It's a challenge to clown about

By Roshan Peiris

Susan Donnelly, wife of Shaun Donnelly-Ambassador of the United States to Sri Lanka is astute and intellectually fascinating.

She has had to adapt to many different cultures but with a shrug she says "I don't mind the changes that go with the life of a diplomat's wife. I have a strong Christian faith and I know and I am confident that God is with me and my family." They have two sons aged ten and twelve.

Blonde hair neatly combed, green eyes that twinkle and dressed in a butter yellow silk suit Susan Donnelly is no modern Christobel Pankhurst but nevertheless a woman with a delightful personality.

Large gold earrings with an equally large maroon jasper stones at the centre bought in Istanbul, complement her attire. Unlike Pankhurst she is a smartly dressed woman.

But like Pankhurst who fought for the right of women to vote in Britain, Ms Donnelly took part in a vociferous protest against the Vietnam war in the 1960s at Lawrence University Appleton State, Wisconsin.

"As a child I wanted to be an actress and use the name April Adams which I thought would do nicely. Then I had visions of enticing large crowds.

"So at University, I naturally started by trying to do major in drama. But then thinking it was sort of frivolous I switched to American Histrory and took inter disciplinary courses such as English, Economics and Anthropology. I also finished my courses in Medieval and European history."

Besides majoring in history she also learnt clowning. "I am a professional in it. I attended a course in clowning six years ago at an open university."

Perhaps she felt it sublimated her early yearning for a career in acting.

"I had great fun at the course. There were 20 of us initially both men and women of all ages, but by the end only four were left."

Today Susan Donnelly loves dressing up as a clown and performing mainly for charity. "I charge a fee in the States but over here I do it for charity ."

Was clowning a sort of challenge? " Of course it was and is. I performed here at the Galle Face Green, for the Sunflower Village, a home for children with physical defects,The World College of Education and St. Mary's Elders Home run by the Sisters of the Poor.

"I am also planning a programme for the British Council in November- a programme on clowning. There have been many feelers for shows in schools too" said this busy wife of a diplomat.

"I sing too and I sang for the Sri Lanka-American Society." She met Shaun Donnelly at Lawrence University where he was studying Economics as a subject. "We fell madly in love but then he got shipped off to serve in the Peace Corps for two years. On his return we had a wedding with family members and dear friends - not one of those large and ostentatious ones."

How does Susan adapt to the countries she has been living in since 1972. She was in Senegal, Ethiopia, Cairo, Mali and Indonesia before coming here.

Susan loves anything new. "I have a curiosity about different cultures. I also try to learn a smattering of the country's language-it helps me to bargain," she said with a mischievous grin. She enjoys trying new kinds of food including our hot curries.

Both she and Ambassador Donnelly are conscious of projecting an imaginative and accurate image of their country.

Now we come to a serious side of Susan. She did a lot of social work in the U.S. She also worked for a welfare system, - a kind of school for children of small means, free of charge. "It was really the mothers I worked with. Some had no money and most were un-wed mothers. So with other like-minded people we gave them financial support and above all a chance to talk about their problems," Susan explained.

Susan makes a fitting wife for a diplomat possessing as she does a fresh insight into solving problems of any sort.

More Plus * For whom is this Deepavali?

Return to the Plus Contents