A TALE OF TWIN CITIES

A free food delivery program in Kolkata enabled by the Toronto Calcutta Foundation.

By SHAGORIKA EASWAR

Each year in November, the who’s who of the Bengali community in Toronto gathers to raise funds for the Toronto Calcutta Foundation (TCF) at their annual gala.

Friends and supporters from across other communities who believe in the TCF cause join them for an evening of good food, song and dance. Much fun is had by all as they open up their purse strings to help the underprivileged both in Kolkata (earlier called Calcutta), India, and right here in Toronto.

In its early years of operation, TCF raised $15K-$20K annually. For the past several years, the annual fundraiser in November and other smaller initiatives have helped raise closer to $100K each year. For the first time this year, with the gala and other events cancelled due to Covid-19, it was unable to reach its goal.

“Calcutta had its problems of meeting people’s needs just as we have in Toronto,” says Uttam Chakrabarti. “So Canadians who loved Calcutta poured their hearts and efforts into helping alleviate the poverty in Calcutta.”

Chakrabarti took the scenic route to Canada.

He was doing his Masters in International Relations in Kolkata, but seeing few opportunities in the field at the time, was more interested in travel. The Munich Olympics beckoned and Chakrabarti arrived in Mumbai with a “World, here I come!” resolve.

He travelled to Basra, and on to Istanbul, where he stayed for 17 days. While there, he worked in a movie with Tony Curtis and Charles Bronson, We Can’t Win Them All (1969), to finance the next leg of his journey. He took the Orient Express to Munich, saw the infamous Olympics, worked there for a while and then decided to come to Canada in 1972.

“Mainly because one had to reapply for a work permit every year. I was tired of doing that and was ready for new opportunities,” he says.

In Canada, he worked at different jobs, before completing Accounting courses and, as a CGA, became a respected name in the finance industry.

While he was busy on the career front, he was also active in the community. In the early 80s, Toronto was ‘twinning’ with cities in many parts of the world and Chakrabarti thought of his home city, Kolkata.

He met E. (Teddi) Willoughby Kulp and expressed an interest in the possibility of twinning Toronto with Kolkata. Kulp said he had been thinking along the same lines. The meeting of like-minded people was to touch the lives of people halfway around the world.

“It all began with one of us saying we should meet for lunch the following Saturday,” recalls Chakrabarti. “We did, and discussed the possibility of setting up a not-for-profit organization. We got a bunch of people together and the original idea was to build a new city next to Calcutta with all modern amenities to house the less fortunate people. However, Revenue Canada said building a city could not be considered a charity and so we had to do a rethink!”

The rethink led to the formation of the Toronto-Calcutta Foundation in 1988.

Starting with a small medical clinic in Naktala for sex workers and their children in Kolkata in a house donated by a lady who wanted to contribute to a worthy cause, the Foundation soon received CIDA funding and grew to working with sex workers in adjoining villages.

The Foundation ran a pathology lab in Naktala, evening medical clinics for the poor, upgraded toilet facilities for sex workers and organized teams of medical professionals that visit different villages and provide medical services free of charge. It worked to provide micro credit to sex workers so those that wanted to leave this profession could have help in setting up a tailoring or baking business.

At the height of the AIDS/HIV epidemic in India, TCF worked with sex workers in Kolkata. Chakrabarti estimates the Foundation helped 5,000 sex workers in the red light district, 2000 children received basic education in its schools and more than 5,000 people received medical care in its clinics. The pathology lab was run on a pay-what-you-can basis. Money collected from those who could pay for a service was ploughed right back to fund more of the foundation’s work.

There are many success stories.

Chakrabarti recounts the case of Sonali and Rupali, two sex workers the Foundation approached to see if they would volunteer their time to educate other sex workers.

“We told them we would also pay to help them get away from their profession,” he says. “They stopped providing sex services and also became strong advocates for our work among other sex workers. More sex workers were emboldened and volunteered their time to educate others about the HIV/AIDS aspects of their profession and to distribute condoms. Of course, we also had to organize bouncers to protect these volunteers from their angry customers.”

