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Women's Empowerment: Swati's Case Story

3/16/2015

 
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Swati was a college student living happily with her family in their family home. All this changed when Swati met a young man, Vikas, and fell in love with him. Over time it became clear to both Swati and Vikas that they wished to build a life together and so they decided to marry. When Swati expressed this wish to her family, she discovered another side to her seemingly accepting family.

Swati’s family refused her request to marry and vehemently opposed the relationship continuing.  In traditional Indian families, parents still believe they have the right to determine their children’s future.   Vikas was not the future they envisaged for their daughter.  During one heated argument, the violence became extreme and Swati was severely beaten by both her father and brother. From then she lived in fear that this violence would continue or escalate if she did not change her mind.   


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Just One: Nagwa

3/16/2015

 
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Today's Just One program is in the Nagwa district of Varanasi.  It is uphill from the river Ganges and by the Ghats, the concrete and stone steps that lead the pilgrims down to the bathing sites. It is a beautiful sunny day in India.  Spring comes early here and the children gather from all around.  It is one of the busier areas that we attend to, and we have many inquiring visitors as the food is cooked.

This program is close to the Indian celebration of Holi, the Hindu New Year. Already teenage boys and girls returning from school in their British uniforms are chasing each other to smear brightly colored chalk-like dust all over each other's faces and clothes.  It is a time for great joy and celebration and this will only intensify as New Year approaches.


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Just One: Sathya Sai Maa Moksha Dham

3/16/2015

 
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The morning of February 27th is bright and sunny, promising a warm day ahead.   Four students of Sai Maa are gathered at the Sathhya Sai Maa Moksha Dham to participate in the seva of serving food to the local children of the Harishchandra Ghat area for Just One.   Seva is selfless service, which means serving others with no expectation of even a smile in return and not feeding the ego in any way for offering this service

The local children arrive early and are boisterous in their voice and action.   In stark contract the children from the local school sit quietly and well mannered with their teacher beside them.   The children are served a hot vegetable curry made from peas and cauliflower, hot puri and kheer – the sweetened and spiced milk which is so popular with them.


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Just One: Shivpurura

3/16/2015

 
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I am with 3 Sai Maa students travelling to Shivpurura for today’s Just One feeding program.  The roads we are driving on are getting smaller and smaller, with more and more rocks, holes and bumps until we arrive close to our destination and walk the short distance to where the food preparation is already underway. It is February 26th and the feeding is in an empty plot off a small alley. 



To get there we walk past areas strewn with garbage and a few large muddy black pigs who are pushing their snouts through the trash. The food being prepared is the nutritious vegetable curry, puri (fried bread) and banana that are the signature of a Just One program.  Our guests are soon introduced to puri making and become an integral part of the Just One team despite the language differences, feeding 230 children total when the program is complete.


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Just One: Sathya Sai Maa Moksha Dham

3/2/2015

 
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The streets around the Sathya Sai Maa Moksha Dham seem to be especially alive and vibrant on this morning of February 23rd.   We are walking together with students from the Sai Maa community towards the Ashram where a feeding program is being offered to the children and schools of the local community.

For the students it is an opportunity to serve and get to know these children who are becoming part of the Sai Maa Ashram base at Harishchandra Ghat.  All the students are soon handing out plates, clay pots and glasses and ensuring that the plates all have food.  Part of the skill in serving food is to ensure that no child receives too much.   Food is sacred and as such no food is to be wasted.   For this reason small servings are offered frequently rather than large servings.  Today many of the children play games with the new servers, pretending, laughing and generally enjoying themselves.


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Just One: Theliyana

3/2/2015

 
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Sai Maa Vishnu Shakti Trust came to Theliyana Bajardiha just two weeks ago.  However, today on February 22nd we are at a different community.  This group of slum dwellers are called 'ragpickers'.  Basically, they go through the trash that people throw out on the streets and pick out all the recyclables.  They collect the paper, plastic, rag/cloth, glass, and a myriad of other items in huge nylon bags and store them next to their homes.  These are later sold in bulk at a better price.  India has a population of 1.2 billion people, so the government has to consider the benefits of modernizing the country without destroying industries that supply jobs for the uneducated masses, such as the ragpickers.

Today is Sunday, which is considered as the only rest day of the week in India.  Last Friday, there was a huge fire here that destroyed 9 dwellings and hospitalized one man.   The tents  were made of bamboo poles with discarded sacking, and saris or any other suitable materials acting as tarpaulins over the bamboo frames.   The repercussions of this fire for the village are harsh.  They have been ordered to leave the land within 15 days.  And, even as we cook the food, we see one of the locals packing up a bicycle trolley and moving out of his house.  


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