Calcutta | student life
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“WE ARE ALL CALLED TO BE MISSIONARIES” by
Kendel Jordan, AMU Class of 2016
W
ell, I made it back from my first mission trip in one piece! Unless you count the pieces of my heart which I left behind. When my classmates from Ave Maria University and I first landed in Kolkata (Calcutta), I was immediately struck by the city’s chaos. Past and present seemed fused together. Brand name stores, motor vehicles and businessmen, all shared the same streets with rickshaws, livestock, and homemade shelters. Piles of trash were everywhere. It was common to have homeless people knocking on my car window, or even to have poor children hugging my knees and pulling on my arms as I walked down the street. Our guesthouse was right down the road from the Missionaries of Charity Mother House. I woke up every morning at 5 a.m. to go to Mass with the Sisters, and returned every evening for Holy Hour. In the mornings I went to work with the Sisters at Prem Dan (“House of Love”), which is a hospice for the convalescent, elderly, and handicapped who have been abandoned by their families. Even though I had learned how to speak a few words in Bengali/Hindu, there still existed a major language barrier between me and the patients. But I quickly learned that love and smiling are a truly universal language. After cleaning the building from floor to ceiling, I spent time feeding and cleaning the women who lived there, or simply holding their hands. In the afternoons, I fed and played with the beautiful children at Daya Dan, a home for severely handicapped orphans and children too old for adoption. I also got the opportunity to experience life in the slums of India, where Mother Teresa began her mission. People were sifting through great piles of garbage or bathing with pots of water on the roadside. I witnessed families of eight sharing a sleeping space no bigger than my closet. And yet there was so much joy there, especially among the children. They were so excited just to ask me my name or shake my hand. Some of them eventually dragged us into a big dusty field to play cricket. I was also able to meet with some teenagers who call the slums their
Mother Teresa ministered to the neediest, the sick and the dying in the slums of Calcutta. AMU students experienced the same scenes of despair and poverty during their mission trip there.
home back at Seva Kendra, a social services center of the Diocese of Kolkata. It was interesting to talk with these students and discover that despite living half a world away, we actually have a lot in common. I also met two of Mother Teresa’s closest friends. They welcomed our group into their elegant home and had us sit on the floor as they told us stories about Mother. Some of the stories brought us to tears; others made us all laugh out loud. Sometimes we forget that the saints were also ordinary people. I was very sad to leave India. I had never felt so tired or dirty and yet I had never felt happier, either! I really haven’t been the same since the trip. (And I don’t just mean that I find driving on American streets incredibly boring, or that I occasionally get a craving for curry.) I am definitely more appreciative of the people and possessions in my life. I’ve also taken to heart Mother Teresa’s reminder that we don’t have to go to a Third World country to help the poor. There are people hungry for love in every corner of the world, even in our own homes. So even though I do not know if I will ever go on a foreign mission again, that doesn’t mean I cannot be a missionary. We are all called to be missionaries.
A HELPING HAND This fall, AMU students will be working to raise money to put a solar panel lighting system on a school in one of the poorest parts of Calcutta. The AMU group visited Seva Kendra, a Catholic Charitiessponsored social service center, which works to install solar panels on the roofs of boarding schools. With solar lighting, the boarding students, ages 6 to 16, can study in the evenings. The systems cost 300,000 rupees which is about $5,000. To help, contact Andrea Allphin at “mailto:andrea. allphin@avemaria. edu”, andrea. allphin@avemaria. edu or 239-280-1565.
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avemaria.edu | fall 2013 |
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