Divya Mahawar: Dreaming of an equal world

“A girl is no less than a boy. We learnt it in a session. Then, why should she not go to school? Why should she get married?” 

12-year-old Divya lives in Shanker Nagar in Jaipur, a hilly area surrounded by the historic forts of Nahargarh and Amber.  Home to Koli Mahawars,a Scheduled Caste (SC) group, Shanker Nagar’s residents are mostly unskilled workers. 

Divya, arriving at her Magic Bus session.

The earliest account of this area is hardly historic or impressive to the tourists drawn to Jaipur’s royal forts and temples. Only the oldest residents like Divya’s grandfather remember the struggle to find work during those days “when most of the area was covered by forest”. Although much has changed about the settlement, the struggle for livelihood continues to underwrite the lives of its dwellers. 

“The forests have receded. Our houses are now made of brick. But, finding a job which brings in enough money to make ends meet is still a distant dream”, says Divya’s grandfather, pausing only to remark about the insignificance of recalling a past which is no different from the present.

For the poor of Shanker Nagar, history isn’t demarcated into eras. Divya belongs to the same Koli Mahawar caste as the rest of the families in Sunder Nagar. Her father is a plumber and mother, a homemaker. The monthly income of the family stands at Rs. 5000.

Divya reads in the sixth standard of a local private school. She has two brothers. One of them goes to school while the other is too young to be enrolled. She lives with her extended family: three uncles, aunts, grandmother, and several cousins.

Her perception of life is influenced by her parents’ constant encouragement to dream of a better future after she completes her higher education. 

“I want to be a doctor. People in my community laugh it off saying I can do no better than my father.  But, I know, I will prove them wrong,” she says.

She joined Magic Bus a year ago. “People living in Shanker Nagar lack gainful livelihood options. Most of the inhabitants work as unskilled labourers just like Divya’s father. Alcoholism is common. Initially, there was no open and safe space for children to come out and play. The area we chose for our sessions was a little away from the community, right at the foothills. We made efforts to ensure that children are safe when they come here”, says Magic Bus’ Neelima who is in charge of the Magic Bus programme in Jaipur.

Her words are echoed by Divya. “Our community used to be unsafe for children because of alcoholics. Once during a Magic Bus session, a man approached a girl in my group to “play with him behind the trees”. Bhaiya and didi (local terms referring to Magic Bus’ Community Youth Leaders) immediately protested. I, too, stood up and asked the man to back off and mind his own business. I did not feel afraid to stand up to a man twice my age. Such incidents are common but we have learnt not to remain silent”.

Divya shares how a girl in her area was sold off by her own uncle so that he could buy alcohol. At a personal front, she has often faced crude jokes for being “dark-skinned”, a quality, her neighbours and children of her age, associated with “difficulties of getting a groom without paying a large dowry”. 

Her dream of being a doctor has been rebuffed by many as an impractical and impossible dream as she was a “daughter of a plumber”.

Such incidents have led her to recognise the unequal treatment meted out to girls and women. It has also helped her find a way to address them through the Magic Bus programme.

“Silence is definitely not the way out”, she says emphatically. “Ever since I joined Magic Bus, I have grown confident of my ability to make it big in this world. With my mentors support, I have stood up to people who tease me about my skin colour or look down upon my dream to become a doctor. I have decided never to discriminate or tolerate discrimination, she shares.

She feels that other children who come for the Magic Bus sessions have changed a lot in the way they behave with each other, particularly towards children of the opposite sex. “Children who would earlier say demeaning things to each other, or behave rudely have changed their ways after coming to the sessions. Children who come to the Magic Bus sessions stay away from alcohol and substances. I have seen many of them encouraging their peers, and sometimes even their parents, to give up on alcohol and other substances”.

She points out the exact reason for her interest in the sessions. “All of us get to learn something new when we come to these sessions instead of sitting at home”. The lessons learnt during the sessions are not quickly forgotten. They are discussed in the peer circles and with parents. Divya’s mother testifies how her daughter is always excited about the “new information” she learns at Magic Bus sessions. 

“She is the leader among the younger children. She makes sure no one misses out a session”, shares her mother.

“A girl is no less than a boy. We learnt it in a session. Then, why should she not go to school? Why should she get married?” she asks. Her parting question tells us much about a 12-year-old’s conception of a gender-equal world.

Small town, big dreams – Kowsalya’s story

A year ago, it was rare for girls of V.R.P. Chatram community to step out and participate in outdoor activities. V.R.P. Chatram is a semi-rural suburb near Chennai. Its residents are mostly factory or agricultural labourers who travel to Sriperumbudur everyday for work. Girls of this community would often engage with elders to understand the root cause of gender-inequity in their community, and try to subvert it; however, their efforts went in vain.

“There were guidelines set for girls at every age, and we were supposed to adhere to those. I was not ready, but I was unsupported in my quest”, reminisces 19-year-old Kowsalya. 

Kowsalya delivering a session

Kowsalya joined Magic Bus a year ago as a Community Youth Leader. She was spotted by Magic Bus Youth Mentor, Kiruba.  “Kowsalya came across as an independent, righteous girl who wanted to empower herself and women within her community. However, she had limited support from her community”, says Kiruba.

