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.