement in the lives of refugee and other vulnerable children in the Middle East” says Gary James, Headmaster of Edinburgh Magic School, Scotland.
Fundraising – Private Parties & Public Events
Host a fundraising event or hire Jamie Jibberish for a private or public magic show. Great fun for everyone of all ages. Please contact us with your requirements.
Recent Reviews
Humanitarian Shows
Second Tree – Greece
Jamie offered us an online magic show for our end of module party, with children participating in our programme and living in Agia Eleni (Ioannina, Greece). The children loved it, and the show was very well adapted to the online setting. Some of our team members joined as well and it was a nice bonding moment between the children and the volunteers! I hope we will be able to do more together in the future! [Added by MFS: children were mainly Farsi speaking from Afhganistan]
Julian House – Bath UK
Jamie was fantastic!
He held all of the childrens’ attention throughout the whole show. The tricks appealed to everyone in the crowd including the adults. All of the children were completely in awe and really inspired by what they had seen. The show brought a lot of joy. I hope to work with Jamie again in the future.
Care International Organization Jordan – shows
It has been a pleasure working with him. With great gratitude, he implemented voluntary shows on the occasion of the World Refugee Day for CARE Jordan. The kids enjoyed the sessions very much and enjoyed watching the magic tricks. The shows have helped in enhancing their psychosocial wellbeing. We appreciate his efforts with us.
Jacari Bristol UK
Thank you so much to Jamie for travelling to Bristol and putting on such a fantastic magic show for some of the families we support during Bristol Refugee Festival. Adults and children alike were captivated by his tricks and talked about them afterwards, wondering at how they were done! We also enjoyed interacting in the tricks (even if from afar because of Covid restrictions!) and were entertained by the music – a number said how it reminded them of home. We hope we can run more events like this in the future, and hopefully be able to have a larger audience next time when restrictions are lifted. Thank you Magic for Smiles – great show!
City of Sanctuary UK
Magic for Smiles brought a real sense of warmth and entertainment to City of Sanctuary’s Funday Friday, an online support group for people seeking sanctuary and others who are isolated during the Covid pandemic. The show came across really well and Zoom was no barrier. Jamie’s show is very engaging and included the kids in some of the tricks which left them feeling special and honored. It is an all-inclusive, easy to watch and requires no particular language skill to participate. The feedback from the families was really positive, with key members bringing others along for the second show we had knowing how good the first was! We will definitively be inviting Jamie back for some more magic!
CARE Jordan – tuition sessions
Magic for Smiles sessions were conducted to children groups [in Jordan] from Amman, Irbid, Mafraq, Zarqa and Azraq via Zoom, each group consisted of 20 children, and each group received 2 sessions for one hour and half long to learn 8 tricks. The sessions were interactive as the trainer implemented each trick in detail so children learn how to do the tricks and asked each child to do the trick themselves and provided them with feedback and support. The kids enjoyed the tricks very much and they sent their photos and videos while doing the magic tricks. The following are some quotes received by the kids:
“I participated in magic sessions. I was always curious about learning magic after the sessions I learned how magic works and now I myself do magic tricks to my friends. I am so glad and pleased to get to know magic and I thank the trainer and Care organization for this opportunity”. Jafar, 11 years old boy lives in Azraq city.
“I used to see people on TV do magic tricks and I was always amazed and curious to learn how they do it. Till I participated in magic sessions and it is so satisfying to do the tricks that I learned and I still would like to learn more”. Hamza 12 years old boy from Azraq city.
Magic Tuition
Lucie Venard – Yalla
Jamie presented 3 magic shows for the children of Yalla! Pour les Enfants school in Aley and students of Aley First public school. He adapted the shows to fit different age groups from 5 to 14 year old and all children were delighted by the fun, great magic! With very simple material he was able to surprise them, make them laugh and cry from excitement.
He also ran two magic teaching sessions separated by age, initiating them to nice tricks with simple materials. Thank you Jamie for these wonderful moments you offered the children!
Fundraising - Private Parties & Public Events
Great show for a virtual Hen do!
Great show for a virtual Hen do! Really enjoyed it. It was a real performance – magic, music, lighthearted and witty. It really made the occasion special.
Hen party Oxfordshire
What a wonderful live magic show! I had no idea how an online magic show would work, but everything was clearly live and in front of our eyes. We were captivated and surprised by the tricks and turns, and we were able to participate in the tricks. Jamie turned the mirrored screen movements into part of the humour of the trick and made us laugh. Really cheered me up during these dark lockdown evenings. Thank you so much. Highly recommended. (Comment 1)
Great show for a virtual Hen do! Really enjoyed it. It was a real performance – magic, music, lighthearted and witty. It really made the occasion special. (Comment 2)
Nada Safsouf – MAGICAL
MAGICAL offers a variety of packages for all your events including Birthdays parties, gatherings, Halloween parties and themed events. Last week there were a birthday and Jamie came and did a magic show and the children (about 20 kids) liked the show so much.
Martin Lauder – parent
A crowd of very excited 4 year-olds were spellbound for the entire half hour, and all clamouring to participate in the act. The show was thought provoking for the kids and Jamie was great at getting them involved. A wholehearted recommendation to other parents.
William Dobson – Aaliya’s Books
Jamie did a wonderful show at Aaliya’s Books in Beirut. A great range of tricks with fun and memorable presentation for both children and adults alike. Highly recommended
Badaro Festival organiser
The first time I saw Him, i thought, he’s too serious to be a magician. Then, I checked his Facebook page and saw some beautiful photos showing kids reactions. BUT, seeing his live show at Badaro Magical Christmas…. that was amazing! Behind that serious look, there’s a wonderful personality that catches the attention of all ages audience. Jamie … the Humanitarian Magician.
Bookings & Enquiries
For all enquiries, please contact us at hello@magicforsmiles.com. Thank you.