Moe Alkaff brings funny to Cambodia

Moe Alkaff brings funny to Cambodia

ENTERTAINERS WITH A HEART: (Above) Magician Alex Tan (left) and Moe Alkaff making the kids laugh with their magic tricks. (Below) Alkaff in a group shot with kids from a village in Siem Reap. --PICTURES COURTESY OF MOE ALKAFF

He performs magic to entertain kids in Aids homes and orphanages there

http://tnp.sg/show/story/0,4136,235956,00.html

via CAAI News Media

By Veena Bharwani

April 07, 2010

THE frail Cambodian boy was lying motionless in bed, crying in pain at a home in Phnom Penh.

He was dying of Aids.

Unable to watch the pitiful five-year-old cry any more, local funnyman Moe Alkaff went to the boy's bedside and started making funny faces.

Seeing his antics, the boy's wails turned into laughter.

The 47-year-old veteran entertainer, along with seven friends, met the boy and many others during his mission trip to Cambodia between March 21 and 29.

Apart from donating food, money and medicine to the poor, Alkaff did what he does best - pull on the comedian hat to make the kids laugh and forget their pain.

In all, Alkaff and his friends visited 12 floating villages, Aids homes and orphanages in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

Although he met many children, it was the little boy with Aids that he remembers the most.

Alkaff, who was the host of the long-running local gag show Gotcha in the 90s, said: 'I can't get this poor boy out of my head. He was crying unbearably for a while. He was so ill that he couldn't move at all. His head was turned to one side.'

But Alkaff said that seconds after he made the boy laugh and left the room, the boy burst into tears again.

'How can this stuff not bother anyone? It was tough but as much as possible, we wanted to make the kids laugh,' said Alkaff, who lives in Colorado but works out of Singapore.

Alkaff, who runs his events company Moezik locally, also hosts events in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Middle East.

'Food is temporary and will run out. But what we can offer these kids is a few laughs.

'This will make them smile and give them hope and will last a longer time than food,' he said.

Alkaff and his friends performed magic, danced, somersaulted and played games with the kids they met.

'The kids didn't understand English, so we just used actions to make them laugh,' said Moe, who just completed filming Ice Star Asia - an ice-skating version of Dancing With The Stars - at the end of December.

In the reality TV show, which will be broadcast to regional television channels, celebrities are paired with professional skaters.

Alkaff is the oldest member in the reality TV contest.

Eye-opening experience

Magician Alex Tan, 34, who travelled with Moe and the rest, said the trip was an eye-opener for him.

'I have been doing magic for 13 years and I have never seen kids like magic the way they did in Cambodia.

'We are just so fortunate in Singapore.'

Alkaff said the idea for the mission trip came about when he saw photos of his close friend, Ms Serene Herman, a Singaporean, on a mission trip in Cambodia.

He said: 'The pictures touched me. I had never seen so many poor people up close. You know, for Singaporeans, the idea seems very far away.'

Alkaff and his friends raised nearly $14,000 through a charity dinner and just from asking for 'loose change from friends'.

He said he plans to go on mission trips twice a year now.

'Some of the kids didn't want us to leave. They kept holding our hands and grabbing our feet before we left,' he said.