Honk Once, Honk Twice: Our First Days in the 'City of Joy'.

Greetings from halfway around the world!

In a city where car horns are just as integral a part of driving as are brakes and steering wheels, the Saint Michael's MOVE crew has settled in and embarked on our three-week journey in Kolkata. Probably more striking than the language of driving (we learned that honking is used to send signals such as 'turning left', 'turning right', 'approaching intersection', etc. to other drivers) and the wet heat, I've been taken aback by the impressively casual organization of the whole thing. Not only are thousands of bikes, cars, rickshaws, buses, people, taxis and dogs moving at once, they're all doing it with purpose and very little accident (that's to say, from what I've seen).

The Mother House (click for photo credit).

Having taken our first day off the plane (yesterday, 5/22) to do some light sight-seeing and rest, today we ventured to the Mother Teresa convent (Mother House) to register ourselves as volunteers. After opting into our assigned locations for the coming weeks, we took the rest of the day to see Sishu Bhavan (a home for orphan children under the Mother Teresa umbrella), visit an aged colonial graveyard, and after lunch travel by bus to Jain temple.

Tomorrow will be our first day engaging in the service aspect of our visit; in the morning, I'll be working at Prem Dan, which is a long-term facility for those struggling with life-threatening illness. Each of us signed up for a variety of homes, and each of these does different work with children, women, people with physical differences, learning differences, and each of these at any point on a physical health spectrum. The Mother Teresa website offers more information on what the organization does in Kolkata and globally.

So far, my impression of Kolkata is one of complexity, in its physical realities as well as its social and political realities. As a volunteer from abroad, I feel conspicuous to the order of obtrusive as my white gangly body tries not to step on too many toes on the bus. When I pass individuals going about their seemingly daily routines, I'm reminded that my presence here is about learning more than it is about making change. I'll wash some sheets, change some bandages, mop a floor or two, but ultimately I'll be replaced by some other volunteer from another part of the world. At best, I can only expect to be humbled and shaped by these next few weeks.

Here's to learning, and hoping that we can give as much as we can in our limited capacities.

'Til next time,

Ben Rosbrook '15