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.

10 things that you didn't know about sports

Sport is exceptionally transformative. No other activity enjoys the kind of attention and excitement that sport does. It helps one overcome barriers of culture, class, gender, and unites communities. How many of these fun facts about sports did you know of?

Parvati Pujari, our Youth Leader is a role-model for many girls in our programme

1. It disproves the belief ‘Girls are weaker than boys’.

2. Sport helps stay active and healthy.

3. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, an old adage that holds true even now. A child who steps out to play concentrates better and performs well in academics.

4. Sport develops a good appetite. Athletes or aspiring sportspersons naturally demand a higher nutrition than the others.

As Jordan famously says, failures are stepping stones to success

5. Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketballers gives credit to his failures “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed”.

6. A child who has lost a game knows the importance of hard work and the sweetness of its rewards.

7. Sport helps build endurance and promotes emotional and mental stability. An underprivileged child who plays a sport pumps energy to any situation and brings out the best among peers too.

8. Sport gives everyone a second chance.

9. Sport teaches one to overcome inhibitions.

10.If you thought team-work, cooperation, caring, and friendship are slowly dying away, all you’ve to do is to get down in the field and play a game.

With a mentor, sport can be much more than just fun

Magic Bus’ sport-for-development curriculum is premised on the transforming power of sports. Each underprivileged child on our programme experiences the remarkable potential of sports by participating and learning through it. You can be a part of it too. Here’s how.

Magic Bus' Deepika Rana gets Gold International Award for Young People

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller

Meet Deepika, our International Award for Young People (IAYP) Gold Awardee for her selfless services to society.

Deepika receiving the award

Deepika is 23 years old and lives with her 3 elder brothers and parents in New Delhi, India. She has graduated from Delhi University Khasa College and is working as an Assistant Manager for the State's Training programme at Magic Bus India Foundation. Her role involves assisting with the training of Magic Bus' field staff who deliver its programme in the field. Prior to this recent promotion Deepika was working as a Magic Bus Training and Monitoring Officer.

Deepika has had an interest in sport from her early childhood and this interest grew into sports excellence in the game of hockey. She has been participating in National School Games Championships and State University Championships; and has won trophies and medals through her representations.

The turning point was on 26th Jan 2008 when she was attending her college in the city of Delhi. She had just been asked for an interview by a local newspaper (NDP) for an article which was titled 'UPCOMING CHAMPIONS IN DELHI UNIVERSITY, CHAK DE GENERATION'. The article highlighted the achievements of Deepika and her college hockey team mates and recognised them for their 'wonderful achievements', and as 'emerging stars of the campus'. She remembered herself thinking that what had happened to her was the best thing in the world!

The love for the game of hockey was in her. She was attracted to hockey for its good reputation - as a clean and healthy sport, and if played in the right spirit with the right guidance then it could contribute to positive social integration.

Her dream was to develop hockey in India, especially at the grassroots level so that the country could be represented on a global level by both men and women. To achieve this, she feels that the sport needs appropriate exposure; a new coaching philosophy; more playing spaces and job opportunities for hockey players in India. She says “The game of hockey should always be like the shoes of children. Perfectly tailored and adapted to them."

More about The International Award for Young People 

The IAYP is divided into 5 sections:

SERVICE:
• To learn how to provide a useful service to others

Deepika has worked extensively with underprivileged children and youth in India through Magic Bus, and helped them to progress with their education and gain employment. She has also referred youth she has worked with for jobs and vocational courses. She is a strong role model for her younger peers.

ADVENTUROUS JOURNEY:
• To encourage a spirit of adventure and discovery

Deepika has participated in adventure activities such as climbing, rappelling, trekking in a remote part of Mahrashtra.

SKILLS:
• To improve on your skills: either a new skill or an existing one

Deepika has developed basic IT skills.

PHYSICAL RECREATION:
• To encourage and participate in physical recreation and improvement of performance

Deepika has played hockey at a competitive level; she has competed in the State Women's Championship, represented Delhi University at Inter-University tournaments, taken part in the Delhi Soft Hockey Championship and has participated in the National Games three times at Secondary School level.

