Laughter King

Ethiopian Belachew Girma claims to hold the world record in nonstop laughing. Back in 2008, he laughed nonstop for three hours 6 minutes. But, the father-of-five does not just use laughter to set outlandish records.

Belachew has also set up a “laughter school” in Addis Ababa. He hopes laughter will help heal people. RFI met the self-styled World Laughter Master and some of the volunteers queuing up for his therapy classes.

For years, Belachew Girma has been using laughter as a form of therapy to help children and adults overcome various forms of handicaps and illness.

The 44-year-old has travelled the world to share his knowledge and experience with thousands of people attending his workshops and lectures. Belachew himself says it is laughter that saved his life from disaster.