New Light Kolkata

I’ve mentioned the organization New Light a few times now, but not really done justice to explaining what they do, and the impact they are making on the lives of those they are serving.

New Light’s mission is to ‘promote gender equality through education and life-skill training, and thereby reduce harm caused by violence and abuse to women and young children’.

They do this in a number of ways, and it has been our privilege to spend a small bit of time with some of the team of incredible staff and volunteers, dipping into the work, and meeting some of the beneficiaries.

On the whole the beneficiaries are the children – children of prostitutes who, depending on their ages, are either in need of day care whilst the mothers sleep, or in need of after-school homework clubs, or in need of a safe shelter for the afternoons and evenings, or in need of alternative accommodation for the longer term due to the abusive situations and vulnerability to intergenerational prostitution that they would be in if they remained at home.

The women are supported to a certain extent, but unlike our partner Women At Risk in Ethiopia which runs a rehab programme for the ladies and as a result supports the children as well, here the emphasis is on supporting the children, and then if any women want to explore ways to get out of prostitution and into alternative income generation, then New Light will facilitate that and help them move forwards in their lives.

One of the programmes that we visited is called ‘Starfish’ and is a day care facility for the under 7’s in one of the red light areas of Kolkata. The children who come along to Starfish spend the morning doing pre-school type lessons: familiarization with numbers, letters, shapes, colours etc. And they get a cooked meal for lunch. Without Starfish neither of these things would be remotely available to them. Certainly their families can’t afford pre-school fees, and as well as that their mothers, all of whom are prostitutes, would be sleeping during the day due to being ‘at work’ all night, and so the children would be left unattended, roaming the streets, scavenging and begging what scraps they can find.

So Starfish provides safety, a nurturing environment, caring adults, and a chance for the children to be children. And the mothers can rest easy knowing that despite the horrific cycle of employment that they find themselves in, through New Light there is some hope for their children at least.

This hope for a better future is also seen in the safe shelters that have been set up for approximately 35 boys and 35 girls who are particularly vulnerable.  Up to the age of 12, the children are fairly safe to stay at home with their families, albeit in far from ideal circumstances whereby they are having to fend for themselves evenings and nights when school is over and mum is out working. But around the age of 12, the children start to become a lot more vulnerable, as the clients that the mum brings home may well start to want the girl rather than the mum. And in other situations, where prostitution has been the form of income for several generations, the girls are at risk of being forced into it by their mothers and grandmothers if they remain at home.

And so homes have been set up to give them the chance to break out of the cycle into which they are in danger of being sucked. Mostly it is with the family’s blessing, but sometimes it can be a case of child against parents.

We visited one of the shelters yesterday – 35 girls in a 4-storey house, 4 girls to a room, and the kitchen on the roof. The girls were all busy doing homework when we got there, and one of the older ones proudly told us how she hopes to graduate from high school soon, and then go to university to study English so she can become an English teacher. It is so encouraging to hear such positive dreams and aspirations being realised, especially given the incredibly tough and disadvantaged start in life.

New Light isn’t just about supporting the children of women in prostitution; it has in it’s remit a whole range of issues that stem from the gender inequality that is so deeply ingrained in Indian culture and practices. Rescue and rehab from trafficking, campaigning at all levels against gender-based violence, providing access to education and skills-based training, assisting those suffering from HIV-related diseases, empowerment of women…

And of course its not just the girls; boys also need the support and care that is so absent in their home lives, and as they get older, they are also at risk of being sucked into the commercial sex world. So boys are very evident at all the day care centres, there is a boy’s shelter, and there are male staff providing positive role models to all the children where their main experience is so different and so negative.

I don’t know what my further involvement with New Light will be. I’m still praying about that and waiting for God to show me how it fits with the rest of life. But I do know that the route to us finding New Light was a God-one, and its been a real privilege to spend time with them, getting to know more of what they do, and seeing how they put the starfish philosophy into practice – changing lives, one at time, for the better.

