​In India, the 26th January is an important calendar date in all schools. It designates Republic Day, the day that the Indian constitution came into being. The Just One team is invited to participate in these celebrations at the Shiva Ji Mission School and it is also decided to incorporate this week’s Just One program into the Republic Day program.
 
The school is packed with children and also mothers, brothers and sisters – many, many more people than usual. A stage has been set up in the school’s playground and everyone is crowded around it, and even overflowing into the open backed classrooms. The program is simple but entertaining, with the students presenting a range of traditional and Bollywood dance, as well as drama pieces.  

On 22nd January, 2017 we held our ‘final’ camp and surgeries for this season, which means that the 100 surgery goal for this year was passed. In fact, 123 were performed.  If the weather continues to be mild, more camps may be held by Vivekanand Mission. This time the camp was held in Maharajganj, and the surgeries were performed that same afternoon. Hospital ambulances transported over 110 villagers to the Vivekanand Mission hospital for testing, and after blood pressure and blood sugar testing as well as general health checks 25 were selected for the surgery.

Today is Tuesday 17th January 2017, and this is the first hot meal that Just One is offering at the Shiva Ji Mission School in 2017. Generally Just One visits the school on a Saturday however last Saturday was a public holiday – Makar Sankranthi – celebrating a significant shift of the sun when days begin to lengthen. The menu today is similar to previous meals – vegetable curry, poori (Indian fried bread) and kheer (Sweet and spicy milk rice pudding), but as always the vegetables are seasonal and today feature potato, carrots and fresh peas.

​​We arrive at the school during their break and we find most of the children running around enjoying themselves in the tiny play yard. Some of the older children are sitting on the sides in groups, but the younger children are running and joyfully playing, full of energy with life seemingly bursting from them as they revel in this short break from their studies. Even those sitting on the sides yell and generally join in the celebration of this short freedom from the discipline of the classroom.

​​It has been some time since the last Just One program at the Sathya Sai Maa Moksha Dham and the local slum children have been visiting the Ashram asking when Sai Maa Vishnu Shakti Trust will be returning.  It is the morning of Friday 13th January and we are now preparing for this eagerly awaited program.
 
The first children arrive early and are soon engaging with us, asking questions, curiously investigating what’s new at the ashram and playing games with us.  Then it is time for the food to be blessed in the temple before beginning the program. 

The Sai Maa Cataract Surgery Program continued over the Christmas and New Year period with surgeries performed at The Vivekananda Eye Hospital, Maharajganj, a rural area about 40km from Varanasi. The first 26 surgeries were commenced on the 25th December, but because of the large number and an inconsistent electric supply the last of these Christmas surgeries were completed on the 26th December.   

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Just One scheduled one of its regular fruit distribution programs at the Shiva Ji Mission School on January 7th, 2017. It was to be the first for the New Year after the winter break – a break extended due to the extreme cold and fog in Varanasi. However, the government again declared a holiday on the 7th because of more predictions for extreme cold. This time Just One had already purchased the fruit for distribution, so the teachers agreed to come in for any children who wished to come and receive the fruit.