Just One: Nagwa

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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The location for this program is right outside a Muslim mosque.  This is why I love these feedings so much.  The Muslims clergy have offered their premises for this feeding.  Normally, no one is allowed inside the gates, however due to an unseasonal amount of rain and the mud where the program is usually held, they allow us to feed the children inside the mosque grounds on the stone floors.  This also allows a much more orderly distribution of food.  It is this type of cooperation between Christians (ASMITA – our partner), Hindus and Muslims that feeding the slum children demonstrates.  

The count for today's meals is 177.  I watch as fathers and mothers carry their children putting them in the queue to receive food.  They do not even ask for themselves out of respect for the children yet to be served and those who have yet to come.