Our staff come top of the class
Throughout October and December Magic Bus sent 9 members of its staff to Swami Vivekanand Mountaineering Institute in Mount Abu for their Basic Rock Climbing Qualifications. Each member of the Magic Bus team topped his or her class when examined at the end of the course! Earlier in the year members of the sports team had received qualifications in coaching skills so the team are all growing in their capacity and sharing that with our children.

This was possible because of two of our volunteers Sohan Shah and Uday Bhobe generously sponsored the course fees. These not only build their capacity in skills, but created for them "moments that took there breathe away". They went in groups of 3 for three simultaneous batches and in participants of more than 70 in each batch.

Thank you to Uday and Sohan "You reach out to the children in many different ways"

Explorers Sports day is supported by JP Morgan staff

Sports Day held on 26th November'05 was a huge highlight for the 217 Explorer children who participated in the annual event where they faced each other in Dodge Ball matches. To support this event there were 27 volunteers from J.P. Morgan along with the entire Magic Bus Team. The event was held at the Sports Authority of India and not only were the children exposed to a competitive sport but they danced and sang and all went on stage to receive their Magic Bus medal. The volunteers were a fantastic bunch and at the end there was a real sense that we had recruited some great new ongoing volunteers!

The children enjoyed this event immensely and one occasion, one of our young boys was heard saying, "Didi yaha hume khelte hue bahut maza aaya aur jab hum log 'ghar vapas gaye toh gali main hamse bahut logon ne haat milaya"…depicting their immense pride in playing with us!!--('Didi, we have great fun playing here and when we back to our homes inside the community, lot of people in our lanes shook hands with us.')


Challenger Two Sports Day 7th December
The annual sports day was a platform for all the Challenger Two groups to come together and compete with each other in a healthy competitive environment. The children interacted and made friends with the children from Magic Bus groups they had not met before. During sessions the week after the sports day the children were missing their new friends and shared memories excitedly about the event.

Training volunteers to energize children at a Balmohatsav!

Balmohatsav is an event that happens every two years and is organized by children for children with the help of the Winmay Trust! The event organization process and the activities over the 5 days are used to empower children to take decisions and build confidence. Five Magic Bus staff was requested to run a training programme for 15 volunteers into how to use song and games to enthuse and organize children at such a large event. A range of activities from local sports (kabbadhi/khokho) arts and crafts (rangoli and mehendi) and developmental discussions such as on tobacco use were conducted with the sporting activities facilitated by our inspiring staff.

More capacity building support!!!

Reshma , our assistant mentor was sponsored by Anup Sharma to build her capacity in sports education with P.ed degree from Mumbai University. Reshma completes her course in May and will then lead the Pilot Program for BMC Schools starting year 2006.

Thank you Mr. Anup Sharma!!