Sports and games make learning fun!

FAST FACTS
Name: Magic Bus
Domain: Character-building and Personality Development through sports
Date of incorporation: 1999
No of beneficiaries: 2 lakh children and 6000 young adults
Infrastructure: Headquartered in Mumbai, it has offices in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha. Magic Bus also has offices in the UK, USA and Germany.

Raju, dressed in long T-shirt and track pants, keeps staring at the door. When he hears his friends running towards the playground nearby, he rushes to join them. Even though kids at Lalithabag would play, it was never this much of fun in the old Hyderabad city. Magic Bus has infused a new lease of life and today is Raju’s session day. Along with 20 friends from his slum, he starts his session by singing songs and performing small activities, followed by a game of football. Over the last  15 minutes, he and his group mates reflect upon what they did in the activity and  draw parallels to real life, under the supervision of the coach.

Making learning fun
Magic Bus is a mentorship programme that uses non-classroom activities and experiential learning to help children from under-served communities in India. Mentors teach life skills that develop a young person’s emotional, physical, social and spiritual well-being. It roared to life in 1999, a  brainchild of Matthew Spacie, former COO of an international travel firm. While playing rugby in a local ground, he came into contact with some children from the streets and started teaching them how to play. Over time, he saw that playing taught them discipline, to respect others, gave them a sense of purpose. “In the initial stages, the biggest hurdle was to convince parents and opinion leaders of marginalised communities that we could educate their children through sport,” says Pratik Kumar, COO, Magic Bus. But they managed well. By 2014, Magic Bus plans to reach one million children across some of India’s poorest villages and neighbourhoods.

Typically, a weekly Magic Bus session is conducted by a Community Sports Coach (CSC), which lasts for 90-120 minutes. Students, specially girls, come with inhibitions and are unable to express themselves. Magic Bus’ platform gives them the space to think and express themselves  and form their own boundaries. They are encouraged to become peer leaders, and facilitate involvement of new participants. Conducted every week, the programmes last 5-9 years in each community ensuring development support over a long period.

Getting set for a match

Breaking shackles
“It’s phenomenal to see girls from some of the most backward districts and communities of the country playing games with boys of their age,” adds Kumar. Komal from the old city of Hyderabad, where both her parents work as a daily wage labourers to sustain their family, underwent a seven-day Community Sports Coach (CSC) training. Today she takes sports for development sessions with 27 kids every Sunday. In addition to household chores, now she has something interesting to do. Similarly, in the small tribal district of Chandrapur in Maharashtra, there has been a personality transformation  in Vaishali, a CSC. After completion of her high school education three years ago, she was totally involved in supplementing the family’s income as a wage labourer. The association with Magic Bus has transformed Vaishali, 21, from a quiet and subdued girl to a bubbly, confident leader. “In areas where women are clad in a burqa, Magic Bus has managed to involve them in various sports for some time. Not just that, they are cheered and supported by their husbands, when they play these games. Isn’t it wonderful!” exclaims Kumar.

Volunteers are the lifeline
Magic Bus operates through a strong network of volunteers, who do not earn any money for their roles but feel satisfied. Javed, a volunteer for three years, works full-time as a Physical Education Teacher in a school. He devotes his weekends to training kids in slums of East Delhi. “As a PE teacher, I have to be in touch with sports and am reasonably fit. It gives me immense pleasure to teach various sports and related values to those kids on weekends. The enormous love and respect they shower on me is my reward,” he says. Through Connect, Magic Bus provides CSCs leadership skills, linking them to  job opportunities, training courses, skill-building forums and networks that allow them to expand career options. By 2015, Magic Bus plans to involve around 3000 volunteers!

Hop a little, skip a little!

Magic Bus operations were confined to Mumbai in the initial nine years. They had 20,000 children and youth with them. Then it decided to make inroads into other parts of the country, and the National Programme was born in 2008. Within two years, they entered Andhra Pradesh & Delhi NCR, and now operate in seven States. Alliances and partnerships have been struck with various State governments, Central government as well as international organisations like UNICEF.

Money matters
Magic Bus gets a major portion of their funding from corporates in and outside India. “We offer sports as a medium to learn softer skills like character building, whose progress is difficult to measure as opposed to various other NGOs. As a result, there is always a struggle to gain consistent amount of funding,” adds Kumar. Nevertheless, they have managed to get major funds from English Premier League, Australian Sports Commission, Laureus Sport for Good Foundation (joint venture between Vodafone and Mercedes Benz), Nike & Barclays Spaces for Sports as well as other big names.

Ray of hope
Thanks to Magic Bus, poor children get a chance to open up and play with their friends. For thousands of children, Magic Bus is a vehicle that translates their dreams into reality.