About Magic Bus
Magic Bus is a not-for-profit organisation in India, that works with children living in some of the most marginalised circumstances in the world. Our programme revolves around nurturing three areas that determine young people’s lives: Awareness, Belief and Purpose. Using sport and outdoors as a medium we help them discover their true potential and encourage them to find purpose in life. We work towards inspiring youth to take responsibility to change their communities in a sustainable manner. Since its inception Magic Bus has reached out to 140,000 children and youth and by 2012 we aim to reach out to over 600,000 at the national level.
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History
The history of Magic Bus is the history of its people: the staff that deliver our programme; the volunteers who give their time so generously and, of course, the children.
Anwar was one of the first children. He was one of a few boys from ‘Fashion Street’ in south Mumbai, living in the Cuffe Parade slum and looking for something new from life. The boys met founder, Matthew Spacie, whilst he was practising rugby with friends and Matthew invited them to join. Within six months a rugby team was formed and within a year the team started competing in national tournaments. Unfolding in front of him, Matthew started seeing dramatic behaviour changes in the team members. There was no formal development programme but the intrinsic benefits of participation in sport began manifesting from the very beginning. Matthew then started working with a local NGO, Akansha, and formed a group of volunteers who took around 50 children camping in the countryside each month alongside the rugby sessions.
It soon became clear that taking a child away from the squalor of their immediate environment, to a mountain or sports pitch, meant a learning environment unparalleled in the child’s life. It was the thought of a vehicle picking children up and taking them on a fantastic journey that gave birth to the name Magic Bus. For the children, the place represented a new adventure that was somewhere safe and packed with fun.
After a year, the success of the Magic Bus programme attracted the attention of a social venture capitalist company: Impact Partners which approached Magic Bus to provide organisation capacity building and crucial early stage funding with which to broaden its work. The Magic Bus team grew to three: Matthew Spacie, Alka Shesha and Rinku Varde. Their vision was of developing a sport for development programme in Mumbai and reaching out to children living in slum communities across the city. They came together with a passion, belief and commitment at a time when the concept of development through sports and outdoors was alien to India. Sport and play were very low priorities and lay unrecognised as development tools for child and youth-focused NGOs in Mumbai, whose immediate requirement was to fulfil the formal education, shelter and protection needs of those in their care. The team saw many closed doors in those initial days and with every closing door, their conviction to sustain Magic Bus and promote the power of sport became even stronger.
In the early days the foundations of the programme were built on the commitment of its volunteers, all of whom were working professionals who gave up their weekends for a cause they believed in. Magic Bus was new to people living in Mumbai’s slum communities and treated at first with suspicion: why should parents send their children on the programme? How could sport help them?
Over time Magic Bus grew as a team and in its outreach. Strong relationships were forged with the communities in which we worked and parents witnessed the change in their children who were participating in the Magic Bus programme. From 50 children per year we moved to hundreds and then thousands; from Dharavi slum we moved to Bombay Port Trust and Mankhurd. Magic Bus learnt and developed as it grew - from external consultants, staff and from the children themselves.
Participants have become peers leaders and mentors for others. They have set up their own programmes and are carrying the Magic Bus philosophy to new communities. Communities now not only trust Magic Bus but are at the heart of who we are; supporting us, joining us and taking on projects of their own. Today we reach out to over 3,000 children per year, are imbedded in slum communities across Mumbai and are piloting our sport for development programme across India.
One thing that has not changed is the passion and commitment of Magic Bus’ people. Which is why we can’t stop here! There are still millions of children in India who have no access to sport and whose development needs are not met. Young people, like Anwar, who are searching for something different from the life they were born into and whose abilities go unrecognised. These are the children who have the power to change the communities in which they live across India and these are the children we need your help to reach.
Why sport?
India has the youngest population in the world and it is youth who are critical for the development of communities. Sport is something that is close to young people’s hearts and through its inherent attributes of active participation, energy, empowerment and social inclusion it provides an ideal platform for working with youth and helping them recognise their power and potential. Through sport and play children and youthp in develo a way outside the parameters of formal education. ‘Sport has the power to change the world, the power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way that little else can.. sport can create hope.. it is an instrument for peace.’ (Nelson Mandela). By using sport, Magic bus can bring communities together and break down barriers that perpetuate the feeling of marginalisation in at-risk communities. Sporting opportunities provide a platform for teams from all sections of society to come together on an even playing field.
Sport was elevated onto the global agenda when the UN General Assembly declared sport as ‘a means to promote education, health, development and peace’ (see IYSPE website). The global focus on Sport for Development was further underlined when the Commonwealth Advisory Body on Sports (CABOS), released empirical evidence based on research work undertaken in several countries showing that increased sports activity results in better academic performance, significant reduction in crime, growth in leadership and team spirit, and greater social inclusiveness and cohesion. .
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