All this help was non-judgemental. The Foundation didn’t wade in there, out to “reform” anyone. “We were working with them,” asserts Chakrabarti. “If we can’t provide alternatives, there’s no point in moralizing.”

Kolkata’s local Metro commuter network’s expansion caused the sex workers to move away or relocate, but many of their children went on to middle and high schools, breaking free from the shackles of the world’s oldest profession.

TCF’s mandate in Kolkata was to endeavour to provide the poorest sections of the population support in areas of healthcare towards a healthier and better quality of life and education and vocational training to prepare them to advance to higher levels of learning required in an information driven society.

Members and supporters of the Foundation believe that through such efforts these sections of the population, who without such opportunities and facilities often become a burden to society, will get a fairer chance to become more effective and contributing citizens.

In the Toronto area, TCF supports women and young girls traumatized by adverse family situations and helps provide them with opportunities to enhance their leadership and motivational skills by organizing health and other wellness programs.

The belief that such encouragement and on-ground assistance will enable these women and girls to become, once again, vibrant members of the Canadian society and contribute to its development drives these efforts.

TCF has raised funds for Nellie’s and Dixon Hall in Toronto and now works with Women’s Habitat Shelters, contributing to social and leadership training programs for students who need help to make a fresh start. It also sponsors the Toronto Heart Fair where health professionals educate people on how to maintain healthy hearts through diet, exercise, weight control and other methods.

It has tried to address issues of food insecurity in Canada, too, and donated $1000 to Flemingdon Food Bank which witnessed a rise in demand during the pandemic. They are committed to providing continued support. In Toronto, the focus is on providing leadership skills training for young children and financial management training for women (both groups are affected by domestic violence), heart health seminars, professional skills development for immigrant youth and raising funds for food bank.

TCF also sponsored a Professional Skill Development Project at The Social Planning Council of Peel. Seven workshops were designed and delivered to increase workplace readiness of Peel and GTA Youth in conjunction with their ability to collaborate and secure employment.

Nearly 60 volunteers are involved in the fundraising and running of the foundation on a regular basis, with the numbers swelling during donation drives and for special events.

Broadly speaking, its various initiatives in Kolkata focus on health hygiene/medical clinics, pre-primary/secondary education and vocational training for women.

Its village clinics have served over 300,000 patients.

Through its programs for preschool children and students in elementary classes as well as coaching classes, TCF helped 3800 to 4000 students.

Over the years, TCF has provided school infrastructure upgrades such as classroom extensions, washroom additions, libraries and access to clean drinking water and has helped modernize facilities at the Spastic Society of Kolkata.

When Cyclone Amphan seriously impacted the Sunderbans area and homes were destroyed and salt water from the sea backed up into farmlands, rendering them useless, TCF prioritized providing help in the short term by augmenting public grants to rebuild huts. Mid-to-long term plans include assessing the situation and supporting farmers.

Current initiatives include:

• Free breakfast, uniforms, school supplies, school bags, and winter clothing for pre-primary students.

• Free coaching classes for 120 high school students in two centres. Students are selected from underprivileged families in the area and are provided help in English, Math, Science, Bengali, Spoken English and Computer science. Several of those in the program have gone on to pursue post-secondary education at medical and engineering schools, hotel management, and in health care, nursing, and optometry.

• Two vocational training centres train women who obtain sewing certificates for employment. Some of them now have their own tailoring shops.

• Every year, TCF holds 30-40 eye camps serving 6000 people. Over 4660 patients received free pairs of eyeglasses and people who require surgery for cataract operations are referred to the appropriate hospitals.

• Distribution of sanitary products in which young women were educated about feminine and menstrual hygiene best practices. Sanitary pads were distributed at events in Habra, Hotar and Uttaran. The initiative was lauded in local media in Bengal.

When a hurricane swept through the Sundarbans and the city of Kolkata in 2008, TCF raised funds to distribute nearly 12,000 food packages and also helped build schools with strong foundations that would withstand future natural disasters.

Through a new project, they are distributing fruit trees to villagers to help generate income. In the first batch, 100 mango trees were distributed and the plan is to expand it to jackfruit, banana, papaya and guava trees.

