“Rugby is the story of a ball with friends around and when there is no ball, friends remain”.

Kichad Rugby 2019 brought together 100s of children from villages local to the Tea Gardens of Saraswatipur and welcomed teams from Kolkata and Jharkhand. 

by Thomas Pothet

If anyone told you about a rugby tournament occurring in the middle of a forest, in India’s West Bengal, would you believe it?

At first, you would probably ask yourself, who could have such a weird idea of organising a rugby tournament in a forest? Do they even play rugby there?

Well….. it did happen, and I am about to tell you it’s story, the Kichad Rugby story.

Within the Baikhuntapur Forest near the banks of the Teesta River about 25 km from the heaving city of Siliguri, among elephants, goats and cows… is a rugby field in Saraswastipur village where regularly children and teenagers come for rugby practice. This is the place where everything occurred, where about 500 children from different horizons (Saraswastipur, neighbouring villages, Kolkata & Jharkhand) gave their best while playing rugby and enjoyed this special moment to its fullest.

This was a two day tournament with all the children getting to play lots of games, staying healthy and hydrated under the intense sun, having their breakfast and lunch – all organised by the older players under the steady direction of their Coach Roshan.

These young leaders had many tasks. Not only did they have to manage hundreds of kids as coaches and referees, but they also had to handle everything food related (supply, cooking, distribution…), the clean-up of the area and finally manage a way back home for the kids living outside Saraswastipur.

As well as all the organisation they showed great leadership skills while coaching the U11 and U14 teams.

They oversaw the discipline among their teams, were motivating them and trying to guide them to victory. While the euphoria could have led to a loss of discipline, the tournament was successfully managed without a glitch.

As I was witnessing this incredible event, I was overflowed by the strong values that Jungle Crows is teaching through its mission. Those values were flowing out of the children while playing, out of the young organisers as they were taking their role very seriously and trying hard to succeed.

What I felt was an indescribable mix of emotions to see such passionate youngsters about rugby, so committed to their teammates and coaches, and doing their best to win.

Passion for rugby was flowing out of them through their pores. They did not only come to win, first and foremost, they came to play rugby, to enjoy it and to improve themselves.

During the tournament I have not seen any player expressing sadness or deception after losing a game. Even in their loss, they gained something as they had the opportunity to play rugby with others, to be part of something bigger than just themselves, to be part of a team.

It was not about which team won or lost, it was about enjoying this moment and learning from each other.

“Rugby is the story of a ball with friends around and when there is no ball, friends remain”.

As I am used to watching my 16-year-old brothers rugby games in France, I was truly surprised not to witness any nagging songs or mockeries from the winning team toward the losing team as it is a common thing in French rugby and can sometime lead to conflict.

The values expressed by Jungle Crows children, both players and young leaders, were about passion, discipline, commitment and humility. Jungle Crows teachings and the youngster’s dedication are what made Kichad tournament a successful and a memorable event.

The emotions and values representing Kichad tournament are engraved forever in hundreds of people’s mind, including mine.

Learn more about Khelo Rugby and the Jungle Crows here!

Under dark monsoon skies in Kolkata the India Women’s rugby team demonstrate incredible sporting spirit.

By Paul Walsh

India’s rugby community has a pounding heart in Kolkata where senior Men’s and Women’s teams play for the Calcutta Cup, hundreds of children fly around the Maidan and the monsoon especially means rugby season. Sticky muddy fields may not be ideal for the game but it does mean cricket is off the agenda for a short time at least. 

As a sport rugby is said to have a unique spirit. Most players know there are a set of values by which rugby is played and governed. It is not always easy to separate one sport from another in terms of what can be a hard to define spirit. Most sports participants try their best, follow the rules, at the highest levels finding a winning angle can cross the boundaries of fair play but most players don’t look for this. 

And then an event comes along that makes you realise that whether it is rugby or any sport there is a terrific sporting spirit in the heart of every athlete. 

The context of my own interest in the Spirit of Rugby is through the social development programme of the Jungle Crows, the rugby club I helped found 15 years ago in Kolkata. For 3 years now our Khelo Rugby has been a part of World Rugby’s Spirit of Rugby programme. The Spirit of Rugby recognises a select number of projects around the world and supports them from World Rugby HQ in Dublin. Khelo Rugby is so far the only project representing Asia and we’re proud to have been shown such faith.

One of Kolkata’s showcase rugby tournaments is the “Georgiadi Rugby 7s” hosted each year by the prestigious Calcutta Cricket and Football Club (CCFC). Rugby has been played in Kolkata since 1872 and the Football in CCFC actually refers to the oval shaped ball rather than the round ball.

The Georgiadi Cup is named after a Greek of the same name who was the custodian of the CCFC grounds for many years, a stalwart of the club from another generation honoured with the Cup being named after him. This year saw 20 Men’s teams and 8 Women’s teams entered into the competition, which kicked off at 9am on a bright Saturday morning in July.

Rugby 7s is an abbreviated form of the full 15 player game, played over two halves of 7 minutes with only 7 players on a full size pitch. Lots of space, this is a game for speedsters, while retaining the full contact nature of the game it suits strong fast players with plenty of stamina. A team may play 3 or 4 games in a day so a quick recovery is needed to maintain the pace and keep up a winning streak.