Magic Bus entered her life at a critical juncture: it gave her the platform that she was looking for years. 

“Before I joined Magic Bus, I would give out leaflets to children in my community on gender-equity, healthy practices, and education. They would enjoy reading it but would forget about it in a few days. I soon realised that there was need to reiterate the message and find innovative ways of putting it across as well. Magic Bus’ Sport-for-Development approach was the perfect combination of both”, she explains.

Sports has an easy connect with children. But, to get girls to play alongside boys is always a stiff challenge in communities where the norm is to keep girls indoors. Initial resistance to change, suspicion about Magic Bus’ activities in the community and its underlying purpose always poses a challenge. But, our Community Youth Leaders (CYLs) and Youth Mentors (YMs) are adequately motivated and convinced to take on those challenges and slowly open up the community to support girls participation in sports and activities.

Children participating in a sport-for-development session

Kowsalya overcame the resistance of her home and community. Not only did she step out of her home, but also motivated and encouraged other girls in her community to do the same. She realised that simply stepping out of homes is not enough – girls had to be made aware of the importance of hygiene, healthcare and education.

Kowsalya is studying Bachelors in Computer Science and working as an agent of change in her community.

There are many more Kowsalya’s whose story you will read about in this blog. But, we must not forget the incredible support of Asian Paints in scripting change in this particular community. Thanks to Asian Paints’ support we’re now able to work with 2400 children in this community – many of whom have unrealized leadership potential lying dormant in them.

Similarly, your donation might help more Kowsalya’s to lead change in her community. 
It simply takes Rs.1500 ($25, £15) to help more children like Kowsalya to step out of their homes and become leaders. Support them.

Magic Bus: Changing lives through sports

Published in IANS Live, by Santosh Rao. For the original article, click here

For Englishman Mathew Spacie it all started in the bylanes of Mumbai's Parel area in 1999. His aim was to take children out of poverty and give them a purpose in life through sports.

Spacie's love for India, in fact, began as a 17-year-old when he took a break from his studies and worked in the Howrah Leprosy Centre in Kolkata. His next port of call was Mumbai.

Playing rugby at the Bombay Gymkhana Club, he thought he could make a difference to the lives of street and slum children through sport. Fifteen years down the line, what started as a mere distraction has grown into a massive Magic Bus, an NGO encompassing 300,000 children in 3,000 locations across 19 states.

Magic Bus is now a major initiative, taking care of hundreds of thousands of boys and girls and Spacie has big plans to convert his dream project into a sports-based volunteer force to work among the needy children in various countries.

Magic Bus' curriculum on sport for development has won national and international recognition - the latest being the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Award, which it received from President Pranab Mukherjee last week on National Sports Day. It came within five months of the organisation winning the Laureus Award, the first Indian entity to get global acclaim.

After receiving the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation Award from its chairman and champion hurdler Edwin Moses in Kuala Lumpur in March, Spacie in his acceptance speech said: "Fifteen years ago the Magic Bus was started because outside my office there were 15 street boys who one day decided that they wanted to change their journey in life.

"It is now an organisation which has 300,000 children every single week attending our programme on this amazing journey from childhood all the way to livelihood and out of poverty."

The small, humble beginning has grown into a multi-discipline non-profit organisation where the target children engaged in personality development through structured play sessions, which sought to draw them towards issues of social relevance.

"Our motive has always been to take these children away from their under-privileged lives and use sports to instill values and influence behavioural and social changes," Magic Bus CEO Pratik Kumar, who has over 24 years' experience working with the United Nations, Government of India, International NGO and private sector, told IANS.

"Sporting activities and games are structured into each session to make them fun and appealing. There are specially designed sessions to represent real-life situations and challenges so children are able to relate these back to their daily lives," said Kumar, who joined the Magic Bus in 2009.

Kumar thanked the volunteers, who he said were the actual heroes of the organisation.

"Magic Bus works with close to 8,000 trained volunteers. Community youth leaders are trained and mentored to lead young children and through these volunteer-led programmes, we have been able to expand our reach," he said.

Kumar moved quickly to quash any comparisons to Physical Education (P.E.) classes in schools.

"Yes, we do indulge in physical activity, but this is very different from P.E. classes. We use sport only as a developmental tool, a metaphor, to deliver our message of development to kids."

"Through sports we try and bring kids together and then impart lessons on a wide array of subjects, from hand washing to gender equality and more," said Kumar.

One of the biggest successes has been 'Connect' -- a supplementary programme that provides livelihood options to grown up children.

Through this programme, Magic Bus offers leadership and employability skills training as well as counselling services to help them decide on their next steps. They are then linked to further education, vocational courses, and entry opportunities into the job market.

But not resting on their laurels, Kumar wants to take the number of kids to a million in the next two/three years.

"So much more has to be done. Our ambition is to reach one million children. We have started programmes in Britain, Nepal, Singapore, and Sri Lanka and we want to grow further and do much more," said Kumar.

