For this spring edition of the Kolkata Journal we honor Samantha Tobia
who during her years at Marist College initiated several open-mike events to
raise school fees for children living at the Sree Durga dump in Kolkata. With
other praxivists, Samantha, a public praxis minor, integrated her academic
learning with extensive public work . In May, she graduated valedictorian of
the class of 2012.
Praxivists Visit Kolkata
Dedicated to Samantha Tobia
The Marist Praxis Project for Public/Global Citizenship
Reporting from Kolkata
by Sharon McDowell
Over
Snapshots of some of the children at the Sree Durga dump.
See our website for more Marist
praxis project work (search public
praxis on Marist College home
page). Also check out the 20102011 Calcutta Journal at:
TheBelovedCommunity.org
THANK YOU Sharon McDowell & Matt Wilk for making this
Newsletter & Jorden Eck & Lisa
Bellis for final work & editing &
Archie Chambers, publisher.
Kolkata street child outside YWCA, coloring for first time Contact Dr. Mar Peter-Raoul to
contribute &/or participate at:
MarforPeace@Gmail.com
the
Spring
Semester I had the fantastic
opportunity to travel to
Kolkata India to visit the
children by the Sree Durga
Dump project. For several
years the Marist community
has donated funds to a tribe
of lower caste children to
provide education, food and
medical care. It is hoped that
continued support from
students, staff and alumni
will allow for a generation of
well-educated and cultured
youth to enter Indian society
with minimal barriers that
would generally be attributed
to their social caste.
Traditionally, the Dalit or
“untouchable” caste sleep in
the city streets and are not
provided with an opportunity
to attend school. They often
accept menial jobs for
extremely low pay.
The
families we assist rotate
between sleeping under tarps
on the sidewalks outside a
dump in Kolkata, and
returning home to a tribal
village
outside
of
Lakshmikantapur. There is
very little opportunity for
work near the village, so
mothers and fathers often
bring their children with
them to cities like Kolkata to
sleep on the sidewalks and
Caption describing picture or graphic.
work long hours during the
day. They are outside during
all kinds of weather as they
sort through trash at the
dump to generate income and
are barred from entering any
local establishments by baton
wielding guards.
Families are often reduced to
bathing themselves by public
water supply pumps in the
streets and can easily become
victims of malnourishment,
illness or even violence.
I am happy to report that
there are now 45 children
attending school thanks to
the support of the Marist
Community, the Beloved
Community, and, not least, to
the persistent efforts of our
Marist projectkeeper in
Kolkata, CHRISTOPHER
R A T A N
D A S .
The children are thriving!
They are excited to receive an
education and many showed
off their school uniforms
when we made a visit to the
village. The children appear
to be in good health although the
risks of parasitic disease,
malnourishment, and poor water
quality are still very real.
Christopher Das continues to
work hard to insure that the
children are educated in key
aspects of their own traditional
Hindu culture, including
teaching them how to celebrate
Puja to honor visits and mark
special events. An education that
is grounded in Indian tradition
allows the children to speak with
knowledge and confidence which
will often open doors of
opportunity since few will label
them as Dalit.
The Marist community has
recently donated 70 mosquito
nets to the families in response
to a Malaria outbreak and I am
happy to report that they are in
use! When we asked Christopher
what he envisioned as his “next
step” he responded that he would
love to vaccinate the children
against illnesses. Perhaps with
continued support the Public
Praxis Community can make this
goal achievable in 2013!
Christopher also continues to
keep a waiting list for other
children in the tribe who want an
education.
With continued
fundraising opportunities the
program may be able to accept
more students.
“The Children are
Thriving!”
Praxivists Visit Kolkata
Page 2
Embracing the “View from Below” by Mar Peter-Raoul
I am looking at this picture taken
by one of the kids living at the Sree Durga
dump, a large corner dump in the midst of
Calcutta, across from the Sree Durga hotel.
The hotel is where I stayed with other
members of Philosophers for Peace on my
first travel to India.
those rare souls such as Dr. Paul Farmer
and his Partners in Health colleague, Jim
Yong Kim, newly appointed to head the
World Bank, that this is a site of privileged
perspective, a certain take on the workings
of the world, an angle rarely glimpsed in
more affluent contexts.