This year the tournament was excited to welcome the senior India Men’s and Women’s teams. They had been in a camp in Bhubaneswar preparing for the upcoming Asia 7s to be played in Jakarta. The Georgiadi would provide the ideal match conditions to test the two squads. The South Africa Coaches in charge of the India teams were excited for the games ahead.

Both the Men’s and Women’s India teams got away to winning starts, pretty much as you’d expect, cantering through the opposition on day one. Day two saw all the teams re-ranked based on their performances on day one. This meant the two Men’s teams entered, India A and B, would face each other in a semi final. As a courtesy to the teams and to prevent their two teams going at each other the coaches decided to withdraw the India Men’s teams leaving the field clear for a local club to take the title. The final would be contested between two local Kolkata clubs, our own Jungle Crows and hosts CCFC. In the lead up to the final the monsoon skies turned dark and what had been a light Kolkata monsoon for one afternoon at least turned into a flood. The rugby carried on, the ground cut up, players turned muddy and the advantage of small flighty players became less as the wrestling contest in the mud increased in importance. In the Men’s final the Jungle Crows ran out 17-0 winners, a close fought contest with both teams muddy, bruised and congratulating each other at the end.

The Women’s final was scheduled as the last match of the day, this would see the India team take on a team made up of young players from a group of villages near Siliguri in the North of West Bengal, part of our Khelo Rugby programme. It was great to see them in the final. The team was named after their village and the most common big cat, the Saraswatipur Leopards.  What was about to happen stunned the crowd and eventually saw a show of sporting spirit most found hard to describe. 

The final kicked off under lights, the field was muddy but the rain had stopped. The India team was made up from the best players in the country, from Maharastra, Delhi and Odisha, even a Leopard was in the squad. Saraswatipur were immediately on the attack and the opening minutes saw a break in the India defence, the Leopards Swapna sprinted 70 meters to score the first try under the posts which she also converted, 7-0 to the Leopards. The crowd went a little crazy, those not paying too much attention to the game were suddenly fully focussed. Was the most incredible upset on the cards?

Half time team talk for the Leopards

Half time and the Leopards led 7-0. The pair of South African Coaches looked calm but they must have been thinking what the consequences would be of the national team losing to what on the face of it were a bunch of kids from a village. Albeit the rugby crazy village of Saraswatipur, these were girls who had played a lot of rugby, won tournaments, led by the their canny coach Roshan.

The second half saw the India team intensify the pressure, they kept the ball well and started to attack using their superior size on the smaller Saraswatipur team. The India Tigers were showing their class. With just minutes left the Tigers scored in the corner, with no conversion the score was 7-5, the Leopards still ahead of the Tigers.

India star Neha attacks

With time almost up, India had the ball in the Saraswatipur corner, could the girls from the tea estate hold on? A long blast from the referees whistle, some of the supporters thought it was over but this was a penalty for India. Time was up, but the penalty would be taken. India piled in, the corner was dark under the lights, the players muddy but no doubting the next signal and whistle from the referee – try to India. A crushing 10-7 loss for the Leopards who trooped back to their Coach crestfallen, they’d held out for almost the entire game, but a famous win wasn’t to be. Applause rang out for both teams, and nobody doubted the commitment either team of Women had shown.

The biggest sporting gesture was yet to come. The India team were called up to take their winning medals and receive the trophy. India Captain Vahbiz had different ideas, took over the microphone and proceedings. Grabbing a handful of medals she started to distribute them to the India players while at the same time calling up the Leopards. This was a medal ceremony the like of which none of the crowd gathered under the dark monsoon sky had ever seen. Each of the India players took their medal, and hung it around the neck of a Leopard. With a big hug and a smile each player in turn recognised their opponent. 

All smiles – Tigers & Leopards

Time for the trophy and Vahbiz wasn’t interested in lifting it for the plaudits, this was for the Leopards. The girls lined up together all smiles, the three coaches joined them – two from South Africa and one from India. This was something very special. A terrifically competitive game had ended in a final play win, that had been exciting, but the actions of the India team lifted the drama to a different level. This was a great sporting moment, not between highly paid superstars but amongst hardworking committed rugby players, who’s passion for their game see them sacrifice and sweat just to get the chance to play. Two remarkable teams of Women had shown that rugby really is a beautiful game and demonstrated what the spirit of the game is all about.

Find out more from our website!

Khelo Rugby Family: Crows & Leopards

The Jungle Crows are building a Youth Centre in the village of Saraswatipur where they have been playing rugby for five years now. While the rugby is really important to the Crows and all the 100s of children who play in the villages, education is more important.

by Thomas Pothet

The Jungle Crows Foundation promotes education through rugby in Kolkata but also in diverse places in West Bengal like Saraswastipur where there is a rugby ground surrounded by tea gardens and forest. On this field, rugby training and tournaments are organised under the management of Coach Roshan and the older players, Khelo Rugby’s Young Leaders.

