|
By David F. Dawes
 ORIGINALLY from Canada, Huldah Buntain has spent much of the past five decades working in India with Buntains' Calcutta Mission -- and she's still going strong.
"I'm in and out of India all the time," she tells CC.com.
The reason?
"The needs," she responds simply. "When you walk through the villages, and see how they live, you realize there is so much more to do."
Some afflictions, she says, yield more than physical pain.
"I can't believe how many children have been born deformed -- by leukemia, club feet, cleft palates. It's a curse, according to their religion. Many of them are turned onto the streets to beg."
She fondly recalls India's most high-profile exponent of Christian charity.
Mother Teresa, she says, "came to us one day in the early 1960s, and asked us to start a feeding program. She would come to us when she had patients who needed hospitalization."
Over the years, Buntain says, she got to know the nun "very well," adding: "She was very quiet, but very bold. One time, she went right up to the prime minister to ask for a customs permit for our hospital."
Buntain's ministry has paid tribute to Mother Teresa in a tangible way. "We developed our lab in her memory. Also, we told her there would always be a place for the poor in our hospital."
Continue article >>
|
She adds: "This is what she taught us: 'It's not how much you do, but how much love you put in the giving.' One time, she took my hand and said, 'When you help a child, you do it for Christ.'"
Asked to describe a key thing she's learned over the years, Buntain responds: "You can't tell people about the love of Christ when their family is lying in the street."
She recalls an impactful incident during a tent meeting in 1954, when a beggar screamed out: "Feed our bellies, then tell us there's a God who loves us."
Buntain also reflects on some of the trials she has endured -- one in particular which had a devastating effect on her.
"My husband Mark died very suddenly. Talk about your faith being shaken. I had so many questions. I said to God: 'Lord, find someone else for Calcutta. We've given you 35 years.'"
She was helped by the words of a pastor, who once told her: "God never puts you through trials he can't trust you with."
"God is so good. He allowed us to be instruments to help thousands of children," she concludes.
Calcutta Mercy Ministries is having its first annual Buntain Festival of Golf this year. The tournament will be held at the Coeur d'Alene Golf & Spa Resort, in Idaho. The entry fee for the September 15 - 17 event includes meals, accommodations -- and, according to the website, "a little extra pampering."
Expenses are being underwritten by a donor, which means all the money raised goes to the ministry. To register, click here.
September 4/2008
|
