Mother Teresa's 'Home of The Dying' - A Poverty Petting Zoo

This photo of me was taken in October 2008 while volunteering for the missionaries of charity in the home of the dying located in the Kalighat neighborhood of Kolkata.

On my right hand you'll see a small green receptacle filled with pills which I was ordered to administer and give to the patients. More often than not, these pills were vitamins and not antibiotics which I reluctantly gave to patients with Tuberculosis, cancer and other life threatening illness which could and can be cured with proper antibiotics and a regiment of advanced medicines prescribed by doctors.

When I asked the women who run this house why we weren't giving these people proper medicines; I abruptly and almost aggressively was told that a part time doctor would come in and advice them of the patients diagnosis accordingly. This "doctor" in fact did come in, only twice during my time as a volunteer (roughly two months) and not once did he touch a patient, nor drew blood or took a urine/stool samples; he simply walked around, looking over the decaying bodies and after talking briefly with the nuns exited the building.

Where are the millions this organization receives in donations each year, and how exactly are they using them?

I am seated here with the deceased body of a patient who a few minutes earlier had died of suffocation when a volunteer fed him improperly. While I and others administered CPR, a visiting nurse and another volunteer fumbled for several minutes with a rusty and malfunctioning oxygen tank before finally getting it to work alas too late. Needless to say, I was outraged, angered and shocked; the next day I cremated his body and in disbelief read the cause of death: HEART FAILURE. This is a common occurrence at the home of the dying operated by the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. Is this the best care millions of dollars in donation can afford? It is time to demand full accountability of the financial and medical practices of this organization!

These women are the ones in charge of the home of the dying in the neighborhood of Kalighat in Calcutta, their names are Glenda (the woman sited on the right) and Anila (standing left), they make the decision of care for patients, food administration, clothing and other provisions.

They consistently refuse ideas to improve conditions in the home, as I and many other volunteers suggested the use of modern equipment to sanitize clothes, high capacity water heaters to bathe women and men with hot water instead of the cold water we're forced to use even in winter, clean syringes, simple medical charts for long term patients and a myriad of other details that would save the lives of those whose diseases go undiagnosed because these two particular women refuse to implement changes. They are often crude, harsh and short with some of the patients and even volunteers, the same who now do the bulk of the work while their sedentary bodies sit and watch over the spectacle that is this house of illusions.

This is troubling to say the least, specially since the organization does not report how much money they receive in donations each year and how such funds are used. Some experts place the figure of collected donations in the MILLIONS each year. Where exactly is all the money?

These women are the ones in charge of the home of the dying in the neighborhood of Kalighat in Calcutta, their names are Glenda (the woman sited on the right) and Anila (standing left), they make the decision of care for patients, food administration, clothing and other provisions.

They consistently refuse ideas to improve conditions in the home, as I and many other volunteers suggested the use of modern equipment to sanitize clothes, high capacity water heaters to bathe women and men with hot water instead of the cold water we're forced to use even in winter, clean syringes, simple medical charts for long term patients and a myriad of other details that would save the lives of those whose diseases go undiagnosed because these two particular women refuse to implement changes. They are often crude, harsh and short with some of the patients and even volunteers, the same who now do the bulk of the work while their sedentary bodies sit and watch over the spectacle that is this house of illusions.

This is troubling to say the least, specially since the organization does not report how much money they receive in donations each year and how such funds are used. Some experts place the figure of collected donations in the MILLIONS each year. Where exactly is all the money?

 These women are the ones in charge of the home of the dying in the neighborhood of Kalighat in Calcutta, their names are Glenda (the woman sited on the right) and Anila (standing left), they make the decision of care for patients, food administration, clothing and other provisions.

They consistently refuse ideas to improve conditions in the home, as I and many other volunteers suggested the use of modern equipment to sanitize clothes, high capacity water heaters to bathe women and men with hot water instead of the cold water we're forced to use even in winter, clean syringes, simple medical charts for long term patients and a myriad of other details that would save the lives of those whose diseases go undiagnosed because these two particular women refuse to implement changes. They are often crude, harsh and short with some of the patients and even volunteers, the same who now do the bulk of the work while their sedentary bodies sit and watch over the spectacle that is this house of illusions.

This is troubling to say the least, specially since the organization does not report how much money they receive in donations each year and how such funds are used. Some experts place the figure of collected donations in the MILLIONS each year. Where exactly is all the money?

This patient died a few days after this picture was taken, his condition never properly diagnosed (no blood samples taken and examined, nor a proper regiment of medicines applied).

Aside from the monstrous medical negligence they are subjected to, patients at the home of the dying in Kalighat are not given the opportunity to better themselves, learn a new craft or work on rehabilitating themselves back to society. This is a macabre display of people suffering from often curable or treatable diseases; and it is intended to shock visitors (often resulting in higher donations) while portraying a very inaccurate picture of poverty in Calcutta today.

Where are the millions of dollars you receive in donations each year Missionaries of Charity, and how are you really using them? 

This patient died a few days after this picture was taken, his condition never properly diagnosed (no blood samples taken and examined, nor a proper regiment of medicines applied).

Aside from the monstrous medical negligence they are subjected to, patients at the home of the dying in Kalighat are not given the opportunity to better themselves, learn a new craft or work on rehabilitating themselves back to society. This is a macabre display of people suffering from often curable or treatable diseases; and it is intended to shock visitors (often resulting in higher donations) while portraying a very inaccurate picture of poverty in Calcutta today.

