Are you considering volunteering at Mother Teresa in India?

I travelled to Kolkata in February 2017 with a friend and volunteered at Missionaries of Charity for just over a week. Volunteering was, for me, hard work but extremely rewarding and at times emotional.  The process of arranging to volunteer is fairly simple – there is no need to contact the Missionaries of Charity before you travel to India  – you literally just turn up in Kolkata and register. Language should not be a problem as many people in India speak English – most of the sisters at Mother Teresa speak English but some of the Indian helpers – mashis –  do not.  You do not have to be catholic to volunteer.

Registering for Mother Teresa

Registration for is 3.pm sharp at Mother Teresa / Shishu Bhavan 78 A.J.C. Bose Road, Kolkata, 700016 –  ground floor, on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays – just turn up with your passport and I recommend a notebook and a bottle of water .  It’s quite noisy as next to a main road. There is a group meeting where general advice is given including information about the different homes you can work in – after which is a one to one meeting with a sister to decide where you will volunteer. There are 6 different homes – for men / women / children / children with special needs/ & 2 for the dying & destitute. It is preferred that you remain where you first chose to work although some long term volunteers told me they had moved around. Two are at 78 AJC Bose Road – the rest are a very cheap bus ride away (bring change). I chose to work with children with special needs at Shishu Bhavan children’s home which was located at 78 AJC Bose Road. The Mother House at 54A AJC Bose Road is a five minute walk away.

What hours do you work ?

You will also decide whether to work AM shift 7.30-12 or PM shift 2-5.30 – you can do both but it is advised to just work one shift at first as it is very tiring, then review after a few days. Most days I worked only AM and it was indeed tiring. Even though it was technically winter when I was there it was still very hot – there were fans but no air-conditioning. There is a 15 minute break for black sweet spiced chai and biscuits – where you quickly bond with the other lovely volunteers from around the world. You can work for just a day or for as long as you like.

Do you have to pay to volunteer at Mother Teresa ? 

You do not have to pay to volunteer here but you do have to arrange and pay for your own accommodation, living expenses and of course flights. Most volunteers tended to stay around the Sudder street / Park Road areas where there are many cheap hotels and hostels aimed at tourists as well as places to eat. Bring Imodium ! A good place to look is  Tripadvisor.

Also remember you will need a visa before travelling to India – for more info read my blog on visa’s. I strongly advise you visit your doctors for malaria advice and immunisations for India.

All volunteers meet daily at 54A AJC Bose Road – also known as The Mother House – either at 6 am if you want to attend mass first ( I didn’t – though on the first day we did hear the sisters singing from outside and it was adorable  ) or later at 7 am where you will meet up with the rest of the volunteers for chai, bananas and bread ( from the nearby Russian Bakery). This is for the morning shift – sorry I am not sure what time the afternoon shift meet here – I’m guessing about 1 pm. I did work one very long day it was a picnic in a park outside Kolkata – a bus trip.  Note the pm shift finishes at 5.30 and it is dark by then – you need to take this into consideration if you are a lone female needing to travel back to your accomodation. The picnic trip returned to AJC Bose Road about 7 in the  evening and it was a little scary flagging down a taxi on my own at that time. There is no volunteering on Thursdays.

What should I pack for kolkata & Mother Teresa 

You are asked to follow a dress code at Mother Teresas. Basically dress repectfully. Women – skirts/dresses which must be must be down to the knee – or trousers – nothing low cut – shirts must have sleeves but they can be short. I would recommend nothing too tight and also even if wearing  dresses to the knee I would advise you wear leggings underneath as you will be sitting on the floor, bending and lifting a lot. I purchased some long kurta tops from New Market in Kolkata , brought my own leggings and also bought some there. Kurta tops were between 250-600 rupees and leggings 300 rupees.

I think similar with men though I didn’t pay particular attention to this , being female ( we were all called ‘aunty’ by the sisters and mashis which was amusing)  and as there were no male staff or volunteers in our home I can’t look back and recall. But i vaguely remember the information given on the first day was T-shirt with sleeves or shirts – short sleeved were acceptable and long trousers or shorts to the knee .  My clothes were very stained by the end of each shift with yellow food marks and general stains from feeding and carrying children. The nappies are not like here in the UK they are just cloth strips tied on – nothing waterproof – so I was usually a little damp as well – but you get used to it. You do have to wear an apron – this does give a little protection but not much really – it isn’t waterproof. I have read that if you work both  AM and PM shifts that you need to change into fresh clothing for the PM shift.  You leave your shoes outside the room so slip on shoes are easier.  Most adults were barefoot inside the rooms but wearing socks is permitted. I would advise taking something to tie your hair up if long and not to wear dangly earrings or jewellery that can be pulled off. I also had two pairs of glasses accidently broken when pulled off by children – luckily I had packed spare cheap ones. For great general advice on what to pack when travelling to India, for applying for visa’s and general advice including money and immunisations/health refer to my other blogs.

