Last Tuesday I volunteered with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. They have had a huge impact in Kolkata since established in 1950. On Tuesdays they happen to give electric shock therapy to the women who are supposedly suffering from mental disorders.
Think: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
My job was to console the women as they screamed after electric shock had been administered.
I have never heard such cries, I have never felt so helpless.
I no longer volunteer with Mother Teresa Missionaries of Charities.
I believe in giving the people necessarily skills to be able to lift themselves from poverty not becoming reliant on charitable deeds. I feel Mother Teresa's keeps the charitable needing charity. On many discussions near disputes with devout Catholics and others who volunteer at Mother's religiously (no pun intended) I find myself entangled in the same conversation. Our Western ideas of sustainability and development can not be applied here. Impoverished Indians need a refuge to refresh the soiled yellow beaten bandages, they deserve a dignified place to die, the children need their bellies full and a hair washing. And this all needs to be done by floods of volunteers coming to Mother's every single day.
I pass no judgement. I applaud others overarching humanitarian efforts, I respect others definition of service. With all the growing pains naturally accompanied by living-We begin to realize where We Fit and after all imaginable efforts where We Will Never, Ever Fit.
Of interest I recommend: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and in Practice by Christopher Hitchens
on contrast read:
In My Own Words by Mother Teresa
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