Kolkata, the “City of Joy”, has around 15 million people and is located just 50 miles west of the border with Bangladesh. It’s widely regarded as the “cultural capital” of India and 6 Nobel Laureates have been associated with the city.
But while it may be rich in culture, Kolkata has breathtaking poverty.
We started our first day with a visit to Mother Teresa’s orphanage. This is closed to the public but our Smile Train surgeon was also Mother Teresa’s personal surgeon so he arranged a very memorable visit for us.
It meant a lot to met because I actually got to meet and shake hands with Mother Teresa when she came to my college to give a Commencement address in 1982. She gave a great speech to a massive crowd and encouraged us all to give back and help others. At the end of her speech she told us we didn’t need to go do missionary work or work with poor, we didn’t need to be like her, instead we should “go out and find our own Kolkata!” The crowd loved it and gave her a standing ovation.
As she was walking out, she came right by me and I was lucky enough to shake her hand. I’ll never forget it. She was tiny, probably around 5 foot two and she had these crystal blue eyes with green lines around her irises. Her hands were very large, wrinkled and calloused. She enveloped my hands with hers, stared into my eyes and said softly, “Can you help?”
Of course I was just 18 years old and I had no idea what she was talking about. But her words haunted me for years. And now I feel very lucky because she was right, I did find my Kolkata and it changed my life.
I never dreamed that one day I did actually get to go to Kolkata and see where she lived and worked.
They took us into an enormous room that had more than 100 yellow cribs. When we walked in the door creaked very loudly and more than 100 tiny heads popped up to see who was coming in.
All of these orphans were absolutely beautiful and really happy to have visitors.
My wife Cricket made a mistake of picking up a one-year-old, very cute baby and hugging it. It went well until she tried to put him back down and he hung to her like his life depended on it.
It really was an emotional experience to be able to visit mother Theresa’s orphanage and to say a prayer for her at her tomb.
These three surgeons from Kolkata were among the very best Smile Train had. They invited hundreds of patients back for our visit and it was an honor to be with them and meet so many children and their parents.
Afterwards, we visited our partner hospital and met hundreds of patients.
After spending time at our partner hospital we set out to visit some of our patients in their homes.
This father and mother were very grateful for the surgery fixed their daughter’s cleft and gave her a second chance at life.
It doesn’t get more dramatic than this transformation this lucky boy underwent. His dad was so grateful, he told us he didn’t know what God to pray to you thank for the surgery that changed his son’t life.
The father broke down in tears and was comforted by Satish Kalra, our brilliant Smile Train country manager.
The writing over the doorway tells you that the children of this household have received the polio vaccination.
The boy on the left has club foot. A $250 treatment/surgery could straighten out both of his legs in six weeks and completely cure him. But I am sure he and his parents don’t know that and have no way of finding a hospital or a doctor that can help him.
These boys are horrible malnourished – their growth and mental development is stunted – just like 50% of the entire Indian population.
A dead body headed for cremation passes by.
This is what a school bus looks like in Kolkata!
Before I wrote this copy today I read a story of a horrible fire in India that killed 20 people in a marketplace that started because of wires just like this.