A day at Shishu Bhavan

Mother Teresa’s presence lives on in many ways in Kolkata.  Road signs have pictures of her on them, entreating people to look after the city; souvenir shops can be found selling all variety of religious paraphernalia, inspirational quote cards and the like; and when a taxi driver picks up a westerner I’m sure they are waiting expectantly for us to all want to be taken to the Mother House or one of the other Missionaries of Charity buildings.

Yesterday we spent a day helping the Missionaries of Charity at their Shishu Bhavan home. I haven’t fully worked out exactly how many homes / shelters the order has in Kolkata but the Shishu Bhavan one is for the children with disabilities.

There are 33 children in the home, ranging from 2 years to 18 years old. 8 of the children are boys, and 25 are girls – an indication of how strong the gender inequality is over here still. To have a disabled girl child is much more of a burden and is seen as a double shame, and so these little ones are much more likely to be abandoned.

Please know that I’m not judging those parents – who knows what their backgrounds are, how many other mouths they have to feed, how much they struggle to get by on the little they have, how much they tried to care for their disabled child before getting to the point of admitting defeat, how much of a hole it left in their heart to have to hand their child over. Those details we will never know, but when I think of the support that is available to families in the UK, and still how incredibly hard work it is, then you can see why it might just feel like a burden too far over here and in other developing countries.

The staff looking after the children do an incredible job given the lack of resources available to them, and lack of wider facilities that they can call on. There was no evidence of adapted wheelchairs, or special seating, or any of the plethora of other services that we can call on for our children with extra needs. Just a big mat that the severely disabled children lie on, and space to roam for those children who can move about in some way. Heart-breaking, when you know what they are missing out on.

Yes there were some toys around, and yes there is a lady who every day leads a time of singing with them, which the children all respond to in their own way, and yes there were a number of volunteers who are there for various lengths of time giving extra input. But I salute those ladies who staff the home day in day out.

The love they give those children is by the bucket load. The real carers are local ladies who come in from the community and are paid by the Order. I don’t know the background of the ladies, but the local community certainly doesn’t ooze mod-coms, and the homes are extremely humble dwellings – so this is where the ladies come from each morning and go back to each evening, having spent the day loving, caring for, and tending to all of the needs of 33 extremely high-input children.

Their assistants are the Apostolates – those who are exploring the calling of becoming a Sister  - as well as a couple of Sisters, and a variable number of volunteers from other parts of India and further afield. Every one played their part, but those ladies were incredible.

It was a very memorable day in many ways – seeing inside a part of the great internationally renowned institution that surrounds the name of Mother Teresa, having the opportunity to serve and support the carers who tirelessly love the children, finding out more about myself and my coping strategies when outside my comfort zones, and having the chance to play with, and give love to, the children themselves.

Of course there are all sorts of strands of reflection that come from such a day as well – the impact of gender inequality, the harshness of life for those with any sorts of extra needs when society doesn’t provide a support system, the role of the charity sector and the faith sector in filling the gaps, the massive privilege of what we do have in the UK despite its often highlighted failures etc.  

My prayer is for those children, that they will know how much they are loved. And my prayer is for those ladies, and for the Apostolates and Sisters, caring for and loving the children day in day out – may they be blessed as they are a blessing. And my prayer is that each of us will find ways in which we can fulfil our potential to love and care for those who need a little extra love and care in their world.

Reflections from Kolkata

Rozzie and I have been in Kolkata 3 days now, and as there is a massive thunder and rainstorm going on outside it seems like a good time to jot down a few reflections on our experiences thus far.

The rain in itself was quite an event – the locals have been waiting for this rain for several weeks, and the temperature and humidity without it has been really uncomfortable. The highs have been averaging 39 – 41 celsius, and the humidity is really high – definitely not comfortable weather.

Several times we’ve heard of people being ill due to the weather, and it seems like the heat is proving to be a good excuse for not getting a lot of work done in the middle of the day. Certainly we’ve been very glad for the air conditioned room that we can return to, and I can’t remember the last time I sweated this much just walking at a gentle pace from one place to the other!

