My
experiences of Calcutta
Summer 2005
Fiona Bell spent almost a month in Calcutta, or Kolkata as it is called now, with the Baptist Missionary Society, teaching English to the street children and in Mother Theresa Hospital for the destitute and dying. This is an excerpt from her report to the BMS after her trip.
You can imagine a place such as Calcutta, but your imagination could never suffice the reality of this place.
I still, five weeks later, find it hard to make sense of my time in Calcutta. I saw, felt and was challenged so much, I don't quite know where to begin filing these experiences away in my mind. When I was there, I scribbled away in my journal because I was scared to forget. Now I think, I'm scared to remember.
The emotion of stepping over the bodies as you walked down the street, being mobbed everywhere you went by beggars and seeing children defaecating on the pavement never really hit me whilst I was in India. God served me amazingly, protecting me from my own emotions whilst I was there to do His work. However, I certainly felt them once I was home. My boyfriend was late picking me up from the airport and in my emotion, whilst I waited for him, I began to cry. I didn't stop. I cried a great deal of the 4 hours home in the car; I guess it all just hit me.
So often now I think about the children in the mobile school, their names, the little personalities, and their future. When I do, every time I get a lump in my throat. Every time I see over-priced India slippers, clothes and jewellery it brings a lump to my throat.
One of the memories that I will treasure most from the trip, is the time I spent working in Khaligat, Mother Teresa's house for the destitute and dying. Although it was shocking to see lines of people in beds, dying of preventable conditions, it was also a personally challenging experience. The afternoons I spent in Khaligat were by far the most rewarding of the trip. I was able to use my medical experience to really help out there. This is work that I would like to pursue further, God willing, after I qualify as a doctor.
Whilst I was in Calcutta, I also learnt an awful lot about God. I think the urgency and the seriousness of telling people about Jesus really hit me. I also began to understand for the first time Gods wrath. I learnt to fear God whilst I was away, which was very scary at the time, but now I realise it was a vital lesson to learn. I really felt the presence of the devil for the first time also. The spiritual battle going on in Calcutta is enormous and I seemed to be aware of this more than most in the group.
I will never forget my time in Calcutta, it has been truly life changing. For the first three weeks of the trip I didn't believe that I wouldn't want to leave, however by the last couple of days I didn't! I certainly wouldn't rule out a trip back to India, if it is part of God's plan for my life. In all the poverty and filth, there was a spark of the beauty and the light of Christ. I now pray that those sparks will grow and that one day, however unimaginable it may seem, Calcutta will be a city that is on fire for God.
