The school year is fast coming to a close, and the students are becoming more and more excited each week we come. The discipline that the school has nurtured in the students is still present and the students and teachers continue their lessons as they do throughout the year. And still there is the buzz of excitement, the low volume gay chatter of children ready for the holidays, and later we experience the delight of these children, eyes shining, mouths laughing, and stomachs full, as they rush out the gate when the final bell rings.
Saturday May13th is the last Just One Food Distribution at the Shiva Ji Mission School for this school year. It is only 5 school days till the end of the year, but almost all the students are still in attendance, so there are approximately 280 students in attendance today. A large majority of these students are in kindergarten and it still surprises me to see how young some of these children look. Not just young, but also how tiny some of their bodies are, how wide eyed and innocent looking they appear. Some seem just too young to be in a classroom studying. In one case, a young girl of no more than 5, perhaps she is even 4 years old, lovingly and carefully looks after her younger brother who looks about 3 years old at most. She adjusts his clothes which are way too big for him but somehow just increase his innocence and his cute appeal, and helps him eat his meal, making sure that he receives all the food he wants. This young boy always seems to be looking up and around him in awe or in wonder, and then his sister, who is never far away, grabs his hand and leads him securely forward.
Today Just One are providing a full hot meal for these children. The meal consists of a chickpea, potato and vegetable curry, Indian fried bread (poori) and spiced rice pudding (kheer). As always the children hungrily devour the meal and they display an amazing capacity for consuming food. We do serve small potions so as not to waste food, but still, the total quantity, especially the number of poori eaten, often seems to be more than many adults consume. It is a reminder of the reason that we chose to work with this school – the poor quality of nutrition for many of the students and the fact that this was making them too lethargic and too tired to learn. It is such a joy to see the difference now that their regular food has nutritious supplementation and to have this validated by there teachers and higher exam results.
Today Just One are providing a full hot meal for these children. The meal consists of a chickpea, potato and vegetable curry, Indian fried bread (poori) and spiced rice pudding (kheer). As always the children hungrily devour the meal and they display an amazing capacity for consuming food. We do serve small potions so as not to waste food, but still, the total quantity, especially the number of poori eaten, often seems to be more than many adults consume. It is a reminder of the reason that we chose to work with this school – the poor quality of nutrition for many of the students and the fact that this was making them too lethargic and too tired to learn. It is such a joy to see the difference now that their regular food has nutritious supplementation and to have this validated by there teachers and higher exam results.
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