The warning to the rain coming was that at 4pm today it was bright daylight, and by 4.30pm it was so dark that cars were putting headlights on. Mini whirlwinds were coursing down the streets, whipping up any dust and sand and litter in their midst. Everyone was battening down the hatches – you could smell the impending rain. And then it came – torrential and sudden, with many rumbles of thunder. Brilliant to watch from inside the safety of a strongly built guesthouse, but I can’t help but think about those who live on the streets, or in the really flimsy structures that are so evident in this city of so many contrasts.

Kolkata as a city in some ways is much like many other cities in the developing world – although I guess many Indians would say that India isn’t a developing country and therefore shouldn’t be compared in that way. But it has the usual mix of people living on the streets alongside those in very poor cramped buildings alongside those in more spacious surroundings alongside those who live behind gated walls.

We’ve not been to the really opulent areas, but they aren’t far away, and occasionally on a taxi ride across town to one of the projects we are helping at, we do see some very tall walls, big gates, and stern looking guards providing evidence that there are significant amounts of money in those areas.

The backdrop to the city isn’t particular colourful – mostly browns and greys from the dirt and grime that is very evident. But the colour is still very much there in the clothes that the ladies wear – colourful saris, or salawar suits that hide the grim reality of life for so many of them. Even the lady who came to the Missionaries of Charity yesterday, with no money to buy food or medicine for her child; still she was wearing a lovely red top, with a scarf and trousers to match. Clothes that had clearly been worn time and time and time again, as she can’t afford to buy new, but it was a splash of colour in a tough life.

The traffic is the usual level of chaos that I’ve come to expect in so many cities, where the number of lanes of cars are dependent on the skill of the drivers in knowing the width of their vehicle to the nano-inch rather than the lines painted on the tarmac. Horns honking everywhere, nobody giving an inch, but unlike some cities, they do respect traffic lights and as a result you do seem to get from a to b eventually!

Amidst all of this however, everyone is very friendly. I feel totally safe here, and have no qualms about asking for directions, or worrying that I am being fleeced when paying for something. And although there are a lot of people living on the streets, the level of begging is very low, with none of the intimidating hassling that comes in some cities.

So that is a bit of an overview of this fascinating place. It’s the sort of place you need to be in for several weeks to really be able to get below the surface, but thankfully we’ve met some amazing people who have helped us get deeper somewhat faster than many tourists would do.

As in many cities, Kolkata has a massive amount of  non-profits; some founded by Indians, some founded out of country, some that are one-offs, some that are part of bigger organisations. And the number of issues that they deal with is similarly huge, human trafficking being just one of them.

Kolkata is a receiver and sender of trafficked girls and women – rural girls lured to the big lights and forced into prostitution or domestic servitude here in Kolkata, city girls trafficked off to other parts of India, or out of the country all together. Its an issue that makes my heart weep and we’ve been fortunate to be able to play a tiny tiny part in making a difference whilst we’ve been here.

I’ll write about New Light India separately – an organization that Rozzie came across before we left UK and who we are doing some volunteer work for. But I’ll end with a word about a coffee shop that we visited yesterday and who have a wonderful background story.

I promised the owners that I wouldn’t name the coffee shop for reasons that will become clear, but suffice to say it was an absolute haven yesterday to step into from the heat of the day. The air conditioning was working, they had the usual range of coffee drinks and an impressive array of teas. They knew how to do tea the ‘English’ way, and they were happy for Rozzie and I to sit and play scrabble for an hour or so whilst we cooled down.

But what was really impressive is the fact that they proactively partner with some organisations who rescue women from trafficking, and give these ladies training and employment in their bakery and kitchen producing the delicious cakes, cookies and sandwiches on offer.

The owners of the coffee shop could easily have chosen to take the standard route of employing people from catering college; but instead they have chosen to take this much riskier option, and employ ladies who have gone through all sorts of traumatic experiences, have no self-worth or self-belief, have no skills, and so need much more support at personal and professional levels.

And they’ve chosen the route because they can – and knowing that they can, to ignore that route was no longer an option. I’m not naming them, as some of their customers would turn away if they knew, and that could lead to the café going out of business. This café needs to survive, because of what it is doing behind the scenes. Even one life changed for the better is worth it, and this café is changing the lives of several.