In contrast to Kolkata where children do have access to some facilities, the children living in Baikunthapur Forest do not have much of an opportunity at all. No safe place to meet up or study other than clearings in the forest. Development is coming but it is slow.

In Kolkata the Jungle Crows have partnered with the American Centre for English and development training as a part of the ACCESS project, they can go and use the library. In the Crows HQ there is a small hostel where scholarship students can stay, the gym is well equipped and meeting rooms make this a focal centre for so many activities. The Crows also host a ‘Speak Fit’ centre which trains up young men and women keen to get into the fitness industry. During my time in Kolkata I enjoyed meeting and interacting with so many different groups of youngsters, all of them just like me, looking to continue their education, planning how to start a career, passionate about their sport, wanting to learn.

Such opportunities just don’t exist in Baikunthapur, where the forest and the Saraswatipur tea garden dominates life. The tea gardens look beautiful with views to Kangchenjunga, manicured tea bushes stretching as far as the eye can see and neatly surrounded by the amazing Sal trees of the Baikunthapur Forest. But there is poverty and danger as well, I was drawn recently to this description of life in the tea gardens by National Geographic explorer Paul Salopek, where he describes the gardens, “like strolling into a deer park” but one kept going on “poverty wages.”

Kangchenjunga viewed from the Baikunthapur Forest

While rugby is at the heart and a fundamental part of what the Jungle Crows do while I was with them I could observe that their true DNA is about opportunity and a big part of that is education. And this is a struggle for young people growing up in Saraswatipur, where the draw of working in the tea garden is strong, where going to school can be harder work.

This is where the community centre is intended to make a difference. Construction is in full swing and is being well supported by the village and specially by the children who are excited to see it going up and looking forward to the change it can bring to their lives.

The construction of the centre is necessary for the Jungle Crows to pursue their mission within Baikunthapur Forest and to deliver the dreams and ambitions of the children. With such a centre, players will have access to a gym, proper toilets, rest rooms, and of course class rooms.

Centre construction in full swing

All the children in the Jungle Crows learn about the values of the game – integrity, passion, solidarity, discipline and respect. It is key to be able to translate these values into the children’s everyday lives. The centre in Saraswatipur will be a focus for this. Taking what is learnt on the field to support learning in the class room. I was lucky to see first hand the incredible passion the children have for their rugby. They have learned about how important it is to be passionate about something, about how discipline can win the game, commitment and hard work are keys for success. It is now time for them to use those principles outside the rugby field, for educational purposes and to develop the seeds that Jungle Crows planted in them through rugby.

Passionate about their rugby

Besides their rugby one of the main issues in the villages is that the children don’t have any other activities available to them. They end up giving up on school and going to work in the tea gardens at a very young age. There is no support for education and even the transport provided by the tea gardens is stopped from class 8 when a child needs support most. In these circumstances youngsters often see taking up a job on less than two euros a day as a better option.

The Crows finance scholarships and provide cycles to make it easier for the kids to reach their schools and reach educational targets. It is important children don’t give up. The centre will be another part of this, an attempt to break the cycle that keeps swathes of the village in poor circumstances. The children themselves know that they want to have a different purpose in life, different from the one their parents had and to avoid the same social disadvantages. The aim is to enlighten their daily life and future.

The centre is still in construction but soon these passionate kids will be able to be diligent in their class rooms to improve themselves and work hard for their future.

Give them the right tools and the amazing children of Saraswatipur will move mountains.

You can support the building of the Saraswatipur Youth Centre by making a donation here!

www.junglecrows.net

For 2019 the theme of the International Day of the Girl was “Girl Force: Unscripted and Unstoppable”. Khelo Rugby is working to play it’s part creating opportunities for our unstoppable female athletes.

by Paul Walsh

It was absolutely brilliant once again being part of our girls rugby tournament on October 11th. Rightly this has become a big part of the Khelo Rugby calendar with our girls looking forward to playing in and organising the day.

Kolkata

With more than 500 girls playing across four locations and I’d think another 100 organising, the tournament is a great way to mobilise and encourage our girls to take action. Khelo Rugby has always operated with the attitude of “let’s make it happen” and this is a good example of this. When we first came up with the initiative to have a girls only rugby event, the only question was why we hadn’t done it earlier. Each year I can see more and more benefits from the tournament and making the focus of October on our girls.

The tournament itself has become a focal point for everyone in Khelo Rugby, setting a clear target and getting everyone working together towards a common goal. Coaches need to get their teams organised, bring out the next generation of girls to play, brothers encourage sisters, sisters encourage sisters, each community wants to play well.

2019 was the first time we co-ordinated four tournaments on the same day, and seeing the photos ping in was special. It seems almost everyone now gets to see social media so we tried to quickly share images from each location so the girls could feel a sense of unity even if they were 100s of miles apart.

Bengaluru

More than 45% of children in Khelo Rugby are girls and this tournament has been a catalyst to achieve this. As a team we always need to be focussed on ensuring we keep levels of participation from our girls up. In this we absolutely need to keep taking what is the tougher path.