RESIDENTIAL PROJECT:
• To broaden one's experience through interaction with others in an unfamiliar residential setting with unfamiliar people through a purposeful activity.

Deepika has imparted sports for development and youth development training to peer educators at Plan India in Jharkhand.

To qualify for a IAYP Award one needs to complete the requirements of 4 different sections which are measured in terms of Progress, Proficiency and Standard of effort. Participants also have to maintain an IAYP record book in which they have to highlight all their work in each section, qualified by an authorised signatory. For the Gold category, 18 months worth of entries are required for all sections. Deepika completed all five sections and won the IAYP Gold Award.

Our heartiest congratulations to Deepika and wish her the best for the future!

Magic Bus Trainers at EMPOWER 2014 Youth Conference

EMPOWER 2014 is ROTA’s (Reach Out To Asia) sixth annual 3-day Youth Conference on Leadership, Service Learning and Global Citizenship, Qatar. In the last 5 five years, EMPOWER has gained a reputation as the first youth-led conference in Qatar. It focuses on equipping young people with skills to take active roles in building their communities, as well as and having a voice on global issues. [1]

Our CEO Pratik Kumar (second from right) participating in one of the panel discussions

The main aim of the event was to raise awareness and build knowledge and capacity to enable young people to take leadership roles in addressing local and international developmental issues of concern to them.The three-day event included a combination of seminar, panel discussion, power speeches, keynote speeches, small group workshops, off-site visits, and a youth panel. The major theme was Sports for Youth Empowerment. [2]

Two of our Magic Bus Trainers, Aman Sharma and Subhomoy Bhaduri, took part in the conference. Their role involves recruiting and training youth to deliver the Magic Bus programme in the field to children from some of the poorest communities across India. At Empower 2014, Aman and Subhomoy conducted a workshop on leadership, exploring the advantages and disadvantages of various leadership styles through an experiential activity, encouraging young people who took part to develop their own styles.

They demonstrated how sport can be used to address “socio-emotional learning”. A group activity began after some ice-breakers. The group played “touchdown handball”, a game where players pass the ball among their team with the overall objective of touching the ball down on their opponent’s line. [3.1]

The game was played with a difference as there was no referee during the game, the players were responsible for keeping score, penalising unfair play and resolving disputes. The reason for this gets to the heart of the socio-emotional learning curriculum by Magic Bus. Playing sport can lead to strong emotions, both positive and negative. Without the presence of a referee, participants need to confront those emotions, find a resolution and manage the way they behave. [3.2]

Emotions experienced on the sport field can mirror those felt in everyday life. People experience conflict or anger at school, at work and at home: by learning to deal with these situations and manage emotions in a controlled environment, difficult day-to-day situations can become less challenging. [3.3]

The relationship between sport and everyday life.

The final activity brought the group together to discuss the game and situations that arose. Participants highlighted a range of situations which caused conflict or anger, and skills, such as teamwork, communication and negotiation, which were needed to navigate these potential flash points. A central component the of Magic Bus programmes requires the facilitator to relate the activity to participants' daily lives, highlighting the need to manage emotions and negotiate – both on and off the sports field. [3.4]

Photo 1: Review on different Leadership Styles                          Photo 2: Ice-breakers before the group activity

Photo 3: Group activity in progress                                               Photo 4: Post-activity discussion

"There was great participation from different countries. This exposure gave us an understanding of the cultural aspect to sport, though there were leaders from various organisations present, one would notice that some would not get involved with the opposite gender whilst taking part in a group activity," shared Aman.

Subhomoy added that the participation at this conference was interesting to note. Although there was a language barrier, the enthusiasm shown by participants to learn and be involved in all the activities and discussions were evident.

They said they found, amidst the gathering of great young minds, a network of skills and talents, and felt encouraged by the spirit of the EMPOWER initiative.

Article source:
[1] ROTA website: http://bit.ly/empower2014conference
[2], [3] Sportanddev.org: bit.ly/socioemotionallearninghttp://

http:/bit.ly/empower2014conference