Where to stay near The Mother House – Mother Teresa Kolkata

There are many great places to stay in Kolkata but if you want to be sure of staying with other volunteers then find somewhere in Sudder Street which is a 15-20 minute walk from The Mother House. My bible for the best up to date info on travelling to India is Lonely Planet’s INDIA where you will find a chapter on Kolkata and a section within that specifically on accommodation in the Sudder street area

Not only that but it is the absolutely best guide book to travelling to India and  is my first go to when I’m researching my next trip. Neatly divided into areas – Mumbai – Goa – Kolkata ..etc – I photocopy the relevant pages and take them with me as the book is absolutely huge and weighs a ton ! So you know you are getting value for money.

Bring hand sanitiser

This is fairly essential. Many of the children and adults being cared for have compromised immune systems. If you are ill you are requested to stay away. It is advised to wash your hands frequently and to use a hand sanitizer. You may want to do this to protect yourself as well. The restroom facilities are a little more basic than at home. I purchased  good quality Purell hand sanitizers from Amazon – pack of 6 for £6.95  before i traveled – they are used in the NHS – they come with a neck lanyard – great as always to hand. The sanitizer slips conveniently behind the apron out of the way. I got through a couple of  bottles in just over a week . The Purell is stronger than the sanitizers you buy in the supermarket.

There was no air-conditioning in the room I worked at – there were lots of open windows and fans but it was hot and dusty ( and noisy being on the high road) – so it was imperative to take and drink lots of water. There was a communal locker type cupboard inside the room where volunteers can leave valuables which was quite safe but i would recommend you bring a fairly large bag that you can fit everything in including your water as it is easy to get them mixed up with everyone else’s.   You are asked to keep your mobile phones inside the locker and also not to take photographs – you can obtain permission to take some on your last day – but they are strictly as a personal momento and not for publishing on social media or anywhere else on the internet. Hence no photo’s of inside the home here on this blogpost. The home – which was basically one room – was about 60% cots and then some space with chairs tables and padded mats. It was sadly quite bare – I wish someone could paint some nice bright stimulating childrens pictures on the walls and ceilings – there’s an idea for someone !

Depending on where you are working you could be helping with feeding, helping with drinking, potty runs, nappy changing, laundry, physical therapy, dishwashing, helping men shave, cutting nails, helping in kitchen, brushing teeth, dressing, changing beds, cleaning, playing with children, talking with adults or just giving care and love and being there. We are reminded that only 10% of communication is verbal. On saturdays the whole of the room I worked in is scrubbed down – toys / windows / chairs etc with disinfectant – the volunteers were pretty much left to do this and was actually quite fun.

You are advised that some residents may touch your heart -(  and they do ! ) – but you are asked not to give gifts to individuals as it can cause jealousy as most have nothing- but you can give gifts to the sister in charge instead who will be in charge of them.

There are a lot of beggars around AJC Bose street – outside the Mother Teresa centres and in Kolkata generally – and the advice given by everyone is not to give money as most are professional beggars and probably do not get to keep the money. I found it extremely difficult as a mother to ignore women with babies in their arms desperately begging for food for their babies.  I did buy and give food to mothers who were not professional beggars – it doesn’t really take to long to tell the difference though I learnt the hard way by making the mistake of paying, in hindsight, far too much for a bag of rice for a woman with a baby begging . She told me to give the money to a man stood near the shop ( more of a stall ) on the road – I didn’t have change and apparently  he didn’t have change but he took my 500 rupee note (approx £5) and she told me to ‘follow him, follow him’ as he was going to get some change for me  – he walked off beckoning me to follow and I started following but he was way too fast for me and he very quickly disappeared into thin air ! I didn’t bother going back to see if the woman was still there.  It still kind of annoys me as there were many other women on the street with children I would have preferred to have given to but you live and learn.

I had researched quite a lot before travelling to Kolkata to volunteer – often coming across articles criticizing the facilities and care at the Mother Teresa homes.   I think the criticism is more directed at the destitute and the dying homes –  all I can say is that where I volunteered , despite being a little sparse, the children seemed happy , loved and taken care of and the sisters and mashis were all friendly and kind.   Mother Teresa herself is in a tomb at The Mother House at 54 A.J.C. Bose Road and you can go in and visit if you so wish. Yes I did touch it ! Kolkata itself has wealthy spots but there is an enormous amount of poverty – a shocking amount of homelessness including whole families living on pavements, under flyovers and in unfinished buildings. Many buildings are very run down. Surprisingly after a period of time it almost becomes normal. Despite this you can’t help falling in love with Kolkata and I would return in a heartbeat. I am a little biased though because I am in love with India.

