On 13th & 14th September, we had two Mann Melas – our unique “Mental Justice Fairs” which is a games-based module that take mental health literacy, support and strategies in simple, everyday, accessible, youth-friendly, ground-sensitive language. This is developed by Deepa Pawar – herself a NT-DNT young woman, and entirely carried out by trained grassroots youth. Using games like Snakes & Ladders, Ring Toss, Quiz, Hit the Target, etc. Mann Mela is adaptable and customized to every group as per their particular realities.
The first Mann Mela was with college students of Saket College in Kalyan, and the next was with children, youth, women and men of a NT-DNT tent settlement in Ambarnath.
This is our 4th year of carrying out Mann Melas – having first launched it in 2018, every year a successive batch of youth Mann Mela facilitators are trained, and more and more intersectional groups are reached with the program itself.
Such as, we had started by reaching college students in 2018, and later expanded to rural youth & women, then Adivasi youth & women, and now NT-DNT youth, women and men. With every expansion, the module is further developed based on the more challenging needs and lived experiences of each group. Similarly, the profile of the trained youth facilitators also reflects more diversity and intersectionality. By now, Anubhuti only stays in a mentoring role, while every stall as well as logistics are led by a combination of newer trained youth and older more experienced youth.