Magic Bus breaking the cycle of poverty, one child at a time

By Nidhi Singh, Guest Author at YourStory

The true potential of mankind is an unimaginable force that can do wonders if harnessed. As rightly said by the first African American President of the USA, “It’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself, that you realize your true potential.” And that is what Magic Bus is all about. It is about breaking the poverty cycle, one child at a time, and helping children transform the world around them. It is about catalysing change in communities and children. It is about creating ‘magic,’ as the name suggests, all across the nation.

How it all started 

A young player from India’s National Rugby Team, Matthew Spacie, used to practice daily opposite Mumbai’s famous Fashion Street, a hub for street children. Being the warm-hearted man that he was, he couldn't resist inviting the Fashion Street boys over for a game. As time passed by, Matthew began to notice positive behavioural changes in the boys — a direct result of being part of a team and overcoming challenges together. These boys, who had grown up on the streets, became more goal-oriented and wanted to improve themselves and their attitudes towards others.

Matthew discovered that the growing influence of this approach not only helped them transform their attitude towards life, but also taught them how to challenge their current realities and overturn their obstacles into a route towards well-being and success. Over a period of the next 10 years, this crystallized into a formal pedagogy that is now known as the Magic Bus Sport for Development curriculum. An approach that would go on to redefine the lives and destinies of many.

How it works

Magic Bus started in the year 1999 and has now expanded to 250,000 children as well as 8000 youth in 19 different states across the country. Supported by Cox and Kings and Cleartrip enabled an academically grounded ‘sport for development’ curriculum to be established.

By training local, community-based young people to deliver long-term programmes that focus on education, health and gender equity, Magic Bus enables children to have more choice and control in their lives to bring themselves out of poverty.  A comprehensive curriculum that uses activities and sport and a long term-engagement are delivered through a child-friendly mentoring approach. At periodic intervals, the mentor provides constant feedback, and monitors the child’s behaviour to bring about proven behavioural changes.

When the child grows up, she or he has the choice of joining Connect, a supplementary programme that links young people to higher education or job opportunities. As a result of this marvellous work, more than 250,000 children and youth have access to better education and improved health as they work towards strong livelihood options for themselves as adults.

Magic Bus uses its concept to not only pull children out of poverty but also to change the mindset of their parents and families. For this reason, the World Bank Development Marketplace Award was presented to the NGO during its formative years.

How obstacles are tackled

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. When a stranger enters a community where all is unknown and throws a ball in the air, everyone gravitates towards the ball. That’s the power and attraction of play. Despite this, the attitude towards girls remains a hurdle across geographies and regions. Getting girls out of their domestic duties and into the public sphere is a hurdle. To avert this in the best possible way, Magic Bus makes use of advocacy tools and tactics, including parents’ meetings, door-to-door campaigns and community-level tournaments to gain support for the intervention, and bring all stakeholders together to build a community that is gender-equal and child-friendly.

I left my old perception to think afresh and hopefully I can do a thousandth of what Magic Bus does to change my Motherland, my home — the nation of many with all hearts beating as one — India.

Original Article by Nidhi Singh at Your Story. Edited for this blog by the Magic Bus Communications Team.

"Nidhi Singh is a Computer Engineering student at NTU Singapore & a Global Evangelist at YourStory.com. She has a passion for cars, non-fiction reads and music. Her hope is to create a dent in the universe, in her own way, some day. When she is not trying to find more opportunities to lay her hands on, you can find her writing, traveling or gorging on chocolate and cheese. ... read more on social.yourstory.com."

Gulafsha Khan: Mentor, Guide, Leader, Teacher at Magic Bus

Source: Women of Pure Wonder, Vodafone Coffee Table Book

Not far from the historic city of the erstwhile Mughal rulers, Delhi, is the large settlement colony of Bhalswa. In stark contrast to the grandeur of the capital city, Bhalswa can best be described as Delhi’s largest dumping ground. It is difficult to conceive that the shantytown is home to thousands of families who were evicted from the slums in Delhi and resettled near a landfill site. It is even harder to believe that a young girl could rise like a phoenix from under the pervasive haze of the putrid and toxic methane gas.

Gulafsha Khan was a young girl when her family was forced to move to Bhalswa. ‘We lived in a slum in Nizammudin in South Delhi with access to clean water and electricity. We were horrified when we got to Bhalswa. The area was a desolate jungle swarming with snakes. People were so despondent that they wanted to run away. When the settlers began digging the earth to stand their shelters, they found countless bones. It was a creepy place,’ recalls Gulafsha. Her five siblings and parents struggled to make ends meet then and it is now very different. Most of the community’s population is well below the poverty line. Men and women work as daily wage workers at construction sites while some women find employment as maids in more affluent areas nearby.

Over time, the settlement degenerated into a slum while the peripheral area developed with the setting up of two primary schools and one secondary school. Gulafsha and her five siblings found their way to school while living in a one-room slum with their parents. In 2011, Gulafsha heard about the NGO Magic Bus from her friends. She went to meet its volunteers, Santosh and Mahadev, and learned that Magic Bus worked to drive change in the areas of education, health and hygiene and reproductive health.

Gulafsha says, ‘I signed for the Community Youth Leader (CYL) programme. After my six-day training, I had to make a group of 25 kids and teach through play. I approached several parents to permit their children to join our activities in the nearby park. Many declined for safety reasons. I had to build their trust in me over time to prove to them that I was a responsible girl.’ The volunteer youth mentor at Magic Bus recognized Gulafsha’s enthusiasm and extraordinary mentoring skills and awarded her CYL of the Month. They consistently encouraged her to pursue her education while gently cajoling her parents to agree.