In the past few months, TCF also conducted food distribution drives in villages in West Bengal for those impacted by the Covid-19 lockdown. Many people go to Kolkata from surrounding villages to work as domestic help. Unable to travel due to the lockdown, and without their source of meagre income, they were in dire need of food and other basic items. Three thousand food packages had been distributed at the last count, benefiting nearly 10,000 family members.

But numbers can only give an idea of the scale of operations, not of the human impact.

Stories do that.

Sraboni Kundu’s dream of becoming an optometrist was realized through TCF’s help.

Stories such as those of:

• Ashima Guha, student at one of TCF’s sewing schools. After completing the course, she did the Usha Diploma course and now has her own shop. She earns 2000 rupees per month. TCF helps students with the seed money.

• Soumi and Sangita, who were helped by TCF’s school programs, successfully completed hotel management courses after bagging spots in industrial training at the five-star Hotel Hindustan International in Kolkata.

• Jahanara Khatun sent TCF this thank-you note:

“I am a student of Uttaran, Jahanara Khatun. I have been with Uttaran for four years. The machine that was given to me from Uttaran I am working with it now at home and also coming to school to work. Whatever work I have done, half of the money was deposited for the machine and working with it at home and it has been a great help and it has been a big benefit to me. Thank you for giving this machine to me.”

• Saira Bibi sent them another:

“Student of Uttaran, Saira Bibi is speaking. I am sewing here for four years. I could not sew at home as I did not have a sewing machine. Now it is helping me as I have received a sewing machine from Uttaran. Now, I could sew many many things at home, because of this I am benefitting financially. I can also sew many items for Uttaran from home.”

• Joy Mondal and Sujoy Mondal studied at Uddipan Educational Trust under the sponsorship of TCF and passed higher secondary exams in 2018. Sujoy scored 60 per cent and Joy scored 84.2 per cent, the highest among TCF students. With financial support from TCF, they enrolled in a hotel management course and upon its completion, received on-the-job training at ITC Kakatiya in Hyderabad for 18 months. During this training period they will receive an honorarium of 10,000 rupees per month along with food. On completion of training, there’s a good chance of their securing employment at a good hotel.

• Sraboni Kundu was sponsored by TCF from class 9 to class 12 at the Uddipan Coaching Class. She went on to successfully complete an optometry course and is now employed at the Eye Care and Research Institute.

• Here’s another heartfelt note:

“Sir,

I have four sons, three daughters, my wife and my mother totalling ten (10) family members. I somehow look after my family by selling bananas.

“With my meagre income it was impossible for me to pay for my daughter’s cleft operations after paying all family expenses. I never thought that my daughter’s cleft operation will be completed without any cost to me. Thank you all very much. As a father what I could not fulfil for my daughter TCA has fulfilled that. Teacher Albasto Laskar of TCA school Prayas took my daughter Kashmira and arranged for whatever was necessary. I convey my thanks.

At present Kashmira Khatun is in complete good health.

Thank you all very much and I am indebted to you all.

With thanks,

Salauddin Laskar.”

Thanks to TCF, Soumi and Sangita are training in hotel management at the five-star Hotel Hindustan International in Kolkata.

The Foundation has seven board members and, de-pending on the need of the occasion, draws on a core pool from among the Indian and the larger Canadian community for expertise in different areas. At any one point, between 50 to 60 people are involved in different projects.

“The local board in Kolkata – they know best what’s most needed there – provides us with information on services required and the budget and we then see if we an deliver it,” says Chakrabarti. “We either come up with the funds or have to cut back a little.”

Being involved in the Toronto Calcutta Foundation’s work gives Chakrabarti the satisfaction of being able to give something back.

“There’s a connection. I was born there...”

Asked how he counters doubts that people harbour about their donation dollars going to the right place, Chakrabarti says more than 97 per cent of the money raised by the Foundation goes directly to the causes it supports as administrative costs are borne by individual members.

“Many Canadians from different professional backgrounds were instrumental in making TCF what it is today,” he says.

Canadians such as co-founder Ted Kulp and Gora Aditya.

Kulp, a retired teacher and “linguistical reformer” recalls meeting Chakrabarti at a Liberal Party social event in 1988 and talk turned to India.

