Contributed by: Veena Singh
Dated: 10th Mar, 2016

“Good experiences make us happy and teach us a few lessons, but bad experiences teach us a lot more…” Angana(one of my team mates) words still hover my mind as I recall our event #Menstruation matters Red Spot campaign held at the Ganj Carnival.

I could never have imagined myself standing at Hazratganj and exchanging people’s (uncle, aunty, didi, bhaiya, couples, school/college going boys and girls) thoughts and making them write on “how they think menstruation matters to them”. Though there are a plethora of events but this is one such incident at Project KHEL which has helped me groom a lot.

My journey of three years from November 2012 has been an amazing one. Working with Project KHEL, I have noticed lots of changes in myself. At times I am amused when I think how I used to be 3 years ago, before I became a part of this organization. I was quiet and hesitant in sharing my ideas and views with others. Apart from “Yes sir, No sir” I hardly used to speak. But now, I am more articulate with my thoughts, expressions and ideas, enhanced my thinking and visualization skills, all thanks to our debriefing format after sessions (where every facilitator is to reflect and share what went well or did not in a particular session and what can be done to improve the upcoming sessions). Every session we do is a new learning experience, where learning is always both ways between the facilitators and the children.
Teaching sports in Project KHEL DOES NOT mean that you are a “Sports teacher” or a “P.T. teacher” or a “Coach”, as we do not take a stick in our hand, instead you are more than that and we call them as “FACILITATORS” that facilitate life skills to kids ( Life skills are those skills that help us to face daily challenges of life like decision making, self awareness, inter- personal relationship, problem solving ) in a field or ‘Maidaan’. Hence, it is called “MADE IN MAIDAAN”!!! Punishments, which we prefer to call Consequences, are so much fun as facilitators too get involved in doing funny things that include not only fun but learning also!!!
Thus, 3 years, the journey from being a Tennis Coach to a part time KHEL facilitator to a full time team member, “this bachcha”, as I was fondly called by our team, has grown a lot and still learning and growing with the organization and this journey I happily and proudly say can be summed up in two words— “Experiential Learning”.