Volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa)

Been meaning to finish this post for a while now, so here goes.

We spent a week volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity, which was the order of nuns begun by Mother Teresa in Kolkata. They have a whole bunch of different homes now, from the first Home for the Dying (Nirmal Hriday), to homes for abandoned children, disabled children and adults, teenagers, and a leprosy community.

I hung out at Shishu Bhavan, a home for abandoned/disabled babies, toddlers & primary-schoolers. I was with the toddlers. In the mornings people do more manual labour like cleaning, changing beds, helping with the washing & feeding the children. In the afternoons (when I was on) we helped a bit with making beds and feeding the kids dinner, but we spent most of the time playing with the kids outside.

They had a great little area with murals all over the walls, swings, play equipment etc. It was pretty fun (except for when you get sat on by kids with wet pants!!). They were pretty cute, and I can imagine getting attached to them if I spent more time there.
It was hard though too, because you didn't always know what was ok for them to do and what wasn't, and though their full-time (paid, local) carers were patient with us and them, I'm sure it would have been frustrating for them to be continually dealing with various behaviours that volunteers might allow. And the way (like all kids) they learn to do whatever they can to get attention! Of course, as a volunteer I could see it would be soo much better to be there for the longterm instead of short.
It was tricky not understanding everything that was going on, so time would help with that too! I don't think it'd take long to pick up enough bengali to understand the basics and be understood.

I think overall they seemed well cared-for, and we were happy to hear that nearly all of the babies and toddlers would be adopted out. Many even had adoptive parents already, and were just waiting for the lengthy legal process to go through.

All in all, my impression was that it was much more of a gift to the volunteers to be able to come, join in, and get a taste of life here - than any small service we could perform. The sisters are so hospitable - volunteers are invited to come along to mass in the mornings (at 6am!!), and there is a free breakfast (of bread, bananas and chai) for volunteers afterwards whether or not they attend mass. I was really touched by how gracious and patient the sisters were, in every interaction with one of the many visitors and volunteers.