When I am travelling I find it very useful to keep all my documentation in an clear plastic A4 Documentation wallet that stays in my hand luggage. This keeps them all together for easy reach – you may need to show some of them at the airport –  and most importantly keeps them dry ! Before I leave home I check in on-line and print off any boarding passes – it’s a good idea to try and do the same for the return journey either at an internet cafe or at the hotel if possible. I used the Emirites App for my last flight to check-in and receive the boarding passes but I printed them off as well which saves time at the airport and is a back up should your phone die for any reason or the worst happens and it is lost or stolen. Also printing out emails of your flight booking will avoid problems – you need to show this information to enter the airport / departures in India. Just do anything that makes life easier for yourself. I hadn’t printed mine off and had problems at Kolkata airport – I had intended to just show the email on my phone but I was unable to log into my e-mails for the duration of my last visit to India so was unable to locate and print off the flight booking email – it was pure luck i had whatsapped a snapshot copy of the flight tickets email to my son before i left that i was able to retrieve. you’re not allowed to enter the airport unless you can prove you are about to fly !

I also took a print out of my insurance document ( again the info was in my emails that i was unable to log into ) . Also it’s a good idea to take a photo and print it off of your passport and visa. With Emirites at Heathrow you will need a printed out copy of your boarding pass and also a print out of your Indian e-visa (if you opted for the electronic version ) – I hadnt realised this was neccessary and had to forward the email from the Indian visa dept to the lady at the Emirites desk so that she could print it out for me. Bit of a pain.

Medication documentation

If you are taking medication – either on a direct flight or via a stop over – it’s best to take a letter from your doctor and/or a copy of the prescription ( I take tranquilizers for flying and need an epipen for bee-stings & i photograph the prescriptions before i hand it over to the chemist and print copies off ).

Hotel documentation

Print off info for your hotel/accommodation including address photo & phone number if you know where you are staying – when hailing taxis sometimes the drivers don’t understand English very well and it’s useful to show them – was useful for me a few times in Kolkata.

Backup documentation

And as a back up it’s a good idea to let someone at home to have copies of all this info as well.

Filling in Indian e-tourist visa & uploading photo & passport pdf

Filling in Indian e-tourist visa & uploading photo & passport pdf advice.  Leaving it too late to apply for a normal visa I applied instead online for the new e-tourist visa.  I was disappointed that there is only an option for a one month visa for online applications whereas if you apply via www.vfsglobal.com you can get a 6 or 12 month multiple entry visa.

Prepare before applying !

It took over 3 & 1/2 hours to complete the appliction.  Uploading photo and copy of passport in pdf format – which had to be under 300kb – was time consuming. I’m in my 50’s so thought perhaps it was just me not being very tech savvy but have asked around and it’s not just me . In hindsight I could have completed in stages – and had the photo and passport pdf ready before i started filling in the form.  Hopefully the info below in this blog will help you.

How easy is it to fill in the form ?

The form itself is relatively straightforward to fill in – but uploading pdf and photo not so easy. Give yourself a good couple of hours to do this so you are not rushing. When you are assigned a temporary application number write it down as it is likely you will not finish the application in one go and need to log back in – note the number starts with the letter I for India , not the number 1.  Note where it asks for ‘referee in India’ I have filled in the name of hotel where i was first travelling to. I have filled in Indian visa application forms before and this is acceptable. If you are staying with someone you know that is obviously better. I have previously asked and if you are travelling around and not sure where you’ll be staying it is perfectly acceptable to just write that you are doing that.  Just enter roughly where you are heading first. However – when travelling to India it is actually quite a good idea to book ahead online somewhere to stay for the first couple of days at least.  This also makes filling in the ‘referee in India’ easier.  After you get your bearings look for alternative accommodation when you are there. Often other travellers will give you great advice.

Laptop or phone best ?

I filled in the form using my laptop – on my phone the text is tiny and large form which needed to be  moved around the screen to view) and used apps on my iphone to take passport photo in required square format and also take photo of passport and convert to required pdf size. See snapshots of the apps below.  Then I sent both to myself via facebook messenger from my phone and opened messenger on laptop and downloaded the photos. There is very probably an easier way but i was mid form and had to work this out as i went along.

Passport photo 

The square passport photo was reasonably easy and straight forward – just follow the instructions on the free app – pictured below.  Search your App Store for ‘passport photo ID’ .   You will be given the option to take a photo with dimensions specific for India.