Subsequently, Gulafsha joined the Connect programme, a special programme which trained the Magic Bus Community Youth Leaders in Functional English, Computer Literacy, and Interview Readiness skills. ‘The Connect Programme has helped me a lot. After completing the course, I feel confident. There’s also a remarkable improvement in my verbal English,’ said Gulafsha.

‘It has not been easy for me to step out to work. My community has constantly taunted my parents for letting me work and in turn my parents have often pressurized me to abandon social work. When I am with my group of children I feel like a child again. In the time that I spend with them, I forget my worries about the present and the future entirely.’

Gulafsha realized that her parents could not afford her college education so she began giving home tuitions to middle-school children. ‘I now pay my college fees from my earnings,’ says Gulafsha. ‘I want to study further to qualify for a teacher’s job.’

Gulafsha, 19 wants to live life on her own terms and she does today.

Article source: 'Women of Pure Wonder', Struggle. Survival. Success', Published by Roli Books. An initiative by the Vodafone India Foundation

Women take the lead at Family Meeting at Magic Bus, Bangalore

The first African-American President of the USA once said, “Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself, that you realise your true potential.” These are the wise words of a man who, during his early years, found himself trapped in a cobweb of narcotics, poverty and, the worst of all, discrimination. Despite all the forces that were working against him to bring him down, he managed to do the unexpected: To achieve milestones that nobody had ever even remotely imagined.

And that is what Magic Bus is all about – empowering the underprivileged through means of sports, and transforming the world around them. It is about catalysing change in communities and children. It is about creating “magic”, as the name suggests to a plethora of districts all across the nation.

Some think that Magic Bus is all about sports and children. I thought so too until yesterday. But what happened yesterday brought about a different perception. It changed what I, as other partially-oblivious bourgeois people, think about Magic Bus. This NGO is different. It isn’t concentric to one cause. To put it metaphorically, it has one root, but many branches. It has one path – the power of sports – but many beneficiaries. Magic Bus uses its concept to not only pull children out of poverty but also to change the mindset of their parents and families.

As Shaona and Sonia briefed us on our first day of our internship, Tuesday, December 10, 2013, was a big day for us at Magic Bus Bangalore. We were to organise a first-of-its-kind family meet for all the Youth Mentors (YMs) and Training and Monitoring Officers (TMOs). This was a day for the families of the family of YMs and TMOs that have continued to support Magic Bus Bangalore through their hard work.

The day started with a rigorous set up. Appreciation Magic Bus tags and candles for all attendees, posters and banners sprawled across the venues, carpets, flowers and seats to add a finishing touch. As we eagerly waited for all the 13 YMs, our chief guests, to arrive with their families, we broke out into heavy chattering over light refreshments.

To see these simple, down-to-earth, yet confident and exuberant youth all dressed up for their big day was great. Amidst the bustle, I noticed something different. This day, for a change in an average Indian household, was one for the women of the family. As the proud TMOs entered with an air of importance, the men of their families followed. And that’s what felt good: the female domination that had scattered across the event. To see more women than men playing their own part to change their surroundings almost brought tears to my eyes.

The introductory session conducted by Lawrence was an exciting start to the event. Post the YMs introduction on their role in Magic Bus, family members were asked to speak of how their lives had changed since these women (and a minority of two men) started to spend a majority of their time outside their homes – interacting with other men, women and children. To hear the praises that went around as well as the words of encouragement from the families for these YMs really created an impact.

Following that great start, an ice breaking session was conducted through a balloon-bursting game. As Sonia cleverly pointed out, a concept as simple as blowing and bursting balloons in teams of two brought about creativity through ‘participation’ and all in all created a ‘fun’ and ‘experimental learning’ platform for all. ‘Mentored’ by Narsimha, all teams took part in a fair and fun game that brought a signature Colgate smile on everybody’s faces.

We then moved back into the room for an interactive session conducted by Anu on one of our core concerns – the Child Protection Policy. Comically asking Narsimha to translate her fluent English into the simplest of Kannada words, Anu cast a light on one of Magic Bus’ most important agendas: how to save your child from wrong. She brought about an active discussion and got many parents to voice their opinions.

Sonia, her eyes reflecting her many years of experience in this field, then conducted a recognition segment, which, in my opinion, was the most important of them all. The importance, praises and confidence instilled in the YMs through anecdotes of their collaborative experiences at the sessions not only made the YMs feel proud but also reassured their families. These YMs were working so hard to change the lives of a total of 9,123 children across Bangalore. That’s a HUGE number to achieve in just one year, with just a team of 13. To reiterate what Sonia said, it’s not quantity, it’s the quality that’s the focus. When one puts in their heart and soul into something, the outcome automatically shows. Sure there’s a target of 11,000 children – but with such women leaders, nothing is impossible. As Kavita Aka, a TMO, put it, “The aim for 2014 is to have each YM become a TMO, and for each of the 25 CYLs to have 25 more CYLs and multiplied number of children under the Magic Bus umbrella.”

