Part 3 - E Calcutta: First day volunteering

August 14, 2009

I can no longer remember exactly what I did on Friday morning, but it was pleasant. I think I tried to get more postcards written, maybe went shopping at a grocery store, which was total chaos to me, and I think that was also when I bought stamps for all my postcards, even the ones I hadn't written yet.

On my way to volunteer, I somehow messed up on the time I was supposed to be there. I was surrounded by confusion and subsequently taken in comfort by three women, other volunteers, who took me into a restaurant, and we proceeded to have a very serious religious debate.
One girl was a haughty agnostic, one was on the fence regarding religion, and one was Catholic with lots of knowledge but a very non-chalant, I'll-sound-like-I-don't-really-care-about-this-so-much-so-that-you-can-think-I'm-cool kind of attitude. I kept praying about what to say, and finally concluded that it was going nowhere and that the best course was to leave. I paid them for the soda I had ordered and drank, and left, saddened and badly shaken. I ran into one of my roommates but I couldn't tell her about it. I went back to the Baptist mission, and was about to go inside to pray, but stopped and went over to two ladies, one of whom I had met earlier and knew was a Christian. I told them about what happened, and they said that the place we had gone in to eat was very spiritually dark, they knew of someone else who had gotten into a bad religious debate in there. They prayed for me and encouraged me, and it was such a blessing. They were going over to the same place I was meant to volunteer (although they didn't know that) and I was surprised by how late it had gotten. By that time, I was late for volunteering.

I was just getting started helping one child, a little blind girl, when one of the sisters called me over and asked my name. She said that a bishop was looking for me, from Gospel For Asia, a Christian missions group I've been supporting. A few months ago I had submitted a request to visit one of their bridge of hope schools while in Calcutta, and they said they would contact me through Mother House. Well, because I had arrived so late, I had pretty much given up hope of being able to do anything with that. But they promised to pick me up the next morning at 6:30!

Then I was assigned to a different child and spent my whole time with her. My experience with the three women that argued with me opened my eyes to see that just because the children's home is run by Christians, doesn't mean it's free from darkness. So I spent a lot of my time singing praise and dancing with the child.

Rinku's legs don't work normally because she was crippled from polio as an infant. I don't know any more of her story. She also had some mouth deformities that made it difficult to feed her. When I first began working with her, her legs were in braces, and she was supported between a wall and a table to be able to stand. So the first while, we just danced by swinging arms around, me acting goofy, and her grinning from ear to ear.

After a while, one of the staff asked me to try and help Rinku walk around. She couldn't support herself, so it was a bit difficult. Eventually I figured out that if I held her with one arm under her armpits and across her chest, and the other arm supporting her hips, we could walk together reasonably well. We walked back and forth, me singing all kinds of praise songs. After a while, the staff nurses told me that if I was getting tired, I could stop, but I could tell that Rinku was really enjoying it, and it was good for her. Besides, in my experience at Bethesda Lutheran Home, I was paired with residents who were much more physically taxing, and Rinku weighed only half as much as those adults. Near the end we helped to feed them, and soon it was time to be done.

That evening, I went out to dinner with my three roommates and the three Christian ladies I had befriended. At first, we contemplated going to a really nice restaurant that was in a five-star hotel. The contrast was appalling. We went from the dirty, dark, hot and humid street into a bright, clean, shining air-conditioned lobby of the hotel. Two thoughts went through my mind: one, it felt like we walked into a refrigerator, and two, it felt like we walked from one movie set to a totally different movie set. It didn't seem natural for there to be that much difference between the street and the inside of a building.
In the end, we decided that the restaurants in the hotel were not to everyone's liking and two expensive. So we went to a different place we had seen along the way, which was still a nice restaurant, but much more reasonable. It had two different menus: one was Indian food, and the other was Chinese food. My friends were already getting tired of Indian food so they all ordered Chinese food. I ordered Indian food, and it was very good but surprisingly salty.

After we returned to BMS, we all took a picture together.

Part 3 -D Calcutta: Volunteer's day off

August 13, 2009

I woke up quite early and went to 6am mass at Mother House. It was all in English, but from all the honking outside it was a little difficult to hear. During the distribution, I went up to receive a blessing, and even though I crossed my arms over my chest as they had instructed us if we weren't Catholic, the priest still tried to give me Eucharist. I had to tell him I'm not Roman Catholic. It was very encouraging to me, I guess he recognized my spirit over and above my gesture to indicate that I only wanted a blessing.

After Mass I stayed for a little while longer to pray, and then went back to the baptist mission for breakfast.
Thursdays are always a day off for volunteers. So I decided to spend the day writing as many postcards as I could. I found some postcards at a shop, but the only cards that weren't some buddhist or hindu temple or shrine, were of Mother Teresa with a halo. So I got a bunch of those.

I also thought I wanted to try to use the internet. I was told there was an internet cafe across from the entrance to Mother House, so after breakfast I headed out in the rain to go and see. When I arrived, I found the place, but it was closed. The sisters at the door of Mother House saw me, and they said that the man who runs the place had probably gone out somewhere, so they invited me to wait in the entryway with them.