The picture is of a mother working in the
dump with her 12 year-old-son, their hands
sorting through a bag of trash. I imagine
they are sorting out specific items to be
picked up later by the City, all day work in
exchange for an equivalent dollar, or maybe
two, depending on the success of their
sorting. It is enough for a good meal of rice
and a vegetable, but not for much else.
Certainly not for school fees for the boy, nor
a required uniform, shoes, study materials,
and a morning breakfast before school.
This “view from below” is almost always
missing from corporate board rooms,
college curricula, policies made in
Washington and other locations of power,
and even from a good many religious
institutions. Farmer, in Tracy Kidder’s
Mountains Beyond Mountains, takes pains
to show the interrelationship of the rich and
poor. His favorite metaphor is the dam
built in Haiti by the U.S. Army of Engineers
to bring electricity to the elite in Port-auPrince.
The consequences for the poor
families farming the very area to be flooded,
is catastrophic.
With little or no
compensation, they are forced to higher,
less fertile ground, where they become
among Haiti’s poorest.
I don’t know which of the kids from the
dump took the picture. The minute our
team gives them instant cameras to shoot
whatever they want, they begin clicking
away. We try to keep track when the film is
developed - two sets, one for the young
photographer and one for our team. We
offer to purchase the pictures we like best,
managing to like pictures from each set.
The kids are very happy with the 100 rupees
in each envelope, their very own, which
they have earned. We think better than
hand-outs, they are earning the rupees. But
on further reflection, we realize that they
work all the time, rarely receive hand-outs,
and do not depend on anyone for their
meager earnings. I have to admit to a
lifetime of hand-outs – starting with
working parents providing food, shelter,
clothes, and piano lessons; public schools, a
state-subsidized public university, and a
grant from Marist College to be here among
cast-off, very poor people relegated to the
lowest rung of Indian society. It is precisely
here that I have learned from my study of
liberation and black theology, and from
“There are choices made by those in
power to make policy, to advance
actionable projects, and to prioritize
an agenda that over and over
Christopher gives new
sari to older woman
I have a special connection with Kamini, the
mother sorting trash with her son. My first
time in Calcutta, in my fourth floor walk-up
facing the dump, I leaned one night on the
sill of the open window drawn to the soft
sound of rain.
Across the street below,
bordering the dump, figures were lifting
bundles from the sidewalk where they had
been sleeping.
The soft rain out my
window, was raining on their sleeping
cloths, making everything miserably wet. I
watched as the figures, carrying their
belongings, crossed the street beneath my
window, seeking some cover from the rain,
unaware of my watching them. One of the
mothers lifted a small child onto her hip,
and as she crossed the street, seeing me,
waved. A sudden current ran through me
as I waved back.
benefits those who have power”
Farmer’s point is that there are reasons for
people’s poverty. There are choices made
by those with the power to make policy, to
advance actionable projects, and to
prioritize an agenda that over and over
benefits those who also have power. This is
true for Haiti; it is true wherever abject
poverty exists; it is true for the poor of
Calcutta.
Though it was my two grandsons, 14 & 16,
who while I attended and gave a paper at
the Peace Conference, trooped around with
the kids at the dump, spending time at
night around their little fire and taking
pictures, & establishing a friendship that
they could not turn their backs on when
leaving. This was the beginning of the
Calcutta Project.
Pictures on these
two pages taken by
Sree Durga youth
(except Christopher
giving sari to an older woman.)
Spring 2012
Now, my fifth time back to Calcutta,
together with Colin, my 14 year-old
grandson, now 21, his brother Caleb (17),
and Marist students, Sharon McDowell and
Lindsay Zambraski, I want to be more
present to the dwellers at the dump and
come closer to sharing solidarity with them.
It isn’t until the second week of this spring
break trip to Calcutta, when I get to spend
significant time with the families. Today,
Christopher, our Calcutta Project-keeper,
has packed into taxis 30-40 of the adults
and children, bringing them to “the
maiden,” a park of stubby grass and a wide
open space, with each side bordering a
highway. We bring out harmonicas, giving
them to a line of 8-11 year old children.