India’s female rugby players are an incredibly strong and resilient community and should be celebrated at every opportunity. It was really special to see three of India’s rugby stars being showcased at the recent “We the Women” event in Kolkata, specially since it included Jungle Crows star Sangita. Our Khelo Rugby girls can feel proud to be a part of this.

Saraswatipur

I promised myself I would keep this article short so I won’t go over all the reasons why girls are perhaps the single most important part of our planets future. You’d have to be sleeping under a rock not to have seen the impact Greta Thunberg is having across the world. It’s hard to believe it was four years ago I wrote my blog “Who Wants to Change the World?” – the messages of how 600 million girls will bring change are still valid. Our girls play rugby, but this is more than just a game, like 11 October was more than just a tournament. The impact belief and empowerment can have are very real. It’s “More Than Just a Try.”

Haripur

We’ve still much work to do and we’ll keep a special focus for the rest of October, but our efforts shouldn’t rest. This is a full time commitment. We’ll have charchas in communities for the rest of the month, taking time to discuss and think about what we’re doing, how we can do more, achieve more. The girls want to share more messages through posters and slogans, so we’ll showcase those to more children at our end of month KSL (Khelo Sporting League) get together.

We enjoyed 11 October as the #DayoftheGirl but for real change to come we need to support girls everyday.

Thomas was with the Jungle Crows as a volunteer, teacher and mentor, here is more on his adventure in India, learning about how critical values are and that there is always hope.

by Thomas Pothet

The very first time I went to the Jungle Crows rugby field with my friend Pritam who I had met at University in Paris, something struck me. It wasn’t the fact that these children were playing rugby under intense heat and humidity like as if it was nothing… it was their discipline.

I was truly impressed by how disciplined the children were. As my 16-year-old brother plays rugby, I have often seen rugby training and how trainers can struggle to keep the discipline but it was different in Kolkata. Even though they had not seen Pritam, their role model, for a couple of months, none of them interrupted their practice to run toward us. They all stayed focus on their training and one by one, without disturbing the training, players came to greet us.

Thomas and Pritam leading a class on leadership in Kolkata

It was my first touchpoint with Jungle Crows children and I already had learned something by watching their training.

Through Rugby, Paul Walsh and the Khelo Rugby trainers teach values to these youngsters. The values include discipline and respect, but it is also about being passionate, being committed to something, being a hardworking person and being able to take the lead, to become a leader. Knowing that some of these youngsters used to be thugs or street kids, growing up by their own on Kolkata’s streets, I couldn’t feel anything else than admiration toward Jungle Crows work.

What I saw with the Jungle Crows work was not only about rugby. They teach rugby rules, how to play, how to become a coach, but they mostly teach values and how to use these values outside the rugby field.

As I mentioned, Jungle Crows values are not only about discipline, respect, passion and commitment but I also saw them working hard on fighting gender inequalities in Kolkata and this is not the final step of Jungle Crows children’s journey.

Indeed they also expect the children to spread those values in their communities among the younger generation, to show leadership skills by initiating social projects (collecting trashes, planting trees…), and to become role models for their younger brothers and sisters.

To help them in their journey, Jungle Crows is providing leadership training, English classes and is also financing scholarships. It is through education and through these values that the boys and girls are empowering themselves and are becoming leaders in their community.

Thomas with a group of young Khelo Rugby Coaches at the Crows Nest, Jungle Crows HQ in Kolkata

Coming from poor backgrounds, if it wasn’t for Jungle Crows, many of these young people would have dropped out of their studies and started working. As their family are not educated and struggle financially, mostly they see education as a cost, not as an investment.

Jungle Crows campaigns to show how valuable education is, how education can bring the change they need in their life and how education can make them become a better person.

Before travelling to Kolkata, I read the City of Joy written by Dominique Lapierre, the writer ends his book by saying that Kolkata is a true lesson of hope and humanity. While I volunteered for Jungle Crows, I learned many things about Kolkata and the Jungle Crows children, and I must say that I truly agree with Dominique Lapierre.

I have never felt like that before but, watching the children playing rugby barefoot, enjoying rugby to its fullest, giving their best both at school and on the rugby field, it made me realise that despite their often extreme poverty, these kids are more joyful and hungry for life than ever. I had never seen such poverty, but I had also never seen people with such big hearts and so eager to learn and live.

From my experience with Jungle Crows, whether it was in Kolkata or in Saraswatipur, I believe that everything these children and young leaders are doing is driven by their hope of having a better life tomorrow, their hope of being able to take care of their family and their hope of doing something that they can be proud of.

Somehow, when I was watching Jungle Crows boys and girls, regardless of their religion or differences, giving their best, an unstoppable flow of emotion overcame me. Every time they were playing, I could only be impressed by them and by their achievement.

These kids taught me many things, I believe that they made me more human, more compassionate and a more hard-working person but for and foremost, they taught me a lesson of hope. Thank you.

If you’d be interested in volunteering with the Jungle Crows, please be in touch over email: info@junglecrows.org

www.junglecrows.net

On Diwali Day we played rugby and shared messages around the Khelo Rugby theme of the month “Girl Power”.

by Shivanshu Singh

The last Sunday of every month we bring all our young Khelo Rugby coaches together as a part of our Khelo Sporting League (KSL). Each month can be organised in a different way, to suit the theme we are working on, to share ideas or just to meet up and play.