For us as customers – well, the cookies and drinks were delicious anyway, but when you know the story behind the baking – it certainly makes them taste even sweeter still.

Here’s to Kolkata, and all who live and serve here – doing their bit in every way they can, to make it a better place for those who are poor or marginalized or trapped, that they also may have a better life.

Peace begins with a smile - Kolkata part 1

So said Mother Teresa at some point in her incredible life. And today we visited the Mother House in Kolkata and saw how that notion continues to permeate the work of the Missionaries of Charity.

The Missionaries of Charity is the order of nuns that Mother Teresa started in the late 40’s when she was called to step out of the Loretta convent and begin her work of serving the poor and destitute, the orphans, the disabled, the abandoned, the dying and the outcasts of Kolkata.

In the Mother House there is a room that houses the shrine of Mother Teresa, and to which many people travel. On the walls of that room are some paintings that outline the dream that Mother Teresa had that precluded her calling to step forth out of the convent and into the world.

In a nutshell the dream / vision consisted firstly of a big crowd of people who were all living in poverty calling out ‘come, come, save us, bring us to the Lord Jesus’. And after that she heard the Virgin Mary saying ‘take care of them, they are mine’. And then she heard the Lord Jesus saying to her ‘I have asked you; they have asked you. Will you refuse to do this for me – to take care of them, to bring them to me?’

The ministry of  Mother Teresa, and her fellow sisters is a ministry that has touched millions around the world in some way or another, and whilst it is still very much a Kolkata based order, it has now expanded to include orders in many other countries, all based on the same principles.

And although Mother Teresa died in 1997, her presence, and the work she started still very much goes on.

The Mother House is set on a very busy road in Kolkata, with traffic going noisily (all traffic is noisy in India) up and down all day and most of the night. There is no air conditioning, so the windows onto the street are all open, and yet still there is a strong sense of peace, serenity and love that pervades the Mother House, blocking out all the background clamour and chaos on the streets.

The Sisters all carry the smile that generates peace. Not a false smile, but a genuine, loving, caring smile, that sets people at rest, and that gives dignity to even the most broken or marginalized. It is a smile that builds humanity, and speaks of unconditional love and concern and a desire to help.

As I sat in the courtyard of the Mother House, just reflecting on the work that reaches out into so many corners of the city and the world beyond, I watched one young mother come with her tiny baby and be tended to by one of the Sisters. The mother clearly didn’t have anything to give the baby, and it was hungry; but before long a bottle of milk had been rustled up and the baby was contentedly feeding. The mother looked more relaxed, and then I saw the look of delight on her face as the sisters brought her a small bag of baby clothes, probably the only change of clothes that the child had.

At the same time another Sister was tending to an older man who had come in looking very upset and seemed to be in some pain. Although the Sister was urging him to go for medical care, she was doing it in a way that calmed him, and clearly made him feel like she had his best interests at heart rather than was in any way trying to get rid of him.

After the Mother House, we went to Shishu Bhava, another of the homes run by the Sisters. This one is for children ready for adoption, as well as being the home for disabled children, and the location of the free dispensary. When we got there we were shown around by a young novice Sister, and at one point met the mother of the tiny baby that I had seen earlier at the Mother House – she was collecting some medicines as prescribed by the Sister, and it was lovely to be able to say hello, and exchange smiles and greetings of Namaste.

I was really touched by the time at the Missionaries of Charity – their serenity, love and peacefulness within such a noisy, chaotic and busy city was deeply moving. Their unconditional and all-encompassing compassion and care for any who walked through their doors was inspiring and challenging. And the strong presence of God within the place was testament to the depth of faith and prayer-life that undergirds all that the Sisters do.

Mother Teresa might have gone home, but as she once said – ‘God still loves the world today, through you and through me’. She also said ‘smiles generate smiles, just as love generates love’. Put those together and the challenge to each of us is to get out there, smile to others, show love  to others, and in so doing show that God is still loving the world.