Summer workshop for children from Delhi resettlement communities

168 children from four resettlement communities we work with in Delhi, enjoyed a visit to the National Museum this summer, where they engaged in various arts and crafts activities. 

Aimed at opening children's eyes to their rich cultural heritage, and motivating them to conserve some of the dying arts & crafts in India, the day's activities also developed logical thinking, problem solving & brain storming skills, as well as their creativity.

Activities also focused on developing self-confidence and a positive attitude. The experience also helped to build trust and rapport between our staff, mentors, children and the community.

Thank you to the National Museum for hosting our children and giving them such a wonderful day's experience. http://www.nationalmuseumindia.gov.in/

www.magicbus.org

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

A consultation on Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health with the Government of Bihar and Development Partners

Magic Bus organised a two-day State Consultation on Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health with the Government of Bihar and other NGOs at Patna in Bihar on the 6th and 7th of June, 2013. The Consultation was part of a planning grant provided by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to Magic Bus.

“We started this as an earnest attempt to initiate an innovative programme focusing on adolescents and youth of Bihar using the unique Sport for Development approach,” said Yuveka Singh, who manages the programme from Magic Bus. “Over the two days, however, we saw this transform into a rich dialogue among representatives from the Government including the State Health Department, Women and Child Development, international donor agencies like UNFPA and UNICEF, and a range of NGOs who have been working for years in Bihar on the topic.”

The main objectives of the Consultation included:

• Laying the foundation for building new partnerships to meet the needs of adolescents in Bihar and create a better tomorrow
• Becoming aware of the Government of Bihar perspective on adolescent health and development- Policies, Programmes, Schemes and Vision for the future
• Reviewing the situation of adolescents in Bihar – their issues, needs and concerns; their reproductive and sexual health needs and the need to have adolescent-friendly policies, programmes and strategies
• Sharing experiences of NGOs working with adolescents in Bihar
• Creating a shared vision for working with adolescents in Bihar
• Outlining possible programme strategies to collaboratively work towards developing an adolescent-friendly programme model that builds the self-confidence, knowledge and skills of young people and empowers them to begin to shape their own sexual and reproductive health outcomes and well-being

Six adolescents spoke about themselves to set the tone for planners and project implementers to better understand what’s going on in the lives of those for whom such work is planned.

The highlight of the consultation however, came in the form of the clear voices of 12 adolescents from significant intervention programmes in Bihar. As individuals and as a collective representation of the voice of 10-to-19-year-olds, they expressed their hopes, aspirations and their challenges, exhibiting a combination of insight and candour that was a tremendous motivation for the other attendees.

This session was called Hear Our Voice and was moderated by Binod Bihari Singh, Project Leader, PRACHAR, Prachar, Pathfinder International. Main observations of this session were:

• Adolescents are interested and capable of being peer leaders and change makers on a range of issues related to the lives of those between the ages of 10 and 19
• They are able to rationalize and have a thoughtful discussion on complex issues pertaining to reproductive and sexual health, when they are mentored and invested in systematically
• They are willing to make changes in the ways they think about sex, marriage and gender relationships, and are able to explain the journey that enabled this change
• They can be reflective and are able to articulate their feelings. Sometimes they need help to understand why they feel a certain way
• While technically, there is some amount of education regarding the body and emotional issues during adolescence in school, little of this is actually explained or discussed in the classroom. So sources of information remain peers and youth, who do not always have access to complete information
• They all wanted to learn more, and expressed an enthusiasm to do so through play, rather than through classroom learning

Chaired by Dr Veena Pandey, Ex State Health Education Officer, Government of Bihar, the next session aimed to understand the Government of Bihar’s perspective in view of policies, programmes and schemes for adolescents as well as its vision.

“At Daily Yuva Clinic at Patna Medical College youth were counselled and also provided with medical advice when required. However, there is a lack of trained counselors for Yuva clinics and there exists a clear need for the same,” said Dr Devendra Prasad, Assistant Clinical Pathologist, Patna Medical College and Hospital. Dr Prasad also highlighted the importance of counselors in medical institutions, as often this gap has to be filled in by the doctor.