They regularly have two sisters serving as doorkeepers, to welcome visitors and show them where to go to see Mother Teresa's grave. I don't remember what all I did while I was waiting there because I never journaled about it and now it has been more than eight months since it happened. I think I read my bible a little, but mostly sat and prayed. It wasn't really the thing to do to chat with the sisters, but they did politely ask me a few questions. I watched how they greeted people, and how they gave a little medallion to every visitor that came. At first, I peeked outside regularly to see if the internet cafe was open, but after a while, I gave up trying.

At one point, the sisters became very busy with lots of visitors coming in, so when yet another visitor came in and they weren't able to help her right away, I greeted her. She had just arrived in Calcutta and wanted to see Mother Teresa's grave, so I showed her the way and explained where to take off her shoes and everything. Later on, the sisters were still busy and she almost left without ever talking to them, but I got one of the medallions for her, briefly confirming with one of the sisters who was busy. The lady was so moved and grateful, she was in tears.

A bishop came to visit, and so one of the sisters had to escort him in, and then someone else came looking for someone, so that sister had to go, and she asked me if I would stay and watch the door! So I sat alone for a while, greeting visitors and showing them in to Mother Teresa's tomb. I felt it to be a marvelous privilege. But it does seem that they will ask a volunteer to do that from time to time.

"I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked." -Psalm 84:10b

Eventually, the sisters were not so busy anymore and returned to their post, and by then I was really enjoying sitting in the doorway. It was a rather wide space, hard to describe, like a big room that was open on one side into a courtyard, which was where visitors were to take their shoes off. In the end, one of the sisters said that the internet cafe was open again, but at that time it was so crowded that there were people waiting to use it, so I waited at Mother house for a little while longer. Finally I went and used the internet.

For the rest of the day, I sat on my bed in the Baptist mission, writing postcards. One of my roommates, the Indian lady, who has a beautiful Indian name, but for her privacy I will call her Pam, was also in the room. She was talking on her cell phone and I was not paying attention. But eventually she shared her anguished story with me, which I will also keep private. Needless to say, it opened the door for me to share the Gospel with her and to pray with her. So I was glad I was there.

I ate all of my meals in the cafeteria of the Baptist mission. It was Indian food, but not very spicy at all, almost as if they had intentionally made it more bland to accommodate the foreign visitors who eat there. It was very convenient, and gave me the opportunity to meet more of the Christian volunteers who were staying there. At one of the meals, I met and talked with three American women, but at that time I didn't memorize their names. Thursday was just a very good day of rest.

Part 3 -C Calcutta: Orientation

August 12, 2009

Volunteer Orientation was held at Shishu Bhavan, in kind of an outer, covered courtyard area. Things hadn't started yet, but there were many volunteers there already. I began talking with some other Japanese people there, the two people I saw while getting on the plane, and others as well. After a bit of small-talk, the orientation began. By the time I realized that people were in groups based on the language they understood best, I was stuck in the Japanese group! I didn't remember everything perfectly, but I did okay. It was meant to be, because when they explained about daily Mass that's held at Motherhouse, the Japanese gal who was explaining didn't know why non-Catholics were not supposed to take Eucharist, but I was able to explain a little bit more.

They recommended that we not give money or things to the people or children begging, because it is often not genuine, or else the person begging is being exploited or trafficked by someone else. There are plenty of charities that are willing to help those who are truly destitute, so the people begging are usually doing it as a hobby, or else they are being forced to do so by someone else who is manipulating them or threatening them. So, I resolved that I wouldn't contribute to that.

I was assigned to work at Shishu Bhavan children's home, on the handicapped children's floor. I was very glad especially to be assigned someplace close, so that I wouldn't have to take a bus. But, since our orientation was on Wednesday, and there is no volunteering on Thursday, it wouldn't be until Friday that I would go back to volunteer.

After orientation, Michiko and I decided to go shopping at Camac street mall, where the lady at the mission house had recommended. We took a taxi there, and I bought one traditional ladies outfit, just a type of long shirt, and pants that are narrow but long at the ankles so that they bunch up. Eventually I will post a picture.

We had a harder time getting back, partly because we first wanted to find a place to change money, and the first place that was recommended to us was closed. After we found another place, we managed to stop a taxi, but he wouldn't take us back for some reason. So we ended up walking all the way back. We sort of knew the way, and I also had a map so that we could check landmarks as we went. Part of the way, we had no choice but to walk through a crowded, noisy night market. I could tell some of the time that Michiko wanted to look at some of the things they were selling, but she also said she had a headache so we charged through to try to get back as quickly as possible.

All day we had walked through a tangle of humanity, full of extremes. I had seen men bathing in the street using a fire hydrant, as well as businessmen in fancy suits. The noise of car horns honking and bells ringing had been an unending din that lasted into the night. All I could do was pray that God would bring them peace, and increase my peace, to help me sleep.