Nabo Jibon

I've spent the past two mornings at a home called Nabo Jibon. Thus far it has been a really great place for me. It is run by the Missionaries of Charity Brothers and is a home for boys and men. The boys in the home are all handicapped. The men in the home are all very sick. They are divided up into two separate wards. One is specifically for men suffering from tuberculosis. The other is a general ward for men dying (or at least very sick) with other illnesses.

I spent the entire first day with the boys. They are quite a challenge. Even if I did know Bengali, it wouldn't help with most of them. I spent time helping some of the boys walk around, as well as some time pushing them in swings. After feeding them lunch, we put the boys to sleep for an afternoon nap. I spent about 15 minutes stopping one kid from reaching over and grabbing the kid next to him. The next kid over was already in tears, and the grabber just wasn't giving up. I was very relieved when he finally stopped. Even moreso than Kalighat, working with these boys makes me feel like I don't know how to do anything to help.

Today I spent most of my time in the tuberculosis ward. I just wandered in and started trying to talk with some of the men. Unfortunately none of them spoke much English, and I don't speak any Bengali or Hindi. We confused each other a lot with gesturing and use of the few words we knew. At some point one of the brothers walked through and helped translate a little bit for us. Through him, I asked them to teach me some Bengali. One of the men seemed pretty excited about that idea, but insisted on teaching me Hindi since it is a more common language for India as a whole (and probably his primary language). He taught me how to count to ten, the names for the partial rupee coins, and a few other things. I've probably forgotten most of it already, but we both enjoyed it. Also, it should help me learn to speak and listen for some of the non-English sounds that Indian languages use. I'm definitely looking forward to starting to speak more Bengali. Our first lesson is on Tuesday and we will have them twice each week for 90 minutes each.

Unlike Kalighat, many of the volunteers and brothers at Nabo Jibon are native to India. Most of them speak at least enough English to carry on a conversation. I have been very blessed to talk with them and just learn more about India from them. Several of them come from other large cities in India and apparently Kolkata is poorer, dirtier, and more crowded than any of their cities. It is somewhat of a relief to me that not everywhere in India is as bad as Kolkata in those ways. I'm really starting to love a lot of the values that I find in the Indian people. In many ways, they are some of the nicest strangers I have ever met (And that applies outside Nabo Jibon). Many of them are also very excited to learn about America from me. One of them even wants me to teach him to talk with an American accent. I have no idea how to teach something like that.

Another thing I'm noticing is that even though the Missionaries of Charity homes are Catholic homes, many of the volunteers are not Christian. One of the men I talked to quite a bit at Nabo Jibon is Hindu. He read a book about Mother Teresa and was so inspired by her love for the poor that he came to spend three months volunteering in the Missionary of Charity homes. The legacy for loving the poor that Mother Teresa left behind is truly inspirational to me.