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A Letter from Marpha...

This is such a powerful way to help children find the fearlessness to experiment with what they learn. This collective silliness makes it easy for them to take things lightly, and try out answers even when they are not so sure of the outcome.

Some of the most rewarding Play For Peace experiences come from being inspired by the many wonderful trainers, mentors and facilitators that are working around the world to share  our vision. Recently, we were thrilled to read a letter from Karishma Modi, a facilitator, to two of our trainers: Agyat Mitra and Swati Bhatt. Agyat and Swati are the founders of Peace Leadership and Young People (PLAY), and have been working with us since 2000. Karishma’s words, which highlight her experience in Marpha, Nepal, provide insight into the positive effect that play has on everyone touched by it: teachers, students, trainers (even blog writers). We hope you enjoy her letter as much as we did...
Dearest Swati and Agyat, How are both of you? What’s going on at your end? Workshops? Programmes? Travel? Lots of play? I’ve been in Marpha for 18 days now and have been taking classes for most of that time. Before I left, I had resolved to do a lot of Play for Peace with the community in Marpha, to the extent that I wanted to involve the community in the play sessions. When I arrived on the 30th of May, the stage seemed set for doing something incredible like that. Then, on the 1st of June, we had a landslide in Marpha. All the grown-ups became quickly involved in the cleaning up and removal of debris. Fortunately, there were no classes at the time and we could devote ourselves to taking the tons of soil, rock and other items from people’s lives that had been washed away by the rushing water out of the village. It has been 16 days since the clean-up started and some streets are still 3 feet deep in debris. It is maddening how much work there is to do, but inspiring how this little village has risen up to do it themselves. What this meant for me is that my focus shifted entirely to the children. Though diluted, I am using play during class time to give the children a taste of ‘koi sahi-ghalat nahin’. It’s wonderful! This morning, the children were humming ‘oh my chi-chi’ throughout a grammar lesson I was taking. One of my classes is in a neighbouring village called Syang. We go there three times a week. The children there circle-up the moment the bell rings and the last time, they even started the ritual without me! It is so energising to see the children respond to the laughter and the silliness. The teachers at the school in Syang are shy, but sometimes they join in too! Swatiji, Agyatji: this is such a powerful way to help children find the fearlessness to experiment with what they learn. This collective silliness makes it easy for them to take things lightly, and try out answers even when they are not so sure of the outcome. I am also so happy that I can use these games to introduce educational objectives! I make sure to either use the nonsense songs or the games and songs that can be translated into English so that they have plenty of time with the language. This means that they learn, sometimes without even seeing that they are learning! It. Is. Marvellous! I think using play in the classroom is how I see myself working with this medium! There are so many things I’m learning about how kids learn and how to make bilingual learning effective. I’m so grateful for the journey I’ve been on over the last two years. Love, Karishma