Amherst student volunteers in India

By DYLAN KLEMPNER Bulletin Contributing Writer

Published on November 06, 2009

While many high school students spent their family vacation last summer visiting a new city or national park, Sourav Podder, a local high school student, spent 10 days volunteering for Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India.

Podder's family, originally from Bangladesh, often vacations abroad in the summer. They have traveled to countries like Italy and Turkey. Last summer they visited relatives living near Calcutta. They first planned tourist activities, such as visiting New Delhi and the Taj Mahal. Instead, they chose to limit their sightseeing to support Podder's volunteer work.

"I always like doing community service," says Podder, who is inspired by his involvement with the Community Service Club at Amherst Regional High School. As a member of the club, Podder has served food to the poor and the homeless and worked as a bell-ringer for the Salvation Army. Spending time with the poor and homeless, "gave me the experience of sharing, sharing their experience," says Podder.

Before the family left for India, Podder knew that he wanted to volunteer there, so he contacted his cousin, who works for UNICEF. When his cousin could not find volunteer opportunities for him, Podder looked up Mother Teresa's Web site, where he found an address for her Center in Calcutta.

When he arrived in India, Podder and his mother, Swagata, went to the Missionaries of Charity's central office. "How can I volunteer?" Podder asked. The sisters working at the Center told him to come back and register in two days.

Podder was nervous when he returned.

"All of the other volunteers were older than me, and they were all foreigners - no Americans and no Indians," he says.

Because of his age, the sisters suggested that he work with the mentally and physically challenged children. Podder agreed to the assignment and registered to volunteer for 10 days.

On July 28, Podder started to volunteer at a school in Calcutta named Daya Dan. The name of the school translated means, "Giving Kindess." His daily shift was 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Podder says he was nervous on his first day. Some of the children Podder served could not speak. Some had polio and could not walk on their own, most of them were from the slums, and many had been abandoned.

Each day, Podder received instructions from local staff members who worked full-time at the school. Podder played with the children at 3 p.m. after they awoke from their naps. They played with balls, and he helped them on and off slides. He helped children with polio by strapping braces onto their legs and helping them stand and walk.

Some of the children Podder served could not participate in even these simple activities. Podder remembers: "One girl who had a hole in her heart - she was actually my age, 13 or 14 - she couldn't really do anything, so all we did was walk around the building holding hands."

According to Podder, half of the children at Daya Dan could not eat on their own. Podder fed them by hand at their dinnertime from 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

During the last 10 minutes of his last day at Daya Dan, the children circled around Podder and the other volunteer and sang goodbye and thank you songs. Podder says the experience was "heart touching."

"My goal, really, is to help people like this," says Podder, who plans to study medicine in college. He says his experience in India helped him better understand the kinds of people he may treat someday.