​On Saturday 16t April Sai Maa Vishnu Shakti Trust and 2 Canadian guests, Emily and Kevin, arrive at the Shiva Ji Mission School in Lakshmanpur during the children’s lunch break. Although it is still noisy today, there is none of the running and chasing in the open area of the school. It is 10.30am and the heat is already stifling so most of the children are sitting in the cooler areas of the schoolyard or in the shade of the classrooms.

However the heat does not dampen the enthusiasm of the children for the bananas they are receiving.  Their excitement is palpable each time Sai Maa Vishnu Shakti Trust arrives for this distribution.

​Every day now is uninterrupted bright sunshine, and by 10.30am the sun is blazing hot. To accommodate this, the school day at Shiva Ji Mission School has been adjusted to start at 7.30am. Today, April 9th, is no exception and so today’s food distribution will be timed so that the small children will be fed by their end of school day - 11.30am. With the lower number of children attending due to other priorities at this time of year, this proves to be manageable and at 11.30am a stream of happy, smiling, and laughing children with their stomachs full leaves through the front gate.

The Varanasi schools have now returned from their holiday period over the Hindu festival of Holi.   This has also meant the recommencement of the Just One fruit distribution program at the Shiva Ji Mission School. So on 5th April, Sai Maa Vishnu Shakti Trust has arranged for oranges to be distributed to all the students attending school on that day.

​When I arrive it is break time at the school and the children are mostly running around and playing as you would see in most schools around the world.   However it seems that there are many less students here today than before the break.  

By 11am the temperature has already soared past 90F (34C), and the sky is a brilliant clear sapphire blue.  It is April 4th, and although late this year, summer has now fully established its presence in Varanasi. On this morning we are in the Sathya Sai Maa Moksha Dham to offer food to the children, and to adults experiencing hardship, in the areas around the Sai Maa ashram at Harishchandra Ghat, Varanasi and it is refreshingly cool here inside the concrete Ashram structure.

​At 11.30am, everything is ready and the first local children have arrived. When the children see the bicycle rickshaws bringing the pots and cooking equipment to the Ashram in the mornings, they come and check with the guards to see if there will be a program today, then spread the news to their friends, family and neighbors.