When you think about 1954 you might think about the first time the world series was broadcast in colour, or maybe you think about the marriage of Marilyn Monroe and Joe Dimaggio. It is likely, though, that 1954 came and went way before you were born. For Mark and Huldah Buntain, a young vivacious couple in their twenties, this was the year they boarded a ship to India for what they thought would be a year-long missions trip with their young daughter Bonnie in tow.
They planned to evangelize and perhaps do a bit of volunteering. However, upon arrival they saw a need so great they ended up staying for the next 50 years.
Although Mark Buntain passed away in 1989, Huldah and Bonnie (and Bonnie’s husband James Long) still continue the work of Calcutta Mercy Ministries. The ministry has established more than 700 churches, several Bible colleges, a hospital, a nurses’ training centre, laundry facilities which provide income to former prostitutes, and 102 schools.
Calcutta Mercy Hospital has treated 2.3 million people, of which one million have received free health care. The Buntains have also educated about 100,000 children. The non-profit ministry employs more than 2,000 Indian nationals, and accepts more than 300 volunteers each year.
According to Amitabh Singh, executive director for the ministry here in Canada, it all started one day many years ago. Mark Buntain was preaching in a church and a beggar walked in and said, “Preacher first feed our bellies before you tell us that God loves us.” He saw a need and he responded to it; Calcutta Mercy now feeds 25,000 people every day.
For the majority of those fed by the ministry, this is their only meal of the day. “They don’t get any other food than the food we provide … We have to send $10,000 every month to support the feeding program.”
The Buntains recognized they had to do more than just feed the poor. “Part of what we’re doing here is: one, providing the fish because there’s a crisis today, there’s no fish. But you also have to provide them with the fishing rod,” said Singh. “That is why they got into education. When they started feeding they knew it wasn’t going to change anything, they had to build a school.”
During the 1960s the Buntains built several schools. Mark and Huldah could have stopped their ministry there, but God had other plans. One day a little girl fainted in one of
They planned to evangelize and perhaps do a bit of volunteering. However, upon arrival they saw a need so great they ended up staying for the next 50 years.
Although Mark Buntain passed away in 1989, Huldah and Bonnie (and Bonnie’s husband James Long) still continue the work of Calcutta Mercy Ministries. The ministry has established more than 700 churches, several Bible colleges, a hospital, a nurses’ training centre, laundry facilities which provide income to former prostitutes, and 102 schools.
Calcutta Mercy Hospital has treated 2.3 million people, of which one million have received free health care. The Buntains have also educated about 100,000 children. The non-profit ministry employs more than 2,000 Indian nationals, and accepts more than 300 volunteers each year.
According to Amitabh Singh, executive director for the ministry here in Canada, it all started one day many years ago. Mark Buntain was preaching in a church and a beggar walked in and said, “Preacher first feed our bellies before you tell us that God loves us.” He saw a need and he responded to it; Calcutta Mercy now feeds 25,000 people every day.
For the majority of those fed by the ministry, this is their only meal of the day. “They don’t get any other food than the food we provide … We have to send $10,000 every month to support the feeding program.”
The Buntains recognized they had to do more than just feed the poor. “Part of what we’re doing here is: one, providing the fish because there’s a crisis today, there’s no fish. But you also have to provide them with the fishing rod,” said Singh. “That is why they got into education. When they started feeding they knew it wasn’t going to change anything, they had to build a school.”
During the 1960s the Buntains built several schools. Mark and Huldah could have stopped their ministry there, but God had other plans. One day a little girl fainted in one of the classrooms. She was rushed to the hospital by Mark, who made a shocking discovery upon arrival. In the room where the girl was admitted, there were two people on top of the bed, two under the bed, and rats running all around.
After seeing this, Mark said, “I’m not only going to feed a child, but I’m going to educate a child, and I’m medically going to treat a child.” They soon adopted the tagline “Building a better India by building better boys and girls.”
Singh is a product of the ministry himself. After going through the Calcutta Mercy education system he went on to obtain his MBA in human resource management, worked as a consultant for several international companies and also held a position as CEO of Calcutta Mercy Hospital. Singh said he is not the only living testament to the effectiveness of the Buntains’ work in India. “My brother is vice president of Starbucks and he’s an ex-student of the school. You can go to Yale University and there’s a professor of marketing who is an ex-student of the school. You can go to Mattel, the Barbie Doll guys and the VP of Mattel, he’s an ex-student of the school,” said Singh. “It’s a pretty good school; most of our graduates are at the top of the state level.”
Calcutta Mercy Ministries continues to expand in the 21st century. Technology has made it possible for children in rural areas to be taught through laptop-based education.
“What we are doing is we are not building schools because it is very capital intensive,” said Singh. Instead the ministry gathers volunteers to enter villages with computers, print lesson plans and teach right there on the ground. Through the online education base they can also track who has been taught what, and what needs to be taught next time.
“There are 100 million kids who don’t go to school which means there is no access to school,” Singh said.
Remote learning also has other benefits. When they go into villages, they also provide healthcare where there are no hospitals or clinics.
Even though much of Calcutta Mercy’s efforts target young children, recently they have helped sex trade workers in the red light district known as Sonagachi. It is a place of about a mile radius which, according to Singh, provides work for 10,000 prostitutes.
In collaboration with Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Calcutta Mercy has been providing healthcare inside Sonagachi for the past two years.
While the estimate of HIV positive women in this district has been pegged at 9.5 percent in the best seller Half the Sky, some say the reality is closer to 20 percent.
Calcutta Mercy Ministries built a laundry facility inside Sonagachi which helps women to transition out of the area. After working there for six months, they move outside Sonagachi, where another laundry facility provides services to the hospital and some hotels.
Many of these women have children, making the need for help even more urgent.
“When you walk into one of the rooms, I have seen one year olds chained to the leg of the bed and sleeping under the table while the mother is on top of the table earning wages,” said Singh, who added that for a lot of the women this is the only way they can provide for themselves and their children.
“When you go and meet them during the daytime they are respectable ladies, they think like mothers, they think of the future of their kids. If they can be … given an option, they will gladly take an option.”
Though Huldah Buntain is now well into her eighties, she does not see retirement in her future.
It is her belief that you only retire when you are doing a job — and this is not a job for her, this is her life and her passion.
When Mark and Huldah first set foot in India, they were only planning on staying for one year.
“They had no grand plans. They were in their twenties, they had no idea what God was going to do in their life, they were going to go for one year as evangelists,” said Singh.
They might not have had grand plans, but God certainly did