Where are the millions of dollars you receive in donations each year Missionaries of Charity, and how are you really using them?

 This patient died a few days after this picture was taken, his condition never properly diagnosed (no blood samples taken and examined, nor a proper regiment of medicines applied).

Aside from the monstrous medical negligence they are subjected to, patients at the home of the dying in Kalighat are not given the opportunity to better themselves, learn a new craft or work on rehabilitating themselves back to society. This is a macabre display of people suffering from often curable or treatable diseases; and it is intended to shock visitors (often resulting in higher donations) while portraying a very inaccurate picture of poverty in Calcutta today.

Where are the millions of dollars you receive in donations each year Missionaries of Charity, and how are you really using them?

 Men, 50 of them on an average, forced to lay in this depressing room; often denied of consistent and proper medicines for diseases that can be treated and sometimes cured altogether. An onslaught of well-intending volunteers go through this house operated by the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta; bathing, feeding and trying to comfort the patients; but many of them too occupied and intoxicated with their own altruism to stop for a moment and question:

- Where exactly are the millions of dollars this organization receives every year?
- Why aren't there better facilities?
- Why haven't the nuns who run the place hired permanent doctors and nurses?

The real help comes in wanting to get people OUT of poverty and not using them as these nuns do; in a horrid poverty-petting zoo of sorts which is essentially what this place is.

It is time to hold the Missionaries of Charity accountable for their negligence.

Here I am ridding in the vehicle the organization refers to as an "ambulance" it is used to transport the nuns back and forth to all the different houses they operate in Calcutta, pick up homeless women and men off the streets (a practice that is done in secrecy since the Indian government has forbid them from collecting its citizens in plain sight, more about this later) as well as to move dead bodies to the crematory (I personally rode in it over a dozen times while taking women and men to be cremated)

Its rudimentary interior is void of any medical equipment or even a first aid kit. For an organization that collects MILLIONS of unreported dollars, this is a troubling choice for a medical vessel to say the least.

Where is the money missionaries of charity, and what exactly are you using it for?

This is the women's shower at the home of the dying in Kalighat, India operated by the Missionaries of Charity. Never mind the fact that none of the patients are Christian nor that there is rarely hot water (it gets quite cold in the winter months in Calcutta). Where are the millions which the Missionaries of Charity collect every year? They are certainly not being spent on minimally decent lavatories.

Here several men are bathed with buckets of cold water in the early hours of the morning each day, regardless of the weather outside. Another horrifying room at the home of the dying in Kalighat, India operated by the Missionaries of Charity. Where are the millions which the Missionaries of Charity collect every year? They are certainly not being spent on minimally decent lavatories.

Here several men are bathed with buckets of cold water in the early hours of the morning each day, regardless of the weather outside. Another horrifying room at the home of the dying in Kalighat, India operated by the Missionaries of Charity. Where are the millions which the Missionaries of Charity collect every year? They are certainly not being spent on minimally decent lavatories.

This is one of the men's bathroom inside The home of the dying in the neighborhood of Kalighat in Calcutta, India. No shred of decency is afforded to the patients. How are the millions of dollars collected yearly by the Missionaries being used exactly?

Patients lay motionless while workers clean around them with harsh chemicals and rudimentary brooms; this happens daily at one of the Missionaries of Charity homes, and still the organization refuses to report the millions of dollars collected while subjecting those they claim to help to horrid conditions.

 Men, 50 of them on an average, forced to lay in this depressing room; often denied of consistent and proper medicines for diseases that can be treated and sometimes cured altogether. An onslaught of well-intending volunteers go through this house operated by the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta; bathing, feeding and trying to comfort the patients; but many of them too occupied and intoxicated with their own altruism to stop for a moment and question:

- Where exactly are the millions of dollars this organization receives every year?
- Why aren't there better facilities?
- Why haven't the nuns who run the place hired permanent doctors and nurses?

The real help comes in wanting to get people OUT of poverty and not using them as these nuns do; in a horrid poverty-petting zoo of sorts which is essentially what this place is.
It is time to hold the Missionaries of Charity accountable for their negligence.

A female patient at the home of the dying in Calcutta India, never given proper physical therapy nor her condition diagnosed. Where are the millions which the Missionaries of Charity collect every year? They are certainly not being put to use here.

 All items are washed by hand in the Mission's home in Kalighat; for years the nuns have refused to accept washers and other modern equipment to be installed, instead they employ the help of volunteers and some paid workers from the neighborhood to soak clothing items from high risk patients in harsh chemicals for hours then hang them to dry in the roof. How exactly are you using the millions of dollars you receive in donations each year Missionaries of Charity?

All items are washed by hand in the Mission's home in Kalighat; for years the nuns have refused to accept washers and other modern equipment to be installed, instead they employ the help of volunteers and some paid workers from the neighborhood to soak clothing items from high risk patients in harsh chemicals for hours then hang them to dry in the roof. How exactly are you using the millions of dollars you receive in donations each year Missionaries of Charity?

All items are washed by hand in the Mission's home in Kalighat; for years the nuns have refused to accept washers and other modern equipment to be installed, instead they employ the help of volunteers and some paid workers from the neighborhood to soak clothing items from high risk patients in harsh chemicals for hours then hang them to dry in the roof. How exactly are you using the millions of dollars you receive in donations each year Missionaries of Charity?