Dr MP Sharma, State Programme Officer, State Health Society Bihar shed light upon the four components of the Adolescent Health Programme in accordance with the Government of India provisions. “Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health, Rashtriya Bal Suraksha Yojna, Menstrual Hygiene and Weekly IFA supplementation form the four components of the programme,” he said. He emphasised on the substantial role that Magic Bus’ Sport for Development model could play in identifying and training peer educators for Yuva Clinic, a potential innovation in ARSH programme. “24% of the total population in Bihar comprises of adolescents in the age group of 10-19 years. Adolescent Department of Health and Family Welfare has taken the initiative to improve the health of adolescents in Bihar,” Dr Sharma explained.

Dr MP Sharma deliberates on the State Health Society’s initiative in the field of ARSH in Bihar

“There is an immediate need to create many more platforms where the adolescents can discuss their issues and problems freely,” pointed out Radheshyam Ram, Manager, Capacity Building, WDC, while sharing his experience on adolescents programme.

The next session sought to share experiences from the field from the NGOs’ Perspective. Models, best practices, lessons learned and impact of working with adolescents in Bihar were discussed and deliberated upon.

Malay Kumar, Programme Manager, BVHA apprised the participants of his organisation’s efforts towards spreading knowledge around ARSH and shared the status of health indicators of Bihar. “Early marriage is followed by early pregnancy. Most girls were married by the age of 16-18 years, and one of them even had a son. Married adolescents are less aware about contraceptives and also have family pressure to conceive early,” said Mr Kumar.

“The main characteristic of the PRACHAR project was community approach. To bring about a significant change in the life of the adolescents everything cannot suit everybody. What needs to be checked is that we promote age-appropriate, need-based and life-stage specific messages and skills,” said Binod Bihari Singh, Project Leader, PRACHAR, Pathfinder International.

M K Verma, Director, IDF shared his experiences of working on ARSH in 2001. He emphasized on the approach: “A focused approach is needed to work with the adolescents. We need to segregate the groups for specific messages. In the age group 10-19 years there is a segment of married and unmarried adolescents, school going and non-school going, having one child and no child etc. Their curriculum should address the needs of all these various groups,” he said.

Pravind Kumar Praveen shares Oxfam India’s approach towards ARSH

Arpan, State Coordinator, CEDPA said, “As part of the Tarang project which operates in 9 districts and 809 secondary and senior-secondary schools and is incorporated in class IX and X curriculum, teachers are trained and the parents, media and the civil society are sensitized. Consequently, an Adolescent Education Cell has been established at SCERT with a Nodal officer in charge.”

Pravind Kumar Praveen, Regional Manager, Oxfam India said, “Even if we want to do the 100% delivery in the institution it’s not possible as the state is not sufficiently equipped to handle the same. There are some societies which are excluded from the mainstream in every aspect. In these situations, a more holistic approach needs to be followed aiming to uplift these types of communities.”

The session was followed by some real-life stories by young people from the Magic Bus programme.

Rameshwar, a 17-year old local youth volunteer at Magic Bus shares his experience

Disha from Magic Bus shares her story of change 

Rameshwar, a 17-year old local youth volunteer at Magic Bus from North Delhi said while sharing his experience, “My outlook towards women and specially girls has changed significantly since I joined Magic Bus over three years ago.” Disha, also a 17-year old local youth volunteer shared that she has gained immense confidence in the last two years, since she joined Magic Bus. “My awareness about sexual health helped me to prevent one of my friends from getting married at the age of 17,” said Disha.

While discussing the global perspective on working with young people, Rupali Tripathi, Consultant, UNFPA presented the UNFPA Global Adolescent and Youth strategy, which includes:

• Evidence-Based Advocacy, Policy Development and Accountability
• SRH Services
• Comprehensive Sexuality Education
• Adolescent and Youth Leadership
•  Innovative Initiatives to Increase Inclusion

She also shared some of the strategies for implementation, which include establishing management structure for programme implementation and supportive supervision; capacity building of service providers to deliver quality adolescent friendly health services; awareness creation and generation of demand for services; making available quality and accessible adolescent reproductive and sexual health services; and establishing efficient monitoring system.

