It is December 13th, 2014 and we have returned to the village of Chatripur on the outskirts of Shivpur. Shivpur itself is on the outskirts of Varanasi and to reach here we have ridden along dirt roads through fields of green vegetables interspersed with houses and small communities. When we arrive, I find the vegetables are all cooked and about 15 women are engaged in rolling dough and frying puris.
About 300 children are expected today and there is already 1 large pot filled with puri, but the preparation and cooking continues for about another 2 hours to feed this number of children.
About 300 children are expected today and there is already 1 large pot filled with puri, but the preparation and cooking continues for about another 2 hours to feed this number of children.
The village we are in is orderly and well cared for but the villagers themselves are extremely poor, so Just One has been attending here regularly. Many of the surrounding villages that join the feeding program here have even greater poverty, and today we find that the children from some of these villages have gone out begging and will not be able to participate. For this reason today’s total is only 250 children, rather than the expected 300.
The children that do attend are all extremely hungry – and as I watch I am amazed by the amount of food that some of these young children consume. One small child with huge kohl rimmed eyes of maybe 3 years old sat down unsteadily, started eating and just kept steadily eating. All the other children had finished, so his elder sister tried to coax him away from the plate, but he kept reaching out his hands for more. She then sat down with him and he continued eating. He simply refused to leave until he was no longer hungry and then he left - clutching his banana in one hand and holding his sister’s hand with the other.
The children that do attend are all extremely hungry – and as I watch I am amazed by the amount of food that some of these young children consume. One small child with huge kohl rimmed eyes of maybe 3 years old sat down unsteadily, started eating and just kept steadily eating. All the other children had finished, so his elder sister tried to coax him away from the plate, but he kept reaching out his hands for more. She then sat down with him and he continued eating. He simply refused to leave until he was no longer hungry and then he left - clutching his banana in one hand and holding his sister’s hand with the other.
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