Our Khelo Rugby theme for October was ‘Girl Power’, we’d enjoyed a great day of rugby earlier in the month on the International Day of the Girl and this KSL was a chance to review the month of activity. We had about 50 of our coaches out on the morning, they’d all worked during the month to get more girls out playing, to hold charchas on the theme and to share ideas about why this initiative was important. The coaches come from all over Kolkata, and since they don’t always meet routinely, KSL also presents a good opportunity for a catch up.

Between games the coaches talked about slogan posters they’d worked on in their communities. This sharing of ideas in the group is an important activity – both in terms of discussing an important social issue but also in building up the confidence of the coaches by making an informal presentation. Developing such skills is an integral part of the Khelo Rugby journey and nothing beats skill development as practice.

The posters highlighted some of the issues the girls themselves face, they were able to talk about how they have overcome some of these or share the challenges they still face with a supportive group. Although all living in the same city, the communities the children are from are often very diverse. The problems children face are many and can be quite different from one place to another. Having the chance to discuss these with their peers is an empowering experience. The essence of charcha.

This was also Diwali and the chance of meeting up with so many rugby crazy friends was not to be missed. Sharing Diwali greetings over rugby and breakfast was fun also!

Auckland Grammar School 6th former Michael talks about the India Immersion Programme 2019-2020 and the Jungle Crows

by Michael Hiddleston

The Auckland Grammar School India Immersion Programme is a structured and interactive experience, which provides students with an opportunity to develop personal leadership skills in a foreign culture through interacting with those at the margins of society. This year marks the 10th anniversary since the Programme was introduced at Grammar, and it is almost identical to the previous programmes, lasting a month and taking 21 students across India. Over the years we’ve been fortunate to grow our relationship with the Jungle Crows in Kolkata – a group who has been there from the start. Below is a refection on our time with the Crows in December 2019.

AGS Team make it to Taj Mahal

When we arrived off the plane into Kolkata we were a group of twenty one excited and naive students. India was almost entirely different to anything any of us had ever experienced and it was sure to bring many new challenges. Thankfully from the moment we left the airport the Jungle Crows were there and ready to guide us – making a very foreign environment that much easier to navigate.

What we quickly found between the two groups was a shared love of rugby. Our first real interaction with the Crows occurred at the touch rugby tournament in the Maidan where we got stuck in with some warm up drills, playing, and even reffing at times. It was pretty incredible to see the positive impact rugby has in the community. Not only bringing large groups of kids together but also providing them with the opportunities and support to find success in their passions. One of the highlights of the day was the fifty-strong exhibition game held towards the end of the day. Despite our loss, few memories can compete with the sight of a twenty-five man backline charging down a dusty field in the late afternoon Kolkata sun. 

Day One – Rugby on Crow Field, Kolkata Maidan

After getting to know some of the Crows on the first day we split into smaller groups on day two for a personalised tour of the city. Again, this was an incredibly special opportunity and we experienced a variety of different things ranging from flower markets to zoos, however perhaps the most special of these was those boys who visited the homes of some of the Jungle Crows. What made these tours so special for us was how it gave us a chance to see the city through the eyes of locals. We saw and experienced things we otherwise never would have, and it made our time in Kolkata that much more special. Our time with the Crows culminated in a Kolkata quiz at the local Rangers Club. It was a fantastic way to round off and say thank you to guys we’d gotten to know so well over such a brief period of time.

Amidst the lockdown and food shortages it’s been a challenge taking on the coronavirus but we’re doing our bit.

by Paul Walsh

It’s hard to say where we are at in the current coronavirus battle in India. The statistics are around us everyday, and opinions on what they mean proliferate. The lockdown was a shock to the system. The Jungle Crows are all about being together, sharing experiences, playing lots of rugby and enjoying lengthy Khelo Rugby huddles in Kolkata, Jharkhand, Saraswatipur and Bengaluru. It all stopped overnight.

For a few days we were in a daze for sure. We are a community group, together sharing experiences is what has always been our motivator. How to change that into something that could be relevant and of value during this crisis?

Step up Hari who kicked us into life and organised our first morning hangout bringing together Bengaluru, Kolkata and Saraswatipur. With just a couple of lines on a spreadsheet to look at, plenty of talking over one another, dropped connections and not a few arguments we were developing a match strategy. We were playing heads up rugby!

Chain of Support

1. Our first priority was to connect with as many of our young coaches as we were able. Get them to share how they were and what the needs of each community was. Video reports started to arrive on their own or borrowed smartphones. We could see that having coaches and players from across the city meant that especially in Kolkata we could get a quick handle on how we could make the most impact.
2. A small informal survey was developed for all of the children who we have on scholarships – more than 100. To be in touch with them, ensure their families were managing and to use this down time to gather more information to help us plan for the future better.
3. We quickly realised our forte was not going to be in organising and delivering food or getting protection equipment mobilised. We were connected at grassroots, we could identify specific needs and work with those better placed to meet the challenges of say families running short of food or children with medical needs. So we have tried to become an active facilitator.

