City of Joy
COJ experience
I had the privilege of traveling with 11 Wake Forest Students from Dec 27-Jan. 12 this year. We were the City of Joy team for 2009-10. I’ve been asked to share some of my experience with you today. I wrote it down otherwise I would ramble and jump from one subject or thought to another. I only get 5 min. of chapel time today.
The reading from the gospel on Sunday 2/14 Luke 6:20 “ Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours”. How does this apply to what I saw and experienced in Kolkata? What was Mother Teresa thinking when she started her project in Kolkata? I will never know what she was thinking for sure, but she definitely saw the poor. To paraphrase her she said she thought of every individual as Jesus in disguise.
First impressions: noise, strange smoky smell, crowds everywhere, families living on the streets, traffic chaos, dusty & dirty. For someone who doesn’t like large crowds this was a daunting impression. I am in a city of 15 million people!!
In the past I have complained about the street noise in NYC & Chicago. I don’t anymore. They are quiet in comparison.
I was assigned to work at Prem Dan in the morning and Kalighat (Nirmal Hriday) in the afternoon.
Prem Dan is best compared to a long term care facility for men & women and Kalighat is the original home started by Mother. It is for the dying. Of our 12 WFU people 6 of us were assigned to these two homes. I had no idea what to expect or what I would be expected to do
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The first morning going to work we met up at the Mother House and planned to take the bus to Prem Dan. We walked across the street to get the 202 bus. There were about 10 of us. The volunteers who had been working for a couple days were the leaders this day. When the bus came it really didn’t come to a complete stop. It slowed down & 2 men are waving at you to hurry up and get on the front or back door. So you jump on and push your way into the aisle or maybe a seat is available. Eventually you pay your bus fare of 4 rupees (about 10cents) & get a little paper ticket. In the meantime more people are jumping on and not very many are jumping off. No English is being spoken so you hope you don’t miss your stop. It seems like forever before our “leaders” are telling us to get off—maybe it was 15 min. The bus slows, you jump off and you land (literally) in the dirtiest little neighborhood you can imagine. Tar paper shacks on both sides of a narrow path. Sand bags piled up to the street level I’m guessing to help decrease the water flow during monsoon season. The street is about 5 feet higher than the roof of the little shacks. We go down a twisting path and come to a big blue gate. As we pass along the path people are watching us (we are the only white faces) and the little children are yelling Hello, and trying to touch you or shake your hand. We knock on the gate, it is opened and when you step inside it’s like you have been transported to a peaceful oasis. The street noise decreases by at least 80%, it is clean and there are green plants everywhere you look. I felt a sense of peace envelope me. Most all of the residents at Prem Dan spoke Hindi. The Sisters speak English and Hindi and the volunteers speak every language you can think of. I barely speak English some days. So a lot of smiles, sign language and soft spoken words were the means of communication. The main job at this facility was laundry every morning or scrubbing the floors and beds. I did laundry along with about 15 other people. This is done by hand. No Laundromat here. After 2 hours of laundry it is time for tea and a short break before lunch is served. Some of the patients needed to be fed. They were blind, had crippling arthritis, or were bedridden for one reason or another. Again the bowl of food and a smile were the only means of communication. I talked, but they didn’t understand me and I didn’t understand them if they chose to talk.
After helping with clean up we left and had another bus ride back to the Mother House than walk to our hotel and some lunch before leaving for our afternoon assignments.
I went to Kalighat with 6 other students. This time we took the underground, that is another adventure all its own. Kalighat is the home for the dying. It is housed in a building loaned to the sisters since 1952. It is about one block from the goddess Kali temple. The first day we went we thought we were lost and had no idea which way to turn. We were in the middle of a large square surrounded by people of course & small stalls and beggars. As we turned to get our bearings we saw a sign at the top of the building we were standing in front of and there we were. We weren’t lost at all. This home is also divided into men and women. They had room for about 70 total residents. This home is much more somber in feel and I felt helpless here. My nursing skills were of no importance or use here. I felt like I was taking up space and should be doing something else. A lot of smiling and applying lotion to dry skin, helping serve meals was the manual tasks I performed. When I left Kalighat each evening I was drained and dreaded going back the next day. I made myself go back and did whatever I could do, but this was a difficult place for me to be. None of the women died while we were there although two were very close to leaving this earth. Three men passed away during that same time. It was very quiet and respectful. There wasn’t a lot of noise or confusion.
As I have looked back on my time in Kolkata and reviewed the few notes I wrote while there I really didn’t do anything special. I smiled a lot, I put a hand on someon’s shoulder, I helped feed those that couldn’t feed themselves, I tried to be patient and understanding. I did come home and realize what a blessing I have here. I have a real house, with a real roof; I have food every day; I have a comfortable bed to sleep on and a job.
Recently I read a quote from Mother Teresa: “ Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” So maybe I did do a little something.