Day 2: Participants penning down their vision for an ARSH programme in Bihar  

“Peer educators, ASHA orientation, incentive for ASHA, ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife) and Adolescent Health Day are some of the innovations in the context of Bihar,” Rupali said. The concluding day comprised of a workshop with participants divided into groups to discuss:

• Areas in which interventions for adolescents exist in Bihar and possibilities for further work
• Their vision for an adolescent programme in Bihar
• Action plan for the same

The day began with a warm up game and a guided visualization exercise that enabled participants to tap into their own memories and experience as adolescents. This helped ensure that the perspective for the day was firmly through the lens of adolescence, rather than adulthood.

This was evident in the kind of visioning statements that the groups came up with. Each statement included the sentiment of ‘empowerment’; each one saw the adolescent as part of a larger context that must be engaged with in order to ensure change.

Each organisation then participated in a quick activity, putting colour coded bindis/stickers on a huge map of Bihar – thus enabling the group to know where interventions currently exist, and where they’ve existed in the past as well. This exercise revealed clearly that there are some districts which are heavily invested in (Patna, Vaishali, Gaya, Nawada, Jahanabad) while in others there is negligible NGO intervention (Rohtas, Saran, Bhabua, Shivhar).

Dr Arundhati Misra facilitated the session on adopting an adolescent-friendly lens 

Magic Bus received an encouraging stream of positive feedback from participants on the Sport for Development approach. Many found the workshop participatory and freeing, enabling all to delve upon the topic. The strong adolescent-centered focus was appreciated, as was the extent to which Magic Bus heard and encouraged the sharing of on-ground experiences and challenges.

Akash Verma – Magic Bus’ Youngest Volunteer

Akash with the children he teaches tennis

It’s Sunday morning. I’m in Laxmi Narayan Park in the posh Vasant Vihar area of Delhi. A young boy walks into the park carrying two bulky bags on each side. An excited group of children, aged between 8 and 12, come huddling in from a nearby Bhanvar Singh Camp, one of the many slum settlements in the city. The young boy hands over the bags to them, upon which they reach a spot and swiftly assemble two nets, grab the tennis rackets and eagerly wait for their trainer Akash to teach them a new tennis skill.

The Bhanvar Singh Camp community largely comprises of migrants from Rajasthan and the remoter parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. They live in small huts with roofs made up of cemented slabs and plastic sheets. Men are mostly engaged in daily waged labour work or are cooks, sweepers, drivers and helpers.

Akash’s mother, Monica Logani got in touch with Magic Bus in September 2012 when she was looking forward to getting her three children, 13-year old Akash, 11-year old Priya and 8-year old Shailen into Magic Bus’ volunteer programme.  “I heard about Magic Bus from my sister who was there in New York for a Fundraiser and it’s always been at the back of my mind. She told me how Magic Bus works with marginalised children and youth at such a grassroots level teaching them important lessons through sport. When we shifted here, my son Akash was moved by the poverty he saw around him. He told me that he wanted to help less-privileged children. This innocent desire of my young son prompted me to get in touch with Magic Bus. Soon after, Akash became a volunteer at Magic Bus and started out with weekly tennis training for the Magic Bus children,” shared Monica enthusiastically.

Akash teaching one of the young boys how to get a good grip of the racket

Akash Verma has been an avid tennis player from a very young age. He has been trained by one of the top tennis coaches on the East Coast of the U.S. and has frequently been cited for his solid fundamental strokes and footwork. He has competed in United States Tennis Association Tournaments for the last few years. In 2012 he was ranked #2 in the State of New Jersey for boys aged 12 and under. Last year, he stood 2^nd in the U.S. National Grass Tennis Tournament.

Since moving to New Delhi last summer, Akash was admitted into the very prestigious Tennis Academy at Siri Fort, which prepares young tennis stars for the Davis Cup.  From there he came up with an idea and told his mother, “Hey Mom, what if I was able to take a bunch of kids and teach them how to play tennis, teach them a new sport and how great sports is and the important lessons you learn through sports like hard work, team spirit and being able to relate to each other?”

Tennis training in progress

“It’s been a beautiful and adventurous journey for me since then - meeting these enthusiastic children who have so much potential. I have had a great experience and have learned many things. Before I came here I didn’t know the face of poverty and what these children looked like and I thought that they would be very different. But the children are so enthusiastic. They are very kind, they always want to help one another. You can tell that great values have been instilled in them like they always let the girls go first,” shared Akash quite excitedly.

Akash continued, “most of them have great athletic ability, probably better than some kids in the U.S. being trained by some of the greatest tennis players.”