Caleb stands in front of them and plays a
song inviting them to join him, but they
play their own random songs, sliding their
mouths side to side.
Christopher has spread a large cloth on the
ground motioning me to sit there. But first,
he sets up a little shrine, and gives me a lei
to place on a picture of Mother Teresa.
Kamini stays close to me, sharing the cloth
as well.
Most of the young women have a baby in
their arms. Babies are carried everywhere,
by everyone. One toddler is crying as she
stands at the edge of a tug of war, both
teams intense with hilarity and struggle. A
teen-ager walking by picks her up and
carries her for a while, then sets her down
near where he had picked her up. A girl of
around 8, near-by, picks up the little girl
and runs playing with her. Young children
seem always in someone’s arms, with the
young men as nurturing as anyone, and
young children carrying around even
Page 3
younger children. I am reminded of a
description of Moses as a nursing father.
Before we leave, I give a weathered brass
bell to each grandmother. I want to spend
more time with them and get to know them,
individually, but I feel intolerably hot, and
have to leave. I nearly died of heat stroke a
few visits ago, and so am wary of staying
too long.
Kamini takes my arm and
shepherds me out of the park. We hug and
pause, looking at each other, and smile with
affection as we part.
A Flood of Memories by Colin-Pierre Larnerd
Whenever someone asked how my
trip to Kolkata was, I would always have
trouble summing up the trip in just a
few words. “It was incredible, crazy,
awesome, a total sensory overload...” A
flood of memories would hit me, but
describing everything with a few
adjectives just didn’t give the experience
justice. After many unsatisfactory
explanations of what Kolkata was like, I
finally realized that defining a foreign
experience in a few words is impossible.
It’s just not meant to be and that’s the
beauty of traveling to Kolkata.
Our team worked with people who
are considered the lowest of the low by
members of the upper class in Kolkata.
This social stratification has been in
place for centuries and is deeply
embedded in Indian culture. But to our
Christopher, Marist Project-Keeper in Kolkata, eating with folks at the dump.
He often brings them breakfast, carrying everything himself—bread, bananas &
80 hard-boiled eggs (he boils himself on little one-burner).
Page 4
team, these people who lived and
worked in a garbage dump were far
from the unclean, polluting people that
so many others consider them as.
Spending time with them made me
realize how loving, caring, smart, and
cheerful they can be despite their living
conditions and place in society. Even
though they called themselves Hindus,
they were not allowed to enter large
temples. Instead, they did their
worshipping in front of small shrines
scattered throughout the city. I was
amazed that they held their faith in a
system of belief that indirectly causes
their hardships and low social status.
Seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces
made me realize how our consumer
culture makes so many of us dependent
on material goods for happiness.
Industrialization makes us think we
need things when we actually don’t. It
was evident that material goods and
cash are not necessary for a happy life.
They may make things easier or more
enjoyable, but love and relationships
Praxivists Visit Kolkata
between family and friends are what
really matters.
One experience I will never forget was
the time we spent with the kids in their
home village. It was so fun playing “king
of the hill” with the kids on top of a big
mound of dirt they use to create bricks.
Another popular activity was playing
“tug of war” with everyone. Each game
would start off having a few people on
each team but every time the game
started suddenly half the village would
join in on the fun. The chaos was filled
with laughter and screams from
children grabbing the rope and pulling
it one’s own way. I loved how I always
ended up being on a team with people
from the village. Although we once tried
a game between those from India versus
those from the U.S., the second
Christopher said “Go!” our bond
became humanity and team or
nationality no longer existed. We played
tug of war on our trip to the Bay of
Bengal as at the Maiden and village. The
energy and enjoyment those children
get from something so simple (and
dirty) is astounding when you contrast
it with affluent children in our country
lying around playing video games while
complaining about one thing or
another. Seeing the squalid conditions
these kids are living in makes me realize
just how extraordinary it is that they
ever smile at all. Those in the dump and
village have the most basic of material
needs, but in many ways that has led
them to grow closer and rely more on
each other as a community which is
relatively uncommon in the United
States.
My time in Kolkata was very rewarding
and it taught me so much about life in
India, the people who live there, and
how cultural beliefs can affect so many.
