Kalighat

Kalighat is the first home for the dying that Mother Teresa started. This home is for patients who are in critical condition and is not for long term care. Basically, the patients here are probably going to die within a few days. While I did not work in Kalighat we did walk through it and it was set up much like Prem Dan but the feeling was a lot different. All the ladies were in their beds and the home smelled worse than Prem Dan. The women are so weak that they cannot get up and walk to the toilet so they simply scoot off their bed and try to go in a bed pan on the ground but most of the time they miss the pan so it goes onto the concrete floor and goes to the center of the room where there is a drain. I do not think I would have been able to work in Kalighat but am so glad that there are men and women who can.

The first picture is of the top of the Kalighat home. What is interesting about this picture is that Kalighat shares a wall with a Hindu Temple. It just struck me as interesting that on one side there is an image of Jesus Christ and on the other side are images of many, many gods.

The second picture is a difficult picture for me to look at and is a sight that is all too common in Calcutta. This lady was outside of Kalighat waiting for a bed to open up so that she could be taken care of. She was covered in flies but one of the volunteers at Kalighat had given her a bottle of water to try to sustain her until a bed did become available.

**If you read Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne (which I highly recommend) this is the home where he spent his time volunteering.