Volunteering in Kolkata

Article by: Vanessa Arrington, December 2007

It's been more than 10 years since the death of Mother Teresa, but she is still everywhere in Kolkata. Statues of the famous Catholic nun, known as the 'saint of the gutters', pop up among the snarled traffic jams of India's third-largest city, while her photograph lines the walls of internet cafes, stores and bookshops throughout town.

If you jump into one of the city's buses or taxis and make a request in English, you'll usually meet with a blank look; but just about any taxi driver or bus conductor will know how to get you to the Mother House, home to Mother Teresa's tomb and the Missionaries of Charity headquarters.

Mother Teresa's impact is felt most, however, in the homes she set up across Kolkata to provide services for the destitute and the dying, the mentally ill and handicapped and the city's orphaned children. The homes' international nuns wear the same blue-banded head scarves she wore. Their numbers are strengthened by hundreds of volunteers from across the world.

Volunteers can spend a few days, a couple of weeks, or several months offering their help at the homes. Some end up staying for years. Duties include everything from doing laundry and cleaning bedrooms, to helping feed and bathe patients, to just spending time with the hundreds of those receiving care at the homes.

A volunteer does not have to be Catholic, or even religious. The volunteers spending their vacations at the homes tend to be united by a desire to reach out and discover a common humanity. The volunteer program does draw vast numbers of Catholics and Christians, however, and all are welcome at the daily 6am mass and afternoon Adoration at the Mother House.

Volunteers work six days a week, morning and/or afternoon shifts, with a day of rest for most on Thursday. Many gung-ho foreigners intend at the beginning to work every shift, but the intensity of the experience and Kolkata's polluted air and stifling heat (in every season except winter) lead many to scale back so they won't burn out.

There are about half-a-dozen volunteer sites to choose from, with the two most popular being the home for the destitute and dying and the one that provides long-term patient care. During my own month volunteering in Kolkata, I had hoped to work with the dying, wanting to gain a deeper understanding of death and offer companionship to those I thought most needed it. But so many volunteers are drawn to those homes - perhaps for similar reasons to my own, as well as wanting to follow in Mother Teresa's footsteps by working with 'the poorest of the poor' - that I decided I could be of more use at Shanti Dan, a home for mentally challenged women that draws fewer volunteers.

While some volunteers are doctors, nurses or psychologists back home, as a journalist I've had little experience as a caregiver. On my first day at the home I was immediately pushed past my comfort zone as I cut the women's toenails, picked lice out of their hair (the women and their surroundings are kept extremely clean but lice remains ubiquitous) and attempted to make conversation with my rudimentary Bengali.

Never before had I experienced such a simple loss of ego as I did that day at the home.

But just as immediately I felt something else happening - I lost all self-absorption. Never before had I experienced such a simple loss of ego as I did that day (and every day) at the home. I learnt to give just for the sake of giving, to share my heart and smile and friendship without expectation, to put my own needs and comforts second - at least temporarily - to those of others.

Of course, as many volunteers discover, those you 'help' tend to give even more back to you. I experienced true peace while holding Mona's hand and listening to her sing; I laughed my hardest at Bedho's antics and Kaliani's sly smiles. There were difficult moments as well; I had to learn how to roll with the mood swings of the manic depressives and schizophrenics, and unexpectedly needed to help deliver a baby that, sadly, didn't make it. But every moment I felt part of something bigger than myself.

I came to appreciate more deeply the privilege granted me by my health, my economic security and the love of my family and friends. I learned to re-examine even more of my assumptions: what started as pity for these women abandoned by their family and society turned into happiness that they at least had a home where their basic needs were met and a community of friends. In an English class I taught for some teenagers at the home, the 'Where are you from?' question was always answered, 'I am from Shanti Dan,' indicating the home was exactly that for them - home.

I learned that language can be secondary; eye contact, smiles and body language are surprisingly effective modes of communication.

I also learned that language can be secondary. Though volunteers who speak Bengali or Hindi will be even more richly rewarded, eye contact, smiles and body language are also surprisingly effective modes of communication.

One of the most rewarding aspects of volunteering at the Mother Teresa homes is the feeling that you are part of a chain. Where you leave off, someone new will pick up, making your efforts seem more fruitful than futile. The same can be said for other volunteer programs in Kolkata as well: this city seems to draw an endless stream of volunteers, particularly from Asia, Europe and the Americas.