PLAY AND LEARNING

The thing about 'play' I love the most is how it's such a happy word. There's always such a positive reaction that comes from almost anybody upon hearing it. As a kid, I remember how eagerly I would wait for the bell to ring at lunch time, so I could run to the playground and play with my friends. It was the best part of my day.

I think Headstreams through the Tackle Caravan program is doing a wonderful thing. It sort of reminds me of how my mother would fill my lunch box with red chapattis and green chapattis and I'd be so stoked. This is a weird comparison, I know, but hear me out. Through Caravan, I feel like these children gain so much more than they're aware of. They've come out of their shells, work effortlessly in teams with people that weren't initially in 'their gang', learned to be patient and have learned how to share. I feel like play has been cathartic for many of them, and through their art I've seen a lot of expression. What have those chapattis got to do with this? It's simple. The red were actually beetroot, and the green were palak. While I was so excited by the colour I had no idea my mother was feeding me vegetables. I think that is the beauty of Caravan, the immense learning and growth that is happening within each child without them knowing, helps facilitate a much more authentic change.

As for me, and what I've gotten out of this entire experience; it's been several things. I truly believe that learning and growth have been running parallely, between the children- their personal journeys and me and mine. Before I signed up for this program, I was sure in my head, that this is the sort of work I want to do in the future. I wanted to work with children and help them figure themselves out. I'm happy to say that these past months haven't changed that notion, but only strengthened it. Through each Caravan session, I've also seen myself evolve. From being the awkward person who could barely move from side to side, I've now let loose completely and am so much more comfortable with my body. From sitting idle at home, to actually working on my interests more. This process has actually sort of rekindled a dying spark of enthusiasm in me, and has reminded me what my goals are and has motivated me to work towards them. What I'm most grateful to Headstreams for, is that 2 hours every week, where I leave everything else behind and I'm automatically childlike.

- Anisha Rego

CARAVAN EXPERIENCES

This caravan, volunteered at the dance stall. We tried a new activity where we all stood in a circle, and while the music played anybody could step in, do a step, and the rest of us would follow. This didn't really work with the group, as the kids hesitated and many of them ran out of the room. We then thought we would try something different. In the same circle we decided that we'd each step in one by one in order. While there were still nerves, the kids adapted to this method far better. This incident made me think about a theory I was just studying in college, and I realised that majority of those kids would fit in to Erik Erikson's Industry verses Inferiority stage of Psycho social development. This made perfect sense because I could see that where the kids were hesitant to take up initiatives of doing the step taught, because they might have had feeling of being inferior. But while we went in order, they felt slightly more confident to show their competence. This whole realisation made me feel pretty proud of myself, for being able to understand a concept and apply it like that. What else would be the point of studying the subject? I left today's caravan feeling really grateful for having that opportunity to get a hands on learning.

- Anisha Rego