This month we were approached by Mr. Victor, the principal of Mandal Parishad Primary School in the rural village of Jonnavalasa, Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. He heard of our ashram’s food distribution programs in Vizianagaram and requested us to do something for the children in his school. Already the children receive daily meals from the government, through the national mid-day meal program, so we asked in what way we could be of assistance. He replied that the children could use school uniforms, as their families cannot afford them.

Principal Victor wanted to make sure the school uniforms would fit properly, so he asked that each child be measured by a tailor and have a uniform stitched according to their particular measurements. That evening we went with Mr. Victor to the cloth market in Vizianagaram to select the cloth for the uniforms. After selecting the cloth we then arranged for a tailor to come the next day to the school for taking measurements and cutting the cloth.

Below you can see some pictures of the children at the school. There were a total of 170 children, spanning grades 1 through 6. There is a short video from the day at the top of this page as well.

Afterwards Mr. Victor mentioned to us that two young girls at the school, around 7 years old, had recently become orphans. He requested us to do something to help them. We are currently looking into what we can do to best help these two children. In the meantime our devotees have continued distributing food in rural villages around Vizianagaram for 15 days each month (every second day).