PDF photo

The PDF shot of the passport not so easy. I used the Free APP in the photo below. It took several attempts – each time sending the photo to myself from my phone to my laptop  via facebook messenger and then saving in documents where i could then see how big the document was.  The first was 876 kb , far too big and was rejected by the e-visa website . Several attempts later I managed to get it to the correct size by moving the camera further and further away from the passport ( the app will flash up a message to move the camera closer – ignore it , you will need to move it further away) and then crop the photo of any background stuff. Eventually you will get a pdf copy of the photo under 300kb.  This will then be accepted by the e-visa website. If you have problems uploading try renaming the file with a shorter name.  Make sure no full stops “.” before the file extension .pdf ….   ie not exam.ple.pdf … it needs to be example.pdf . If you cannot see your PDF and photo after you have successfully uploaded – try clearing your cache or alternatively view using a different browser ie google chrome or firefox – as internet explorer doesn’t always display properly.

How much does e-tourist visa cost ?

My last online visa cost me £49.37 and a 99p non-sterling transaction fee ( cost variable I guess due to currency conversion ). However the cost has gone up now to £54. It arrived very quickly via email taking about a day and a half which was good news.  A friend received hers quicker than that.

Don’t forget to pack these top ten items for India – READ HERE

Remember to print copies off

I forgot to print the email and attachment off ( thinking I could just show the email )and had do do this at Heathrow as Emirites will not let you check-in without a hard copy – had to email it to them at the desk and they printed it off for me. Time consuming – luckily had time to do this otherwise would have been a major issue.

Passport storage tip

Now that you’ve solved the problem re Filling in Indian e-tourist visa & uploading photo & passport pdf why not purchase a neck pouch passport holder.  I have one similar to the one in the link above.  I was constantly showing my passport at the airports.  It’s a lot easier to have it easily to hand rather than in a bag. I chose a RFID blocking passport holder for extra security. I strongly advise you do too.  Radio Frequency Shielding Material blocks any attempts to steal passport data from the microchip in your passport.  For extra security you can also store debit/credit cards in there for the same reason. Contactless  cards have RFID chips embedded in them which can be read by fraudsters standing next to you with RFID readers. The last thing you want to have happen to you at any time but particularly when you are off on your travels.

And lastly !

On arrival in India you will have to head for e-tourist visa queue and have your biometrics taken. Be prepared for a long wait ! For more info read my blogpost Indian e-tourist e-visa biometrics problems

Why not check out this pack of two plugs if travelling from uk.  Confusingly some sockets have 2 holes and some 3 so this two pack has one of each – you’ll really not want to leave home without at least one pack – and FAR cheaper than buying at the airport.

Thank you if you purchase anything from Amazon on this page. I get a small commission which helps towards the cost of hosting this website.

TECHIE GIFTS FOR TRAVELLERS 2018 

For great advice on choosing your backpack click here

Things I wish I had know before applying for the new India e-visa

Joining the snaking hundreds deep queue for immigration at Kolkata airport we noticed a small sign with an arrow pointing towards the  e-tourist visa counters and smugly joined the much smaller 30 deep queue instead. The smugness wore off when we were still waiting half an hour after the previous queue had cleared.

So what was the problem ?

If you arrive on an e- tourist visa you will have your biometrics taken at the airport. Since 2016  everyone travelling to India requiring a visa will need to provide biometrics but if you apply for your visa the old fashioned way via VFS Global you provide your biometrics before you leave – still long winded – but in my opinion better than having them taken at the airport.

Why did it take so long ?

For the majority of the time there was only one counter open and the process of collecting our biometrics was painfully slow. The digital fingerprint machine needed several attempts to collect thumb and 4 fingers from each hand – each time the machine glass needing to be wiped and having to continuously have your fingers wiped of any grease to work – and then the staring into the camera for ages for the photograph.

Will this happen every time ? 

I was assured that this process only happens once and next time I would not need to have biometrics taken again but if you still have to join the e-tourist visa queue and everyone in front of you needs their biometrics recorded you will still be there for a very long time. Some research on the internet has thrown up horror stories of the process taking 6 hours so in comparison we were fortunate – if you can call it that. I did try to ascertain which queue I would have to join on a subsequent visit but didn’t manage to get an answer – will update this post if I find out.

 Note also ..

Luckily our hotel driver was still waiting for us. If you were arriving later in the day be aware it is apparently difficult to get a taxi from Kolkata airport after 10 pm . And on a more serious note – if you were planning to get a connective flight – you might well miss it.

And lastly …

Please don’t let the visa problems put you off travelling to India – as the advertisement claims .. it is indeed Incredible ! 

 For more info on Indian visa’s read my blog Filling in Indian visa and uploading photos and passport PDF  

Why not leave a comment below and share you’re experience ?