Games for change

The very first time I was attempting to play the Oasis Game I came across this lady in a slum in Udaipur in 2009 Her house had a nallah right in front of it but she had placed potted plants all around it lsquoI just love plantsrsquo shersquod said to me as I entered her tiny 10x10 house When I asked her about her dream she said she wanted nothing other than to get everyone else to love plants just as much as she didrdquo recalls Rachana Radhakrishna who went on to attend Warriors Without Weaponsrsquo WWW experiential training programme in Santos Brazil in 2011Rachana Radhakrishna Azeer Attari Vishal Singh Dhaybhai and Areen Attari intend to introduce many others to the Oasis Games Apart from focussing on beauty and abundance within a community the WWW philosophy also values dreams as the best impulse to create change One of the aspects of the sevenstep Oasis Game which the lsquowarriorsrsquo learn during their onemonth training in Santos is to figure out the collective dream of a community and make it a reality in a short span of timeDream catchersRadhakrishna who was attempting to discover personal dreams before gauging a collective one got lucky with the lady with the green thumb ldquoShe was what we call the lsquopoint of lightrsquo She took me by surprise because before I got to her house Irsquod already been given answers about wanting a whole lot of moneyrdquo laughs the27yearold architectChildren participate in a session of Oasis Game at DhampurAzeer Attari a bioarchitect by profession who also attended the programme in 2011 says the trick is to ask the right questions mdash something Radhakrishna has learnt over the course of timeldquoMost of the time yoursquoll get superficial answers Getting the real dream is sometimes a challenge We have to develop the art must coax them and actively listen to their responses Let their superficial and personal dreams come out and eventually yoursquoll figure out what they want for their community It could be a cultural centre or a community bench or anything like thatrdquo explains Azeer who was tremendously inspired by the philosophy after meeting with WWW cofounder Edgard Gouveia Jr during his trip to the country in 2010In Udaipur in 2009 after asking everyone in the community Radhakrishna and her team played another game mdash World Cafeacute mdash which promotes meaningful conversations and helped them discover the collective dream What the community in Udaipur needed was a common area to gettogether and socialise ldquoWe worked on a place near the hand pump where we created a beautiful sit out for them We built a bench decorated it with colourful dupattas and also created an interesting play area for childrenrdquo she revealsInspire and achieveDuring the onemonth WWW intensive training session in Brazil generally held in the first month of the year the lsquowarriorsrsquo are taught using various fun ways such as circular dances or cooperative games enabling them to use the techniques to bring people together identify and solve problems creativelyThe Oasis Game at Mahindra United World College Pune enabled the staff to develop an emotional bond with the studentsThe group is also made to work with favelas slums in Santos Radhakrishna recalls helping to set up a bakery for the women of a tiny favela atop a hill in Santos ldquoMany women baked at home regularly but those who didnrsquot had to go all the way down the hill to buy bread Having a bakery enabled the bakers in the town to sell their wares toordquo says Radhakrishna ldquoVisiting the communities helps us learn how to inspire We help them to realise how easy it is to light the flame in each one of us The aim is to have faith in ourselves and in each other We actually go through the process of building a dream and helping a community become more economically independentrdquo explains Azeer who made sure his younger brother Areen attended the programme the following yearAn Indian AdaptationSince their return from Santos the Attaris along with Radhakrishna and fellow warrior Vishal Singh Dhaybhai have played the Oasis Game at a number of schools and communities in India From Baroda in Gujarat to Dhampur in Uttar Pradesh the Oasis Games have already spread smiles across rural and urban communities alikeldquoWe also had an incredibly interesting session with the staff and students at Mahindra United World College of India Pune The students had invited us because they believed the staff ie the gardener cook and so on needed new and improved living quarters But after we played the Oasis Game with them we realised that thatrsquos not what the staff wanted at all They just wanted a better relationship with the students something that was quite obviously missing The Game bridged the gap and helped create an emotional bond between the two distinct groupsrdquo says RadhakrishnaThe four youngsters intend to introduce more and more people across the country to the Games and the WWW philosophy ldquoIdeally wersquod like to set up a WWW centre in the country But we still have a lot to learn Besides in Brazil apart from playing the Oasis Game we are made to follow a set of rituals These are based on the traditions of the indigenous tribes For instance once a week we are taken to the countryside to an extremely scenic place and made to spend three hours in the water If we do bring the programme to India wersquod like to adapt these rituals to something more Indiaspecific After all our country is just as culturally richrdquo she assertsBack to BrazilThis year the four of them were invited back to Santos to share their experiences of playing the Oasis Games in India While Dhaybhai and the Attari brothers have already made it to South America Radhakrishna decided to skip the trip for want of funds ldquoIt was important that they go because we want to make the Games more impactful The event is being organised so that people from across the globe share their experiences to discuss where wersquore falling short and how we can reach out to more peoplerdquo explains RadhakrishnaLog onto httpwwwindiegogocomprojectswarriorswithoutweapons2 to help fund the warriorsrsquo trip to Santos Brazil