Global Connections

1. The Jungle Crows are incredibly lucky to have friends all round the world. Quickly we formulated a plan to see how far and wide we could connect. We could see this being a terrific motivator for all the children. Yes there were these big problems, but it was important to also keep everyone engaged and have something to be excited about.
2. Our first connect was with the amazing Rocky Khan, what a story he has. The first player of Indian origin to play for the All Blacks rugby 7s team, inspiring and something to dream about and work towards for all our young players.

Mind and Body Fit

1. This was something we were much more ready for and comfortable with. Akash one of our young India players took the lead. Organising workout plans, setting challenges. We had the role model of CureFit where so many of our young players now worked, they were quickly reformulating their business from group classes to online workouts attracting hundreds of thousands of participants.

And we’ve still plenty of other stuff going on. We have a core team who mostly enjoy their 10am hangout each day. We’re talking to all our supporters and partners, seeing how we can help them out. We can surely connect with more of our young ruggers. It’s all a work in progress, and very much a marathon not a sprint.

If you’d like to support the Jungle Crows work, please click here!

Using the time of lockdown to deepen our understanding of our scholars and to see how we can better support them in the future.

By Shivanshu Singh in Kolkata, Akash Balmiki in Bangalore & Roshan Xaxa in Saraswatipur

Khelo Rugby has been under lockdown for a month now. With all outdoor activities suspended we’ve had to come up with different ways to be in touch with all our rugby crazy youngsters. Whether it is through our ‘chain of support’ to ensure everyone is safe and well, video calls with friends or rugby stars, posting exercise videos, sharing our best dance moves or just catching up on the phone our priority has been to stay connected.

We have also taken this opportunity to carry out a survey with 175 of our scholarship students – in Kolkata, Bengaluru and Saraswatipur.  We’ve used direct calls and also discovered google forms which can be operated through smart phones. The technology meant we could survey students sitting at home during lockdown. They were able to respond using their own phone or a friends.   

The idea behind conducting the survey was to take this chance to learn more about the youngsters, their family backgrounds and how their community is coping during the coronavirus pandemic. This is a situation that none of us has ever experienced or come across in life and we could see good communication was going to be important.

The survey was conducted between 5th April to 15th April.

Kolkata

60% of the students said they would not be able to continue their studies if their scholarship were to stop. Every student comes from an underserved background with their parents being drivers, butchers and other daily wage jobs to run the family. 63% of students have 4-5 members in their family living in a single room house. 95% of respondents said their families were supportive of them playing rugby. Many felt the scholarship was important as it convinced the family to let them keep studying. 72% of our scholarship students are first generation school goers from their families. When asked about what they want to do after they complete their education, the most common answers were Fitness Trainer, Sports Manager, to join the Police or Army and Hotel Manager. 

For 13 of the students responding their Class 12 exams have been postponed without completion, a particular worry. 86% of parents can no longer go for their regular jobs which for most means they are not paid. 60% of families are getting a food ration from the local municipality through a club or counsellor, the other 40% are using their savings to manage. In all cases the families said that they would face difficulty if supplies were stopped or once savings run out. 

“There are a total of 8 members staying in my single room house. I usually go to my friends factory to sleep at night. My father who works at a butcher shop is not getting much business. My mother is using our savings to run the family.” Khelo Coach Ashfaque. 

Though the lockdown has created many problems for everyone it has also brought a slight happiness to some of our youngsters as they are getting time to spend with their family. Normally this is not possible as parents had jobs with long hours and few if any holiday time.  Most days for our Kolkata children are spent helping their mothers in the kitchen, studying when they can, doing online classes & video conferences, with social media and games a regular distraction.

Bangalore

Survey with 42 young leaders, 68% of whom are first generation senior students from their family. 45% of the students have 5-6 members in their family and 55% live in a single room house. 100% said their parents support them playing rugby. Many also play kabaddi and kho kho apart from rugby. Seventeen are Decathlon trainees and most want to study beyond class 12 and work part time to support themselves and their family. All talked about taking one step at a time and wanting to finish their graduation. They would then think about their career choices depending on their marks and interest areas – though jobs in sports and fitness were mentioned as preferences. Karnataka is strictly following the lockdown, in 78% of the families parents are not able to go to their regular jobs. Respondents are spending time with their family, watching television, using social media and doing self studies to try and keep up with the school syllabus.

Saraswatipur

We had 35 of our scholarship students go through the survey from Saraswatipur. For 90% of children the main source of income for their family comes from working in the tea gardens. 45% of the young leaders who took the survey had 6 members living in a two room house mainly made out of wood, paddy straws and tin sheets. All of the students are a first generation school student and wants to do well in education and rugby. When asked about their interests 95% wanted to be better at or learn English and basic computer work. All 35 have 100% support of their family to play rugby and feel they are role models for more hundreds of children who train under them. At the moment none of the family members are able to work as the tea garden is closed and anyone entering the village from outside is sent away to the local hospital for a check-up. 92% of families are getting a ration to support themselves from the church, forest department or local politicians. They have all helped in distributing the ration for the village.