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. That’s what I saw in the eyes of each of the attendees yesterday, and that is what makes Magic Bus so awesome. If the leader of this magical organisation is itself an epitome of an example, the rest will definitely create leaders of the same willpower. It’s a domino effect – Mr. Spacie left his well-paying CEO job to become a social worker, the YMs left their restricted lifestyles to change the lives of many, the families left their bread-winning jobs to support their kin, and I left my old perception to think afresh and, hopefully, do a thousandth of what Magic Bus does to change my motherland, my home – the nation of many with all hearts beating as one – India.

Thank you Nidhi Singh (Magic Bus intern from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) for sharing this wonderful story. 

To find out more about Magic Bus, visit www.magicbus.org

Celebrating the Girl Child: My Life, My Fight and My Decision

Poornima made a difference to her life

10-year old Poornima from a poverty-stricken family in Jayanagar, Bangalore, has defeated difficult circumstances with her desire and exceptional talent.

Poornima, studying in grade 5 at a Government school, was a shy, reserved and softly spoken girl whose parents are separated. She stays with her “Amma” who works as a housemaid to meet the family's needs.

Her mother shares, "My daughter used to feel very isolated among her friends for not having her “Appa” around, however, her friends have been supportive and I can see a huge difference in her since she started attending Magic Bus sessions."

Putti (Poornima) now shows a renewed enthusiasm towards life and people around her, she has opened up, become friendlier and is more confident in herself.

Her school Principal has also noticed some changes, “Poornima was a very shy girl and used to always stay aloof from her classmates. Since joining Magic Bus sessions, she has more friends, her performance in studies has improved and she is now the Class Monitor.”

Inspired by her Magic Bus Youth Mentor, Poornima’s dream is to become a teacher and a footballer. She acknowledges the importance of education and wants to be a role model for her younger brother and help her mother financially by being a successful teacher.

Thank you Sheetal, Aarikiti, Urbashi and Sami (Magic Bus Interns from Christ University Bangalore) for sharing this wonderful story.

To find out more about Magic Bus, visit www.magicbus.org

Pink and Blue: The possible signs of danger

(Names have been changed in this story to protect privacy).

“First I thought I would become a teacher because it is an easy profession, and as people say one doesn’t need to study much. But now I think I will be in the police and help the victims of domestic violence. Will you cast me as a heroine in your film?” 11-year-old Ruhee asks with a twinkle in her eye. Ruhee has had a change of heart, as she flirts with trading the confines of her gender for her aspiration...

Like so many other families, Ruhee’s family migrated from their ancestral village in Bihar, in hope of work and better educational facilities. Their new home, Bhanwar Singh camp, like many other Delhi slums, is a labyrinth of narrow lanes, open drains, community water taps, and pastel colored squalid mud and brick houses with roofs made up of cemented slabs and plastic sheets.

The neighborhood is dotted with shopping complexes, and posh houses of some of the city’s rich. Just like a typical slum, locals strive to make an honest living doing everything from driving auto rickshaws or taxis, cleaning houses, selling vegetables or as daily wage labourers working on the booming city's many construction sites.

A study by [1] International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) reveals that there are more cases of gender-based violence reported in urban areas than rural – urban areas not unlike the neighborhood Ruhee now calls home.

Women and Girls Lead Global, a documentary film and trans-media initiative to affect lasting change in global gender issues, aims to positively redefine gender role stereotypes in Indian society. With this goal in mind, we set out to explore the conditions that cause girls like Ruhee to worry so much about domestic violence and community protection, and to fear dreaming of anything beyond the practical.

Ruhee and other children from her community congregate to share their own childhood rituals of growing up and aspirations. “My brother doesn’t even clean his plate. I am the one who helps mother with household work. At times if he’s forced to work, he creates heaps of mess for me to clear. So I’d rather not have him work at all. He is better off doing what he does on most days, i.e. to eat and play”, said Ruhee, sheepishly, escaping the eye of her mother and brother standing next to her at the doorway of their one-room dwelling.

Children in this community, like anywhere in the world, learn very young to play a role. Girls are taught to be obedient and submissive. “Hide n seek, and three claps”, gleamed 10-year-old Meena with excitement on the games she likes to play with her friends.

“My brother and I always fight over the Television remote, he wants to watch wrestling matches and cartoons, while I love Hindi film songs and soap operas”, asserted Meena, with her head down in embarrassment, as the rest of her female friends giggled in secrecy over her love for Hindi film songs. “But I hate boys”, she added.

“Last week, my brother broke the head of my favourite Barbie doll. He hates them. I do not know why. Can you scold him?” complained 7-year old Asha.

“No! Girls don’t like cricket at all” exclaimed the three girls in chorus.

Boys, on the other hand, are taught to be competitive, physically strong, and often oppressive.
“Why should I train myself in cooking, when I have a sister”, asserted 11-year old Gautam, with a hint of wryness.

“I think I need to balance my brawn with my height and age,” chuckled Manish while seeking reassurance from his all boys’ gang. “Yes, girls do not need to exercise and be muscular, they have the police and their family to protect them”, said Amit in confirmation with Manish.

