My Journey With Project KHEL – The Beginning

Contributed by: Rohit Srivass

Translated by: Arushi Dhawan

Date: November 12, 2016

I have played a lot of games but never thought that through games I can bring positive improvements in the behavior of a person and make them better human beings. I have worked in slums earlier, but my role in Project KHEL of an experiential educator, who works towards bringing positive and adaptive changes in the daily behavior of the children, is very different from what I have done so far. For the first time in my life, I have realized that sports can also be used as a medium to teach the children.

In the one month with Project KHEL I have done various Life Skill Education sessions with school and slums kids. I had always heard about shelter homes for kids but never had the chance to visit one. Through a Project KHEL session, I got the opportunity to conduct sessions at one such shelter home for boys. In my frequent visits to the shelter home I found out about the kids, the reasons behind them living in a shelter home and their lifestyle in the home.  I observed that all kinds of kids live in a shelter home, some are obedient, some are naughty and some are aggressive because of the hardships they have seen in life. There are also children who have been physically abused. But, still when they come to play in our sessions they come with a big smile on their face and are all geared up to have fun.

Project KHEL is really doing a commendable job for such kids, who do not have parents to teach them a proper way to take a bath, eat, wear clothes or talk to other people.

In fact, I myself am getting to learn a lot from the kids in the process of conducting sessions and just being around them.