Everyone is focusing on their fitness and helping parents in their household work.  Lots are involved in cooking and working on the fields to help with growing vegetables. Fishing is also possible as the river is near by and parents are happy if a good catch of fish comes home. This family time is welcome as children and parents don’t always get much time together in the day. The tea garden has now partially opened and some family members have started going to their  jobs. Rugby training stays closed keeping the safety of children in mind. 

Conclusions

Using this time to better understand our scholarship children and the challenges they face was very useful. We see these children all the time but normally we are racing to a practice or thinking about an urgent problem. For all three of us, this was a good chance to step back and think much more about each youngsters situation. We know this will help us as we work with the children in the future.

It was nice to see that though the scholars come from different states and have many tough problems day to day, they all share a love for rugby which they are missing very much. When asked about how badly they miss playing, everyone had the same answer, that they cannot wait to get on the field once the lockdown is lifted. 

Ada Milby, the first female member of the World Rugby Council, “Sport helps to connect people and communities through the creation of heroes.”

All these young people are our heroes.

We asked all our leaders, coaches and players to nominate unsung heroes from their communities. Family and friends who were going the extra mile to make a positive impact at this time of coronavirus pandemic. Please read on to see some of the stories of these unsung heroes, keeping on and motivating us all at these difficult times. 

Ghanshyam Chhetri, Bangalore: Nominated by Coach Akash. Ghanshyam’s parents are not able to work in the current situation which has made the situation at home very difficult. Ghanshyam works everyday delivering milk to families in his neighbourhood. It’s a 4am start but it means he is able to help his family with the earnings. It also means families don’t have to break the lockdown to get this daily essential.

Ghanshyam

Rehana Begum, Kolkata: Raunak from Wadgunj has nominated his mother as the hero of his family as she is doing a great job managing their home with hardly any money.

Raunak with his Mum Rehana

Aniruth A, Bangalore: Nominated by his brother Vinay, Aniruth has organised the distribution of food and groceries to needy families where they live. He has also worked to spread awareness on how to stay safe during the coronavirus lockdown.

Vinay’s brother Aniruth

Munna Singh, Kolkata: Munna was nominated by Pratap for his outstanding work in turning Decathlon swimming masks into medical protective masks. Munna designed and printed parts to convert the masks using a 3D printer. He has gone on to deliver them  himself to health workers.

Munna and some of the masks in use

Chandra Sekhar Singh, Kolkata: Aditya from Fatehpur has nominated his father as a hero. He has supported Aditya in every situation. Aditya said, ‘Money is an issue to survive for daily needs and expenses, my father is standing strong to provide us with every essential need. He is trying his best to give us normal life even in this pandemic.’

Aditya with his Dad Mr Singh

Soobhash Chandra: Soobash one of our senior players from Fatehpur quickly took the initiative of making masks at home. These have now been delivered across several communities in Kolkata. Soobhash has also been a critical part of our “Chain of Support” network making sure no one sleeps hungry.

Getting ready to deliver home made masks from Crows HQ

Mr Prathap, Bangalore: Vinay has nominated his school teacher Mr Prathap who has identified several places in Bangalore where the government could not reach. He with a group of friends are helping the daily wage workers in these areas with their essential needs.

Vinay’s teacher Mr Prathap

Mithun Hazra, Kolkata: Nominated by Paul, he is one of our young leaders. Everyday he is using the lockdown time for self improvement and motivating others to do the same. On his social media, he is putting up exercise videos and sharing his thoughts on various topics to practice his English. Through these efforts he is giving energy and inspiration to all of us.

Mithun

Suren Oraon, Saraswatipur: Rima from Saraswatipur has nominated her father as her hero. He motivates her to play rugby and is working really hard even in the lockdown to manage his family needs.

Suren Oraon

Sanjay and Jyoti Nag, Kolkata: Shakti from Khidderpore has nominated his parents. His father Sanjay is going out everyday and doing any work he can find to bring some money home for the family. Shakti is amazed his mother is managing the household on whatever little she is getting.

Mr and Mrs Nag

Shanti Hela, Kolkata: Anurag from Chetla has nominated his mother as a hero specially since she manages the home all on her own. Even during this situation she is not letting Anurag get distracted from his studies, not allowing him do much household work. Anurag’s Mum is using savings and doing whatever little jobs she can find to keep the family going.

Anurag with his mum

Mukesh Dooms, Bangalore: Nominated by Akash, Mukesh has collected small amounts of money from his family and friends and uses it to take care of 3 families in his community who cannot manage by themselves.

Bangalore’s Mukesh

Vidya Devi, Kolkata: Sunny from Hyde Road has nominated his Grandmother (Naani Maa) as a hero. His mother is struggling to manage the finances at home but his grandmother is a huge help doing much of the household work like cooking and cleaning. Meaning his mother has less to worry about.

Sunny and his Grandmother

As a part of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic we managed to survey 135 of our young community leaders. It’s so important to listen to the team. The results of the survey were first circulated on our social media accounts @khelorugby and were collated before Cyclone Amphan.

by Paul Walsh

We’ve been talking everyday to our young leaders during the lockdown. They are an essential part of our “chain of support” – our mission to support more than 2000 Khelo Rugby players.

