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​​On January 26, India celebrates its Republic Day.  For the second year in a row, I am honored to be the chief guest at the Shiva Ji Mission School, a place for underprivileged children to get an education. The Just One Hunger Initiative sponsored by the Sai Maa Vishnu Shakti Trust is fortunate to have the opportunity to provide food in celebration of India’s national holiday to these children.

On January 19th, 2016 the final cataract surgery program for the winter of 2015-16 was held at the Vivekanand Mission Hospital, Maharajganj near Bhodohi, a small village outside Varanasi.  With this camp the 100 free surgeries offered each winter by Sai Maa Vishnu Shakti Trust were completed. In fact, this year 16 additional surgeries were completed due to higher demand from people in need of the surgery to regain independence and confidence in their daily lives.

On January 9th, the Just One Hunger Initiative attended the Shiva Ji Mission School on the outskirts of Bhojubheer and held a food distribution program for its students. This school is a free school for children whose parents cannot afford the normal government school fees, and has a catchment area of approximately 20km in radius. This means that the children attending here are generally from the poorer social strata, and the current benefactor has told us that often children do come without having been fed and sometimes even appear malnourished,

​​On January 5, the New Year brought with it the opportunity for the gift of eye sight for 15 patients suffering from cataracts.  The weather was unseasonably warm for this time of year.  Heat is a major factor the ophthalmologists must take into consideration in performing the cataract surgeries because of the risk of infection.  As the temperature increases, the risk of infection and therefore loss of vision, or even worse, loss of the eye, rises rapidly.  However today, the weather is perfect spring temperatures.

The latest eye camp was attended by more than 150 people, of which 45 met the screening criteria.  Out of these 45 potentials, only 19 passed the final tests and were accepted for the cataract operations.  

On January 2nd 2016 Just One entered a new phase of its operations. Just One is now looking to create ongoing relationships with communities in need, and serving these communities on a regular basis. With this in mind, we have entered a trial relationship with Shiva Ji Mission School to provide weekly food for their students and today was the first distribution.

The Shiva Ji Mission School lies on the outskirts of Varanasi, bordering the rural areas. There are no public schools available for the children from families unable to pay for education in this area. This school was built and is funded entirely by a retired English teacher with the desire to ensure all children of this area have the possibility of a basic education.