An incredible onslaught of people, activity, rickshaws, food vendors, goats, cows, over-loaded buses—all mingling on the streets of the teeming city of Kolkata.
Such was the impression of the eight students and two staff members from Saint Michael's College, who spent three weeks, May 18 to June 8, doing volunteer work in Kolkata (AKA Calcutta), India.
For the seventh consecutive year, Saint Michael’s MOVE (Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts) program has sent a group to Kolkata to work with the missionaries of Charity, New Life, New Hope, and the Sabera Foundation (seen in the documentary film, “Born into Brothels”). The group fund-raised to cover their expenses as well as for donations to take to the organizations with whom they work. They raised $9,000 to give to the three organizations, and they prepared by studying, dialoguing, see films and meeting weekly from December to May to get ready for the trip.
Trip participants included Julia Berberan of Quincy, Mass., student leader; Annie Brabazon, staff leader; Kate Condon of Holliston, Mass., Valerie Dillner of Milton, Vt., Hannah Duprat of Fairfax, Vt., Brittany Felgate of Lincoln, N.H., Professor Sue Kuntz of Burlington; Nicole Marshall of Brewster, Mass., Derek Souza of Ringoes, N.J., and Katie Wry of Underhill, Vt..
Facing a city with upwards of 15 million inhabitants with conditions they had never before witnessed, each participant worked in one of three facilities: a home for women who have been abused and women with physical and cognitive impairments; an orphanage for children who are disabled and children who have been abandoned, or a home for men who are sick and/or elderly.