The bond between the families and I is
one that I truly value. The respect we
give one another is mutual and I am
thankful that I can call everyone in the
dump and village my friend.
Lindsay Zambraski, Business major
Boy across road with Sree Durga dump in background
Mosquito nets donated by Marist faculty & staff
Spring 2012
Page 5
The Kolkata Experience by Caleb Larnerd
My first visit to Kolkata,
Students accompany the Sree Durga families to the Kalighat
Temple for a Hindu Ceremony
The children are celebrating a Hindu celebration
Our arrival is celebrated with a Puja of Welcome! Notice children in their
school uniforms
The Children of the Sree Durga Dump & the Lakshmikantapur
village & Christopher & we praxivists thank you greatly for your
support!
India was the most memorable trip of
my life. While there, I feel as though I
got the full Kolkata experience by
working with “the
untouchables” (people of the lowest
caste) and going on many excursions in
and around the city. After our long
tiring flight we were all awakened with
sensory overload as everything was so
different. Kolkata is a city that never
sleeps and is noisy, smelly, and dirty.
You can easily get used to these
nuisances, but nothing can prepare you
for the poverty in India.
Our group stayed in a guest house
located near Park St. in the business
sector of Kolkata. Here there are more
tourists so impoverished people go
there to beg. I became friends with
many of the homeless people on Park
St. as our group would buy them food or
items of necessity. Most of the time it’s
a lot easier to just give them money
instead of having to locate a place they
would want to eat at, but we couldn’t be
sure our donations were going to their
benefit. For example, one night we
noticed that a homeless mother of many
children, who we had been helping, was
acting loopy while on some type of drug.
This reinforced our notion of not
handing out money, but I felt bad not
giving the poor anything when there
wasn’t enough time to buy them food.
Those situations almost defeated the
purpose of our goal to help people in
India.
My favorite part of Kolkata was
traveling to different places around the
city. We visited the Kali temple, a park
called the Maiden, the Bay of Bengal, a
village on the outskirts of Kolkata, the
dump where the poorest people we
sponsor live and work, and many other
places. In the dump and village, I got to
know almost all of the people and I
loved all the kids, who apparently loved
me too. They’d fight over who would
hold my hand while walking, talk to me
in their language of Bengali as if I
understood them, and play fun hand
games with me. It’s hard to think that
they’re rejected in society and can’t even
practice their own religion. This was the
reason we went to the Kali temple: so
when they entered, their social status
wouldn’t be questioned because they
were with us. At first I didn’t
understand why these lower caste
people couldn’t just dress nicer so they
could enter places, but I realized there’s
another way to distinguish social class
in India. Christopher told us about how
the families should learn “good
manners and appropriate ways to act in
Indian culture,” comparing their
behavior to higher castes’ Indian
manners. I noticed what Christopher
was talking about at the Bay of Bengal
and the village while we played tug of
war with the people. Some would push
and shove one another and they
wouldn’t listen to Christopher’s
directions, pulling on the rope before
the game started. Although it was
frustrating sometimes, it’s sad that such
great people are oppressed in their
society because of the way they act. But
the way they act is part of their culture
and the result of a society that separates
them & tells them where they should
stay in society.
When my friends and family ask me
about how my trip to India was, I
usually juggle the words awesome,
great, and incredible but I can’t give
them a good answer to really describe
Kolkata. Even while there I switched
from taking pictures to videos because I
knew photos couldn’t give the
experience justice. This is why my
adventure in India was so special to me,
because so few know what I’m talking
about when explaining how much of an
eye-opener it was. So few have
had the Kolkata experience.
Praxivists Visit Kolkata
Page 6
Spring 2012
Page 7
A moment of solidarity among women Lindsay, Kamini, Sharon
Dipankar is an artist. See his pictures: click Calcutta
Journal.on www.thebelovedcommunnity.org, scroll down.
A mother and child from the Sree Durga dump visit the Bay of Bengal for the very first time! Picture taken by youth
Namaste
A brother draws while his sister sleeps
A Dalit child begging by the train station.
A child stands barefoot inside the dump
Project-Keeper Christopher Das breaks into dance