These innocent and playful confessions are often accepted as rites of our passage of life and growing up. But what happens when young girls and boys accept the roles set out for them? What impact do sports, entertainment, and household responsibilities have as children grow into adults? We are often oblivious to the fact that these seemingly simple childhood experiences point towards a looming danger of gender based violence.

“I have three brothers and I hate them because they abuse and bully other girls and the kids younger to them” said a relatively irritated Renuka.

“Last week a boy asked if I could be his friend. I slapped him because friendship with boys makes you weak in studies. It is good to be friends with only girls” she added.

10-year-old Renuka is seen as the leader of her all girls’ gang. She is what her community calls a ‘Tomboy’ for her roughness and outspokenness.

Gender socialization continues throughout the life cycle. Society defines the boundaries of the gender roles. At an early age children’s minds are molded by the values and behaviors of their gender, and identify what is socially acceptable as ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’.

Boys who have less muscular strength, or are emotionally weak are considered to be ‘sissy’ and effeminate, while girls are expected to be weak and emotionally submissive. This chips away the possibility of building a healthy and equitable relationship with the opposite sex, and hinders the development as a person.

When girls or boys, women or men, are seen stepping outside the rigid definition of appropriate male and female behavior they become easy and socially-acceptable targets of violence.

“I can easily wear a short and a t-shirt, but it is unacceptable for my sister to wear such short clothes, it will be outraging modesty. Girls must cover themselves properly” declared Gautam.

“I will never allow my sister to roam with a boy in any park, alone in the evening” he added.

The expectations set out by their families and communities continue to affect the way boys and girls treat each other as they grow up. Likewise, exposure to violence can have a profound impact on children’s development. “I see my parents fight almost every night. My father comes drunk, and at times hits my mother if she forgets to do her work. It is normal for married couples to fight. I do not like seeing that, but I am used to it now” said Megha, fidgeting nervously with her fingers as she talked about her dad.

A study by [2] UNICEF indicates that as many as 275 million children worldwide are exposed to violence in the home. It further adds that children who grow up in a violent home are more likely to be victims of child abuse, and there is a strong likelihood that this will become a continuing cycle of violence for the next generation.

When children learn to expect violence in their homes as “normal” like Megha has, they become much more likely to accept other forms of gender-based violence as well. At the end of 2012, a tragic case of sexual violence on a New Delhi bus made international headlines. When the horrific story ignited a movement across India, children of Bhanwar Singh camp believe that had the girl not stepped out of the home late evening with her boyfriend, she could have avoided her brutal sexual assault and eventual death.

There is a desperate need to intervene, to introduce and to help these children discover the vicious process that makes them, their minds and their society vulnerable to violence. By working with local and international partners, this is where Women and Girls Lead Global hopes to make an impact in India. By engaging boys and girls through film and other forms of media, as well as through connections with mentors and role models, we encourage them to re-think their identities, their relationships, and their responsibilities. Perhaps by introducing a girl like Ruhee to positive role models – both on film and in person – she can indeed become a policewoman – or a teacher. Either way, she will be a heroine.

By Abhishek Srivastava, ITVS Country Engagement Coordinator, India - 'Women and Girls Lead ' Campaign

This story was written following a visit by ITVS' India Engagement Coordinator to the Bhanwar Singh community in Delhi, with Magic Bus. Magic Bus develops local community mentors who empower children from marginalised communities across India to break out of poverty, taking them on a journey from childhood to livelihood. Children (aged 7 and above) from Bhanwar Singh are enrolled in a sports for development curriculum incorporating 40 sessions a year, tackling critical issues such as gender inequality, health, hygiene and education, delivered by trained volunteer community youth leaders. These experiential learning activities are used as a metaphor for change.

ITVS and Magic Bus have partnered to incorporate the 'Women and Girls Lead Global' series of documentaries into the Magic Bus programme. By harnessing the power of media to improve the lives women and girls across India, the collaboration seeks to inspire action and drive change among children, parents and their communities on pressing issues such as child marriage and gender-based violence.

Magic Bus & ITVS putting the power of media to work for women and girls in India

9 Magic Bus youth mentor leaders responsible for training our volunteers in the field were brought together to take part in a new and potentially ground-breaking initiative using the power of media and technology to drive disadvantaged young people to become change-makers.

They were shown a documentary film, the first screening in India by ITVS, about how a group of children challenge dire circumstances in their community, a squatters’ settlement in Kolkata. The idea is to encourage children, girls in particular, to become agents of change, a concept our mentors are familiar with since the Magic Bus sport for development programme is about empowering youth to challenge and break the restraints of tradition and poverty, to rewrite their future.

Through 40 lessons a year delivered to children by youth volunteers living within their own slum communities, the Magic Bus curriculum and its field-tested methodology, focuses on 7 key inter-related domain areas of Health, Education, Right to Play, Gender, Socio-emotional learning, Leadership and Livelihood. 250,000 children from the most marginalised and deprived parts of India are currently enrolled on the programme, with the mission to create long-lasting, sustainable community-wide change taking 1 million children from childhood to livelihood.

