Stories of Children
For Minu Behar, the meal at school is often the only food she has during the day. With no one to cook for her and her siblings after the loss of their mother, the mid-day meal provided is a blessing in many ways. While her father, a rickshaw puller, goes out to earn a living for the family, her youngest sister, not yet old enough to attend classes, stays at home. Minu and her second sister go to Beatrix Primary School in Puri and if there is food left over from the lunch provided everyday, they take it home for the little one. Minu always waits in suspense to find out what dishes are on the menu, whether it is Alu Mutter (Potato Peas gravy), Vegetable Pulao, Paneer Sabji (Cottage cheese with vegetables), Dalma (vegetables with lentils), Kheer (a milk based sweet) or any other specialty.
Anantha Badu who studies in Class 4, dreams of being an engineer one day. Having lost his father at a young age, he stays with his mother and 9 siblings near Puri. While his mother and elder sister work from home making cotton wicks for oil lamps on a contract basis, his 3 elder brothers work as helpers at odd jobs. Only Anantha and his younger sister, who are of school going age, attend classes. His favourite meal? He loves the soya and paneer sabji that we prepare.
Mamatha's father, a physical labourer in Bangalore, provides for his family on less than Rs. 100, a mere $2 a day, but he has great hopes for his daughter, encouraging her to study as much as she can. This she does, diligently working for 2 hours after school everyday to remain at the top of her class and make her father proud. Mamatha dreams of being a doctor one day, so she can take care of her ill mother and make life for her father more comfortable.
Stories of Teachers
"If not for the Akshaya Patra meal, the school would have had to close down because of very low enrolment and retention of students", says Ms. Subhansu Banapattanaik, the Head Mistress of Beatrix Primary School in Puri. She adds that parents of most of the children at her school are daily wage labourers like rickshaw pullers, construction workers, roadside vendors, housemaids, etc. and they do not always get to eat the varieties of food supplied by Akshaya Patra.