The raw athletic ability and the enthusiasm being displayed by the children coming forward to learn the new sport are immense and surprising. “It’s very overwhelming to me and it makes me also so excited to come here every Sunday and spend time with them, to get to know them better. I am aware that I am having an impact on these children but in return I am being impacted by them too. They are helping me to believe that I am able to do something good, and in turn I can see that these kids just need somebody to believe in them and they can soar the skies,” shared Akash.

By Harshita Arvind, Communications, Magic Bus

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."

Buy One - Give Light Program

Help MPOWERD tackle Energy Poverty and purchase a Luci light for someone in need through Magic Bus.

MPOWERD is committed to giving light to the people who need it most. They do this by encouraging customers to purchase a Luci light at a discounted rate and choose an NGO Partner to distribute it to communities in need. Magic Bus is one of these NGO Partners.

The lanterns, named Luci, provide a unique renewable-energy solution for the nearly 1.6 billion people living in energy poverty around the world. For those living off the grid, everyday challenges can have devastating consequences. Women spend precious time collecting fuel when they could be earning an income. Children cannot study inside after the sun goes down, and indoor air pollution from burning fuel substantially increases the incidence of cancer, tuberculosis and pneumonia.

Luci can provide these families with safe, clean and reliable lighting for up to 12 hours after just 5-6 hours of charging in the sun.



Making a difference to communities in India that suffer from energy poverty is easy.
Visit http://bit.ly/giveluci
1. Click on Add to Cart and select the number of lanterns
2. Choose Magic Bus from the drop down menu
3. Complete your purchase and Give Light!

“Energy is the thread that connects economic growth, increased social equity and sustainability. But, widespread energy poverty still condemns billions to darkness, ill health and missed opportunities for education and prosperity.” – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Back to school with Farhan Sharif
Mysore, Karnataka

Farhan Sharif at home in

 Haleem Nagar, Mysore

It was over 15 months ago that Magic Bus mentor Shahbaz Pasha, in his constant endeavour to reach out to more and more children in the Haleem Nagar community, approached Farhan and his family to enrol him into the Magic Bus programme. Farhan’s parents readily agreed. “Pasha is a local boy and when he said why don’t you send Farhan for this new initiative, we thought it was a great idea. We knew Pasha beforehand and trusted our son with him,” said Tajuiinisa Sharif, Farhan’s mother.

However, Farhan’s participation soon met with the realities of his life situation. Around November 2012, just a few weeks into the Magic Bus sessions, Farhan’s school closed for vacations. This seemed a good opportunity to make some pocket money as well as add to the family income, and so, for a sum of Rs.50 per month, he started assisting at a Mobile Repair shop at the local market. By the time his school re-opened, Farhan found the extra money was needed at home – he couldn’t very well stop bringing in that extra bit. He decided to drop out of school.

When his mentor Pasha found out about this, he organised a few special sessions in the field where everyone discussed the importance of education in their lives. Magic Bus community volunteers shared the day-to-day problems they faced in their work life due to a lack of proper education. “A Magic Bus Community Youth Leader (CYL) revealed that he encountered extremely difficult situations at work as he could not even write his own signature. He had to depend on others and hence, would consume more time than necessary to complete his tasks, always lagging behind,” said Pasha.

Over a period of a couple of months, Farhan not only evolved into a sincere, well-behaved boy himself, but he now also tries his best to help his friends with their studies. He’s now a favourite amongst them.

Farhan with his friends and Magic Bus Mentor Pasha

Farhan with his mother

His parents, too, see visible and considerable improvement in their son. “He never used to listen to me. He would run away if I called after him. But now, after being with Magic Bus, he has become responsible and obedient. He helps me with daily household chores such as cleaning, buying groceries, etc. In his spare time, he also helps his father in his daily work. I’m very happy with this transformation and have no complaints,” Tajuiinisa shared with a smile. “There’s visible improvement in him. He has a better sense of cleanliness and hygiene now, much more than earlier,” added Tajuiinisa.

Farhan inspired his older sister Ruksana to join the Magic Bus programme as well and continues to share what he is learning with other children.

If you would like to help children like Farhan, open up their chances in life, please visit http://www.magicbus.org/donate

By Ritika Sen, Communications, Magic Bus