It has been some time since the last Just One program at the Sathya Sai Maa Moksha Dham and the local slum children have been visiting the Ashram asking when Sai Maa Vishnu Shakti Trust will be returning. It is the morning of Friday 13th January and we are now preparing for this eagerly awaited program.
The first children arrive early and are soon engaging with us, asking questions, curiously investigating what’s new at the ashram and playing games with us. Then it is time for the food to be blessed in the temple before beginning the program.
The meal today is a sturdy cauliflower, pea and potato stew with poori (fried bread) and hot spiced rice pudding (khir) containing seeds, nuts and raisins. When we have almost completed the serving of the first round of food, the older children begin the chant that is customarily offered as thanks to Sai Maa and to the divine for the meal. The children all join in and end with a resounding ‘Om Jai Jai Sai Maa’ before beginning to eat.
During the summer programs we usually have an influx of children at the beginning of the program and as it gets warmer the numbers become less. Instead today we start with smaller numbers which have us questioning how many children we will be serving. As the weather warms at noon, the numbers grow and by the end of program we have given warm nutritious food to about 140 poor children from the Harishchandra area and 20 adults, mainly the elderly and sadhus.
During the summer programs we usually have an influx of children at the beginning of the program and as it gets warmer the numbers become less. Instead today we start with smaller numbers which have us questioning how many children we will be serving. As the weather warms at noon, the numbers grow and by the end of program we have given warm nutritious food to about 140 poor children from the Harishchandra area and 20 adults, mainly the elderly and sadhus.
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