At the children's hospital, everyone knows him as "Bert". When Jens Ibendorf (48) slips into his role as one of the seven MHH clinic clowns and comes to a ward, things get funny. But only if the children want him to. "We approach carefully and see what the mood is like," explains "Bert". If the children greet the clowns euphorically, the party can start. "But if they signal that they don't want a visit, we pull back." The "Quatschmacher" are trained clowns and are very familiar with the subtleties of interpersonal contact. They want to bring lightness into difficult situations, and they often succeed by taking a clownish view of the circumstances in the rooms. Then you can sometimes hear roaring laughter. Sometimes long, strong relationships develop with transplant children. Once, a child even named his new liver "Bert". That's touching, even if you've been working as a clown for ten years like Jens Ibendorf.