Aarthi Veerupillai
What Aarthi Veerupillai did here
LifSkool: The SPARK Challenge Begins
Over five weeks at SDPY Boys High School, students explored life skills through games, discussions and hands-on challenges. They practised recognising and managing emotions, thinking creatively, solving problems, communicating and working with others. But what happens when there is no facilitator guiding the activity? Can students recognise when to use these skills and put them into practice themselves? This is what we wanted to explore next. During our final LifSkool session, we introduced the SPARK Challenge, a series of weekly team missions designed to help students apply what they have learned to situations in their everyday lives. The students formed five teams and chose their own names. We also created a WhatsApp group with parents to share the weekly challenges and stay connected with the students. This week, we began with Mission 1: SPOT IT. Each team received an envelope containing an illustrated instruction sheet and a worksheet. We also shared a Malayalam voice note to explain the mission. The students have one week to look around their school, home or community and notice small problems. Each student is encouraged to identify at least one problem independently before sharing their observations with their teammates. Together, they will then discuss up to three problems, choose one they would like to explore further and explain why they selected it. They can write or draw their responses in Malayalam or English. Each team submits one completed worksheet at the end of the week. We have deliberately asked them not to find solutions yet. The first step is to observe, listen to different ideas and make a decision together. Over the coming weeks, the missions will build on one another, giving students opportunities to practise the skills they learned during LifSkool without us directing each step.
Our Saturday Curiosity Club fell on World Mental Health Day, making it a fitting time to explore caring for our thoughts and feelings. We prepared slides, art materials and our first Malayalam explainer video created using NotebookLM about the hand-brain model, explaining why big feelings can make thinking clearly difficult. After a rainstorm movement activity, children and facilitators shared their emotional “weather”. We discussed how feelings change and used think, pair and share to explore when and where big feelings arise. We talked about making a plan when something can be changed, and coping when it is outside our control: Breathe through bee breathing, Move through gentle movement and a body scan, and Create through art. For Create, children used crayons to scribble their stress or big feelings onto paper, pressing down and making marks freely. They tore the paper into smaller pieces, then arranged and glued them onto a fresh sheet to create a design of their choice. They added words to encourage themselves, such as “You are amazing”, “Never give up” and “I love you”. We were surprised by the messages they chose. On the back, they traced a hand and added people they could reach out to when they needed support. We closed with a recap of the model and ways to care for our mental health.
LifSkool: Taking Our Learning Forward
Students were ready to go with our familiar movement and mindful breathing routine and settled into the session quickly. Today was our last in-person LifSkool session before a break and it brought together the skills we had explored throughout the programme. Students revisited what they had learned, why the skills mattered and how they could use them in everyday life. It was encouraging to hear their reflections in their own words. We introduced the SPARK Challenge: noticing a small, real problem at school, at home or in the neighbourhood, and using their life skills together to try making a difference with a buddy. Students will receive weekly SPARK challenge envelopes in person to complete with their buddies. They will share updates through our WhatsApp group, where we will stay connected and support them. At their graduation day in January 2027, they will present their work and learning. To finish, students worked together to spell SPARK using their bodies. It was a playful, emotional close to this part of our journey, with more learning ahead.
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Opening Doors: Our First School Outreach Together
Our recent team meetings highlighted a shared challenge: reaching children and young people who could benefit from the programmes at aikyam. We agreed to combine our networks and prepare a shared introduction to the offerings. Putting this into action, we prepared a shared brochure introducing the programmes available at aikyam. Each team contributed programme descriptions, which were brought together in a brochure for the visits. We then made our first school visits together as the aikyam, Olimalar and Thudippu team, visiting two schools suggested by Shabana, drawing on her knowledge of the local community. We spoke with headteacher about opportunities for children to participate. One school already knew Olimalar through LifSkool. At the other, youth festival preparations opened a conversation about possible dance support from Thudippu. We collected their contact numbers and shared printed and digital copies of the brochure. When we returned to aikyam, we discussed the visits and how we could reach more children. Alongside welcoming families to aikyam, we explored finding spaces in schools and communities and training facilitators to run activities closer to where children live.
LifSkool: Understanding Each Other
We began by revisiting The Egg Drop Challenge: why had some designs protected their eggs, and how had the teams worked together? This connected our previous session to interpersonal relationships - how we listen, share ideas and make decisions together. We explored the relationships in our lives and what strengthens or damages them. The idea of a “relation-ship” helped us talk about trust, listening and respect, and how to work through disagreements. This time, we changed the pace, watching two short films, Snack Attack and Purl, and coming together for circle discussions. We explored misunderstandings, being left out and the pressure to change ourselves to fit in, connecting the stories to everyday school situations. Students practised asking directly before making assumptions and inviting someone to join their group. We closed with a reflection on being themselves and responding to peer pressure, bringing the discussion back to everyday choices in their relationships.
Malarvattam: Making Space to Share
We surveyed nearly 100 people in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry to understand what support the community wanted. Their responses highlighted a need for parents and caregivers to share experiences, feel heard and support one another. This led us to create and name Malarvattam ("flower circle"), a monthly parents and caregivers’ circle. For the first gathering, we chose a get-to-know-you conversation. The facilitators reviewed the survey together, developed discussion prompts and prepared slides. Their role was to make space for everyone to contribute, listen and summarise what participants shared, rather than give expert parenting advice. We designed a poster and shared it widely through partners and community contacts. On Saturday, the facilitators held a mock circle, working through the slides and practising how they would introduce questions and guide the discussion. They also prepared their own scripts for Sunday’s session. Two participants joined the first circle. Together, we explored memories of childhood, children’s lives today and experiences of parenting and caregiving.
LifSkool: The Egg Drop Challenge
Students returned with creations they had continued at home after “LifSkool: What Else?”—photo frames, a little fan, a house, a puzzle and chopsticks. It was lovely to see their ideas develop beyond the session. We began with our routine movement break and mindful breathing, giving students time to shake off the school day and settle. Then six teams took on The Egg Drop Challenge: protect your egg from a fall. We chose the task to bring problem-solving, effective communication, decision-making and creative thinking together through discussing ideas, choosing a design and testing it. Students combined recycled materials from home with supplies from our inventory to create their egg carrier. We planned a second-floor drop, but their confidence went one floor higher and they asked to test from the third! One student from each team stayed with a facilitator to drop their design, while the others went downstairs to watch and check whether their egg survived. Much to their amazement, two of the six eggs appeared to remain intact. With little time left after returning to class, we planned to revisit why some designs worked and how the teams worked together in the next session.