We’ve also managed to conduct more formal surveys with those who have access to a smartphone or computer. The latest results are interesting and will help to inform decision making; “nothing for us without us”.

We got 135 sets of results made up from 65 young people in Kolkata, 29 in Bengaluru and 41 from Saraswatipur.

Here we can see answers to the question; “How are you managing your studies?”

It is a worry that even amongst these ‘connected’ youth 35% are unable to study, the main reasons include a lack of any space and being busy with household duties. And only 21% are studying online. This is a feature the lockdown has shown us, that the penetration of smart phones is not nearly as high as many of us imagine. These are our most connected young people, yet still few of them access any on-line learning.

We wanted to better understand how everyone was managing under the coronavirus lockdown.

Almost every family is taking help, mainly this is receiving some sort of ration supplied by local government. These rations are often distributed through local clubs or other voluntary organisations.

Few parents are able to work, which means nearly every family is using their savings to get through the crisis. Some are unable to manage at all. We have found the local Police very helpful in getting supplies organised for families who run out of options.

Our Khelo Rugby young people are busy with household activities. Seems everyone is pitching in to do some shopping, clean the house and cook. Even a few family entertainers around.

Obviously the survey mainly reflects the lives of 135 of our best connected children. We rely on them to watch out for all our players. It is important we support everyone.

We know this is just a snapshot of these young peoples lives, but it can give us some insight. Good to see 113 reported feeling happy or OK. Suggests this is a resilient group who are staying positive through the lockdown. We’ve followed up directly with those who are stressed or sad.

These are 135 of our best connected youngsters. But it is interesting that even amongst them 17 have no phone at home. And mostly they have just one phone.

We often think that today everyone seems so well connected. The lockdown has shown us this is absolutely not the case for the vast majority of our young rugby players. This is a challenge we’ll need to overcome, staying connected is so important.

And here for a bit of fun is the final post – not unexpected from our rugby crazy children. Our survey has brought several benefits: helping us all to stay connected, informing decisions, making sure we follow the ethos of nothing for us without us.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Getting this survey done was a great team effort, thanks especially for Shiv for the questions and getting all the responses.

Innovating and persevering through lockdown to keep our Khelo Rugby teams focussed and engaged. In the end knocked off course by Cyclone Amphan.

by Shiv Singh

Set at the beginning of 2020 our theme for the Month of May was ‘School is Great’. Much of our monthly theme work is set up and planned for delivery outdoors and in groups from across our communities. School is Great has often also featured a rugby tournament to raise awareness and give a focus. This year none of that was possible, no problem, change of plan!

We’ve been having lots of virtual meet ups since coronavirus lockdown began so we decided to take this route for School is Great. Though the majority of the children we work with do not have online access we attempted to set up small groups to push the theme as far as we could into communities. Coaches organised and encouraged phone sharing and borrowing. We began with an online workshop for 5 coaches, the plan was that these 5 would then each deliver a similar session for 5 groups each, working with each group to extend access as best they could.

Discussion points were decided by the first group, pictures and slides worked out and notes created. This project would be delivered in Kolkata, Saraswatipur and Bengaluru.

Shakti Nag from Khidderpore delivered 2 sessions on School is Great for 12 young leaders, one group from Kolkata and one for Bengaluru. Shakti used the zoom app and explained the theme to the young leaders using a presentation. He felt using visuals helped in getting the attention and made a better impact. He encouraged everyone to share their thoughts and got positive feedback for his sessions. This was also good English practice for Shakti which he used to deliver the session in Bengaluru.

Sonam Shaw did the workshop with 12 young leaders divided into 2 groups. As all the young leaders didn’t have online access, Sonam did the workshop in an open space following all the social distancing norms. She used drawings and examples to explain the theme and build the discussion. She kept everyone attentive and made them share their personal experiences which helped in building rapport. Sonam made sure all the safety measures were strictly followed.

Subrata Bhowmick did the workshop with 4 young leaders from Jain Kunj using whatsapp video calling. To make everyone comfortable and open up Subrata started his session by sharing stories from his own school life. The group discussed what they liked and disliked about school and talked about how they can do better in their studies and encourage others to do so also.

Sandhya Rai used zoom to deliver her session to 5 young leaders from across Kolkata. Sandhya explained the importance of school using a presentation. The session was very interactive and everyone shared ideas that they could use to discuss School is Great with children in their own communities.

Lachmi Oraon and Rima Oraon from Saraswatipur conducted their workshop with 8 young leaders each. They made notes from the workshop and used it for the delivery. They used Hindi and Sadri to discuss with the young leaders the importance of school. They got positive feedback from the young leaders as they understood the idea of the discussion and participated actively in it.

In total we managed to involve around 70 young coaches for the workshops. Feedback was positive with most of the youngsters taking part reporting that they understood and appreciated the School is Great message. The coaches leading the workshops have also identified that being involved in these workshops will help them in future to plan and make sessions with the children more interactive. Good results all round, only knocked off the rails once the cyclone struck, we’ll be back!

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