Home Coming is MAD's alumni finding every kid we ever taught and bringing them back into the network. 6,401 kids learned with MAD over 20 years. When they turned 18 they left the shelters, and we lost touch with most of them. This is how we find them again. All of them.
Lit / dark. A kid is lit when we have their number — when they're back in the network. Dark when we don't. Yet. The whole game is turning dark into lit.
The two things you do.
- Add a number. You know a kid? Tap them, add the number. That's it. That's the whole job.
- Call someone who does. Don't have it? Tap a dark kid and you'll see the batchmates we've already lit and the Madsters who taught that batch. Tap Call — the number shows once, your phone dials, and it's logged under your name.
Batch. The year they turned 18. The year they left, and the year we lost touch.
On it. Tap "I'm on it" on a batch and your name shows on it for everyone. It means "I'm working on these kids". No limits — join someone's batch, or start one.
Nominate. You can't do a batch alone, and you shouldn't. Tap Nominate, pick who else was there, and WhatsApp opens with the message written. Whoever joins through your link counts as yours — and so does every kid they light.
Someone's missing. Our records are 20 years of spreadsheets. If a kid isn't on the list, add them. First name is enough.
Same kid? Two entries for one kid? Tap "Same kid as someone else?" and point at the other one. An editor merges them. Nothing gets deleted, ever.
Boards. Three of them. Cities most lit — ranked by share, so a small city can lead. Finders — who lit the most this week. Connectors — whose nominees lit the most this week. Finders and Connectors reset every Monday. Light one and you're on the board.
Signing in. No login. The first time you do anything — add, call, nominate, I'm on it — we ask your first name and number, once. That's how the app knows who lit what. Numbers are never shown in lists, never downloadable from the app, and every reveal is logged.
Where's my city? Twenty cities are coming. Right now: Bangalore, Chandigarh, Cochin, Delhi.
What happens after. Once a kid is back in the network, they're part of the MAD Safety Net — MAD's programme for the most vulnerable kids, with them until they're out of poverty for good. MAD Dost is how they reach it. That's the next chapter.
Not bad. Not done. Let's go.