Similarly, the film "Revolutionary Optimists" set in the notoriously squalid Rishi Aurobindo Squatters’ Colony in Kolkata, profiles 4 youth living among 9000 slum dwellers, Shikha and Salim, Priyanka and Kajal. Their stories are followed over 5 years to demonstrate the empowerment of children to become educators and advocates for creating sustainable movements in areas such as child labour, sanitation, disease prevention, early marriage and gender. Whilst this award winning, longitudinal documentary is a success story aimed at inspiring monumental change, it doesn’t fail to acknowledge that some of these challenges require even greater levels of determination and patience.

Much like Magic Bus Founder Matthew Spacie, Amlan Ganguly, creator of the NGO profiled in the documentary, Prayasam, is a social entrepreneur and former Ashoka Fellow, who through sheer determination, instinct and passion, single-handedly initiated his programme with the belief that education and child empowerment are crucial keys to lifting entire communities out of poverty. Ganguly’s holistic approach suggests “If you want to start any kind of change, start it with the children… they have the power to become agents of change if their aspiration level is raised to believe that they deserve more. If you change your mind-set, you can change your surroundings. Slowly the children’s consciousness is raised: Why shouldn’t they have access to clean water?  Why should a young girl be forced to choose marriage instead of education and a career?”

Taking the concept of placing youth at the heart of the change-making process seriously, Amlan has gone as far as including children from Rishi Aurobindo on his Board of Directors.

Film trailer
http://vimeo.com/59202365

Map Your World
Youth + Technology = Change

“Revolutionary Optimists” profiles “The Daredevils”, a group of young girls and boys who have made a dramatic improvement in the health of their slum community, a place that could not even be found on a map, using innovative new “Map Your World” technology to track polio vaccination rates and water quality.

This potentially radical innovation enables young people in any part of the world to collect and record interactive data and story maps highlighting critical issues through the use of proven technologies including Google Earth, GPS, Android phones, and an open source tool, Formhub.

By mapping and sharing these powerful stories, young people in any part of the world are empowered to become change agents in their own communities.

About the Women and Girls Lead Global campaign

'Women and Girls Lead Global' is a three-year, nine-country, thirty-film media project to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide, created through a public-private partnership between USAID, the Ford Foundation, and ITVS, and in collaboration with CARE. The campaign plan is to create a 10-episode documentary film series each year about women and girls rising above extraordinary circumstances to seek better lives for themselves, their families, and communities.

Abhishek Srivastava (pictured left), India Engagement Coordinator for ITVS, responsible for leading the implementation of the "Women and Girls Lead" project in India talked about the partnership with Magic Bus, "I am excited to understand that our film, Revolutionary Optimists, resonates very strongly with the Magic Bus youth mentor training team. They also see our film as a strong tool to address various issues, including gender, within their communities".

"ITVS and Women and Girls Lead Global have a series of such films that will seek to address gender-based violence with the prism of redefining gender role stereotypes amongst youth and children".

"It is very interesting and disappointing at the same time that the youth mentor leaders and their communities have little understanding of words like masculinity and patriarchy. It makes our task even more important and nuanced. It is about time we use such narratives to prevent gender-based violence".

Excited to share their film with youth worldwide, filmmakers Maren Grainger-Monsen and Nicole Newnham write “We hope that the story will inspire youth to feel empowered as potential revolutionaries, which is why we have developed the multiplatform tool ‘Map Your World’ in partnership with the children in our film - so that youth everywhere can become agents of change in their communities.”

Magic Bus team feedback

Rajni Rani (pictured right), a female Magic Bus youth mentor trainer who watched the RO documentary screening shared her thoughts, “I’m looking forward to using this film in our monthly community youth leader refresher training to motivate my team, and facilitate a discussion around gender. Showing this film within the communities could also have a positive and inspiring impact since so many of the issues raised are relatable to our own such as early marriage, which I myself had to fight against when I was only 15.”

Debjit Paul, a male Magic Bus youth mentor trainer from South Delhi, shared his views on the discussion around using the documentary in their training programme, “I hadn’t heard or understood the term ‘masculinity’ prior to this session and I think it is an interesting topic in terms of its relationship with gender equity and gender-based violence. With further briefing I would like to incorporate this theme into our training, using the documentary as a tool to facilitate the initial discussion among our youth leaders, and where appropriate within the communities we work in.”

Santosh Gupta, another mentor leader from North Delhi commented on the ‘Map Your World’ tool, “I’m keen to explore the potential use of this new technology in the communities we work in to record and track issues, and to use this data to advocate for making changes.”

Source: http://www.itvs.org/films/revolutionary-optimists/engagement-resources

By Heena Patel, Magic Bus Communications Team

Incredible Stories on Empowerment - Parvati Pujari

"I, Parvati Pujari, am a National Junior Trainer with Magic Bus in Mumbai. My struggle to reach where I am today is a story worth sharing.

I was born on 16^th August 1990 at Bhabha Hospital in Mumbai. This was a first for my mother – her three first children, my elder sisters, had all been born in the shanties she lived in at the time. I was the first one to be born in a hospital.

My father worked on a construction site as a mason, and my mother looked after me and my six siblings. We didn’t have a home to call of our own. Mostly we stayed in shanty housing in the different construction sites where my father would be employed. After my youngest sister was born, we were nine members in the family and it was getting impossible for us to survive on just one income. So my mother also started working for a living. During that time my father was a construction labourer in a huge upcoming complex named Phoenix Mills in Lower Parel. My eldest sister never went to school, she was in charge while my parents worked. 

