Building Life-skills for 150,000 children

We have been propagating The Right to Play for the last 11 years... standing by the simple philosophy that "It's easier to Build Strong Children than to Repair Broken Men". These last few months have been rather exciting as we have had some fabulous case studies coming through from the field.

But first, what did we do and how busy were we! Here we go:

• Toybank sensitized 376 young adults through  a Power of Play Sensitization Workshops held at schools, colleges and even Corporate offices
• 10,585 children received access to massive Play Impact Centers across Urban Bombay & Rural Maharashtra from September through November
• 3013 children from the existing Toybank centers received fresh games & toys
• 2122 children got to take his/her favorite toy home through our distribution events
• Over 77 teachers went through Toybank's Power of Play Training sessions & thus learnt how to use the Toy libraries to ensure maximum impact for each child that uses these centers

We opened a large Impact Center that caters to children who have been rehabilitated from Sex trafficking. This was one of Toybank's most important assignments as it not only catered to over 2500 children alone but by setting up our largest Toy library at their 17 centers; we have ensured that the children do not get back into this racket. Not only this, this Impact Center is attracting many other children from the vicinity to join these centers and thus have a more secure environment to spend their time at.

We have been tracking these centers closely and we are very pleased to see the change being driven so consistently through our Impact Centers.

7-year old Tushar studies at a local Municipal School. His mother is concerned that he is not talking and is very quiet for his age. Tushar is 7 years old and can say about 100 words that his parents can understand, but are not clear. He points and gestures to get what he wants and has some temper tantrums when he is not understood.

His father thinks that Tushar is a late talker like he was. He thinks Tushar will talk when he is ready. But his mother has noticed that his 4 -year old sister is already talking, Reading words and saying a few words and exclamations. This is something Tushar did not do at the same age.

Once Tushar starting coming to the Toybank center at this Municipal School, he started opening up. He began to follow instructions given by his parents or teachers at the School. He is now very interactive with his parents and engages easily with other children, playing mostly alongside his peers, but showing some cooperative play. He particularly likes to play with sand and he gets excited when the sand table is opened up for play. But through play he was engaged in the mathematical and alphabetical games. He learned Math very well and is also speaking better.

And we received some super feedback too!

“It was really an amazing and fulfilling experience to be a part of the Toybank initiative and moreover for the two hours of happiness spent with the kids at the school. Surely I want to be part of many more such events which will be imprinted in my memory and cherished forever.” - Swasti Singh (Volunteer)

“It was so much fun to meet such a bunch of enthusiastic kids! We went with lots of toys and came back with hearts full of joy. Every Toybank activity has been an incredibly enriching and wonderful experience.”- Sheetal Vanwari (Volunteer)

 We are looking forward to the coming months especially the New Year which always brings positive hopes for better times. We hope that the children of the world be liberated & free from all forms of evil & simply get to be kids again.

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