How Kikori became a tool for empowerment in Tamil Nadu Refugee Camps for Sri Lankan Tamils

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees have lived in camps across Tamil Nadu, India for over 40 years, since fleeing civil war across the eighteen kilometre Palk Strait. Today around 62,000 people live across more than 100 camps, spanning three generations who've grown up without citizenship, or the legal recognition to fully rebuild their lives.

For nearly 30 years, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) has run almost 90 Centers for Education and Coexistence across these camps, giving children daily tutoring and support. What makes them different: the teachers and coordinators all come from the refugee community itself.

Bringing in Kikori

In 2024, Play for Peace trainers Swati Bhatt and Agyatmitra were invited by JRS to train district coordinators and community representatives. At their third training, held in Dindigul in August 2025, certified trainers Swati and Agyat introduced the Kikori App to more than 35 coordinators and staff.

For 60 teachers working with scarce materials and months between trainings, a searchable library of activities they could carry in their pocket changed everything.

"It gave them agency. It turned them from recipients of knowledge into confident, self-directed practitioners."

When teachers and children carried the Kikori App into host community schools and public events, something shifted in how they saw themselves.

"Knowing how to use it, knowing how to introduce an activity, how to read the room, how to adapt a game, made them feel empowered"

World Refugee Day, International Day of Peace, International Children's Day: These always mattered inside the camps, but without structured resources the commemorations often stayed simple.

Kikori's monthly curated playlists gave facilitators a ready framework, turning a brief acknowledgment into a full day of cooperative games, reflection, and community gathering.