Parvati with the prizes she has won over the years

My parents did not really think education was important, not when getting the next meal was of topmost priority, so none of my elder sisters went to school. A small NGO named Sunbeam taught me basics like alphabets and numbers in Hindi. We loved the teachers there because unlike at school, these volunteer teachers paid a lot of personal attention to each child and ensured that their concepts were clear. My curiosity and enthusiasm made me continue attending the classes. My younger sisters used to tag along too.

My eldest sister was married off at an early age of 12. If only she had been educated or received proper guidance as I did later in my life, she could have been saved from the clutches of this child marriage.

One day, Sunbeam took us on a three-day excursion organised by Magic Bus. It was a unique experience for me – I had never been on a picnic before. Those three days I still remember as absolute magic playing and learning with friends in a safe environment. It was here that I understood the meaning of bonding, of what it means to have friends.

Later, Sunbeam helped me get an admission in the Lower Parel Municipal School where I completed my 3^rd and 4^th grades. I realised I could be an athlete when I received my first prize money of Rs. 21 in the annual sports day held in the school.

Parvati on the training field

I was 9 years old when I started attending the Magic Bus weekly sessions, on Wednesdays. The sessions at Magic Bus made me relive the magic of the three-day excursion – we were all playing, learning, sharing and caring. Over the years, we learnt complex things like communication skills and teamwork, and also simple things like hand-washing, which keeps germs away.

Because of my skills I was given specialised training. I was just 10 then. I used to travel alone from lower Parel to the park in buses. This training helped me enhance my skills in sports later. By then I was also becoming an avid footballer.

When I was in 9^th grade, my parents refused to let me pursue my studies any further. They felt it was my age to be married. My elder sisters had been married at the age of 12, 13 and 17 respectively. After marriage all three of them settled in different villages. I did not want to end up like them, bound to the home  in a village, so I decided to fight for what I believed in. My father complained of the burden that my education had caused him; he said because of the expenditure on my education, he did not have enough money to feed my younger sisters. After a whole two months of resistance, my parents let me continue my education.

I finished my 10^th grade and my family began to pressurize me for marriage again. My mentors from Magic Bus spoke to my parents and offered me the job with Magic Bus. Magic Bus gave me a fellowship and paid me a stipend of Rs. 2500 per month. I was 15 and I was thrilled beyond belief. I used my income to pay for my college tuition and support my family. I worked from 9 am to 5 pm and enrolled myself in a junior night college where I completed my 12^th grade.

I had done all my schooling in a Hindi medium school so when I joined college, it was a big challenge for me to cope with the English-language classes. Most of my friends would attend coaching classes but I did not have any time as I was working during the day.

I received my board results while I was at a refresher training camp with Magic Bus. I had managed to score a 59% in my Boards and I was satisfied. My parents were proud of me. By the time I came back from the camp, the admissions in all the colleges were closed. I decided to test my luck and visited Siddharth College where I got admission on the basis of sports quota for a Bachelors degree in Commerce. During the same time, I got selected as a National level Rugby player.

Interview with India's famous talk show host and acclaimed Director, Karan Johar, at a fundraising dinner organised for Magic Bus.

Also, I started playing football for various clubs like Magic Bus Football Club and Body Line Club. I stood first in an essay writing competition held by Laadli, an organisation that worked for the welfare of women. 

While I was in my second year of under graduation, I was awarded with the “Active Woman in Sports” award with prize money of Rs. 15,000 from my college. Magic Bus promoted me to the Training and Accreditation team. In my 3 years of college, not once has the championship cup gone to any other college in inter-collegiate sports tournaments.

It was during this time that I made my first trip abroad to London with Matthew Sir, the founder of Magic Bus for a fundraising program. It was a memorable experience, telling everyone how I had missed the life of a poverty-stricken woman by a whisper, and how their support can make sure girls like me don’t grow up to be uneducated mothers. I also got the opportunity to attend the Julie Foudy Leadership program for football training during the same time.

Right now, I am awaiting my final semester results. I am considering doing a sports management degree . My parents are still coaxing me to get married while I work relentlessly to fulfill my goals. For me, accepting responsibility for my life, knowing it is only me who can get me where I want to be has helped overcome my challenges."

Celebrating The Girl Child!

Magic Bus is thrilled to have participated in the International Girl child day celebrations organized by the Asian Girl Campaign, as their strategic partner for India.

As part of the celebrations, Magic Bus held events and activities in several districts. This was marked by football and cricket tournaments, an elocution competition, an essay writing competition, a drawing competition and two rallies. Each competition was theme based - emphasizing the discrimination girls face and the need to treat them as equals. Two skits were also created based on the need for equality between boys and girls, in terms of the opportunities for them in school and in sports. These events succinctly captured the principles behind Magic Bus' mentoring program, fitting with the Asian Girl Campaign theme.The activities that were organized received wide-ranging participation and were well received.

Read more on how the International Girl child Day was celebrated in different countries at http://girlday.goh.org.tw/eg3-1.asp