Today is 23rd February and it feels like summer is already here. As the Just One team arrives at the Shiva Ji Mission School in Laxmanpur, Varanasi, the children are already returning to their classrooms after their break and the dust raised by the children’s boisterous playtime is beginning to settle. I notice the classes have changed rooms since our last visit, with the youngest ones where the oldest ones used to be, and vice versa. It makes a nice difference as we all go around greeting the approximately 340 children that are at school today.
Once the food is perfectly cooked the team quickly begins to serve, starting with the youngest children as always. Despite the obvious poverty of so many of these children, their smiles are gloriously sweet and contain such innocence. There is a vibrancy, a sparkle of the divine in their joyousness. I feel awestruck to be surrounded by such purity, such beauty, and all else no longer matters. It is at this time that I am privileged to briefly experience the real wealth of life, the blessings of the divine.
Once the food is perfectly cooked the team quickly begins to serve, starting with the youngest children as always. Despite the obvious poverty of so many of these children, their smiles are gloriously sweet and contain such innocence. There is a vibrancy, a sparkle of the divine in their joyousness. I feel awestruck to be surrounded by such purity, such beauty, and all else no longer matters. It is at this time that I am privileged to briefly experience the real wealth of life, the blessings of the divine.
Today some of the teachers join with the team and older students to serve the meal, and their absolute joy to serve these children only adds to the whole experience. Watching the teachers interact with the students, the strong, loving bond they share is so obvious. Many of the younger students can forget they are at school and refer to the teachers as ‘Mama’, such is the love bond that exists. Today each child receives a complete meal consisting of vegetables and potato in a curry gravy served with poori (fried bread), accompanied by the ever popular sweet and spicy milk and rice pudding, kheer, as dessert.
As each classroom finishes their food, they take their trash to the bins Just One has provided, and it is time to leave for their families. Although in a hurry to leave, they are disciplined and many offer signs of respect for the meal they have just received from Just one and Sai Maa. Even so their speed quickens as they get closer to the front gate.
As the school empties, silence gradually creeps in and then it is only the cooks, the Just One team and the teachers remaining in the school ground. In this relative silence, we can even hear the slight warm wind blowing through the school yard - such a contrast to the joyous chatter of the children. On leaving the teachers offer their gratitude to Sai Maa and the Just One program. This is almost a ritual at each visit by Just One, but each time the authenticity of this gratitude shines through in their faces and their voices. It is such a gift.
As each classroom finishes their food, they take their trash to the bins Just One has provided, and it is time to leave for their families. Although in a hurry to leave, they are disciplined and many offer signs of respect for the meal they have just received from Just one and Sai Maa. Even so their speed quickens as they get closer to the front gate.
As the school empties, silence gradually creeps in and then it is only the cooks, the Just One team and the teachers remaining in the school ground. In this relative silence, we can even hear the slight warm wind blowing through the school yard - such a contrast to the joyous chatter of the children. On leaving the teachers offer their gratitude to Sai Maa and the Just One program. This is almost a ritual at each visit by Just One, but each time the authenticity of this gratitude shines through in their faces and their voices. It is such a gift.
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