Magic Bus Programme

This semester saw lot of new learning experiences for our children

July to December 2005

Flight of Fantasy for our children!! -14th Nov
Jet Airways celebrated Children's Day by giving the opportunity to Magic Bus for 'A walk on the clouds' where some of our children got a chance to see the airport from inside, watch the planes on the runway, listen to what flying is about and then experience the dream of their life by going in the airplane and flying over the city! This is one experience that left each & every child speechless as they were overwhelmed during this journey and it left us speechless as we were overwhelmed by children's expressions. This year Magic Bus decided to give this chance to children who are not our regular enrolled kids. 26 children (ages 8 to 12) from A D Bawla girl's orphanage & Boys Observation Home from Ulhasnagar. Jet's other surprise was Salman Khan joining them briefly to mingle with them, before they took off. THANK YOU JET AIRWAYS and GE!!

Clean Mumbai …That's our motto!!

Celebrating the International Coastal Clean-up Day
On Saturday 25th September'05, 138 Magic Bus children with their mentors took to Mumbai beaches to help with the post-flood clean-up campaign. Children were divided into groups and allocated a section of beach to clean up. Taking the lead the children organised their own groups and mentors were able to deliver interesting thoughts on the environment whilst the children enjoyed the space and time to interact and play. The event was organised by the Bombay Coast Guards to mark International Coastal Clean-Up Day. The project aimed to collect over 30 tonnes of plastic bags and rubbish from the beaches!'Outdoors is our classroom' and our children play and learn all the while from the beaches and the sea and so it was only natural for us to join hands with thousands of community people to clean the coast. St. Catherine and Navjeet children along with Magic Bus team & volunteers took charge of areas Dadar and Juhu beaches. There were some thought provoking dialogues by the kids when asked why do we need to do this and they retorted…"kyon ki hum ne hi to ganda kiya hai …, hum itna ganda karte hi kyon hai ki itne logo ko saf karma pare??" (It is because we have dirtied these places, then why should somebody else take the responsibility of cleaning it…??).

Magic in the Air…!!
On 14th November, Children's Day, Radio City, 91 FM organized a fun filled day at Inorbit Mall where children were shown an animation film 'Hanuman', had a story telling session at Crosswords and ended the day with having a blast at 'Time Zone' broadcasting 'live' on radio city throughout the day with RJ 'Lavanya'.

For 'Hamara Club' children, who reside on the streets of western Mumbai, this day gave them recreational experiences that they would only have dreamt of! They were awed by the escalator the most and called it 'chalti hui seedhi',(moving staircase..) and there initial fear soon turned into excitement each time we had to go up & down.

The Time Zone took them by total fascination and they learnt within minutes the tricks of each game. Coupons were handed over to the children, which each and every child kept safely and responsibly returned in the end. While watching the movie children were given chocolates and chips but we did not see any litter in the hall after we left! Magic Bus rules are certainly working!! Exposure to such public places helps the mentoring team to understand how their curricula is helping kids to develop .

Update on our Challenger group

Challenger Two children learn survival techniques in the outdoors!

Survival training was introduced to the camps this season. The children had to find a route through a map, they had to build a temporary shelter in the woods, the children had to cook their own food with limited provisions. The camp enhanced their team bonding and cognitive skills. All the above activities were tasks that the children had to figure how to complete in a limited time.

Bombay Port Trust Children scale new heights!

The Community Challenger Programme children went on their first adventure trip to Karnala and the Sports Authority of India. The adventure daytrip was a welcome change to these children who seldom go out of their community. Exposure to rock climbing and rappelling was a new experience for these 10-14 year olds who have been on our programme now for a year.

Christmas Treat for us!!

Cadbury and Times Foundation became Santa Claus as 885 chocolate boxes with 6 different bars in each box were sent over for Christmas. Magic Bus distributed the boxes to the children from our Direct Intervention program in the communities of Dharavi and Port Trust and few of our Explorers. The delight on our children's faces was the only solace...!!