“I have a strong interest in and passion for India, and specially for Kolkata,” says Kulp who first read about the country in his grade 8 speller. “India, a Land of Diversity – which, for some reason, was centred around Kolkata – sparked a lifelong interest. I have a natural interest in geography and read up everything I could find on the country, adding to my knowledge. When I met Uttam, a Calcutta-wallah, we discussed the social problems in Calcutta and in Bengal and after a few weeks, set up the Toronto Calcutta Foundation to help address some of those.”

Kulp was the first president of TCF, served on the executive board and continues to be an active member, involved in organizing events in Toronto.

It was always the intent, says Kulp, to operate India-wide. Lack of enough people on the ground has slowed that progress, but TCF has helped a hospital in Varanasi and a school in Maharashtra. At the Varanasi RKM Hospital, it facilitated purchasing medical equipment, dialysis units, gastro-intestinal video/scopes and dental chairs.

“We had Arun No. 2 – to distinguish him from another Arun! – who would spend a couple of months each year in Kolkata, working with our subsidiary there,” he says. “He developed great relationships with everyone there and on his return to Toronto, would stay in regular touch, calling them often. He helped oversee a lot of our work there. Arun’s now deceased and we really miss him.”

As a retired teacher, TCF’s school programs are perhaps the closest to his heart, but Kulp says all the programs are very good and much-needed.

“The medical clinics are very important. We are interested in expanding our vocational training and job creation programs and are hoping the sewing centres will create a small, fancy line of children’s clothing to raise money and create more jobs. We’re also hoping to work with organizations that offer protection to animals that are mistreated.”

There’s the issue of donor fatigue. How does one choose a specific charity with so many good causes? There are questions about how the donations are used, specially in light of the WE Charity scandal. Many past and/or potential donors might also be in financial difficulties due to job losses and business closures caused by COVID-19.

“We have not been affected by the WE scandal,” says Kulp categorically. “Our donors are very loyal. The trust they place in Uttam’s management of finances, his capability to handle money properly and transparently, means they continue to come through. If anyone can’t, we understand.”

Gora Aditya is another Calcutta-wallah who has been involved with TCF since inception.

Aditya came to Canada in 1961 to study biochemistry at UofT and worked at Sunnybrook Hospital’s Department of Biochemistry from 1964 to 1972. In 1970, while still working at the hospital, he started a small medical lab with his friends Rodney, who also worked at Sunnybrook, and Jeremy, who worked at the Mount Sinai Hospital.

“We worked from the basement of a doctor’s office in Scarborough,” he says. With business coming in from many doctors, they grew over the years and moved to their own medical building – a 100,000 square-foot facility that processed 8000 patients a day and employed 700.

He sold his interest in 1996, thinking he’d retire, but got bored and opened a chain of physiotherapy clinics. That had grown to 16, by the time he sold the business in 2011. During the same period, Aditya also had another medical lab in Florida which he sold to his partner in 2013.

He currently manages a large chain of apartment buildings in Niagara Falls, London and Scarborough.

“I am 80, and I still go to work,” says the man who can’t retire.

Aditya was present at the very first meeting of TCF and says their mission and objectives resonate with him deeply.

He donates $5000 at each TCF gala and also, along with his friend radiologist Dr Miskin, runs four eye camps in India every year, the cost of each being $2,500. He has also donated lab equipment and microscopes, etc., to the eye camps and has participated in the eye camps in the villages where they are conducted. He speaks very highly of the school programs and vocational training schools run by TCF.

“You know what they say about teaching a hungry man to fish being better than giving him food? Well, these programs have taught young children and countless women how to be financially independent. They have transformed lives. And you can see first-hand where the money goes. When I donate to an eye camp, I can see how many cataract surgeries were performed, how many people received eye glasses. All the money we raise goes to help those in need. We may have a salaried employees in Kolkata, but here in Toronto, we all volunteer our time. I like that. I really like that they work directly with the needy, that there are no administrative costs. There are charities in which 70 to 80 per cent goes to pay the CEO’s salaries.”

He prefers to work in the background, using his contacts to help secure better prices for venues and food, etc., at the gala. He also helps connect TCF with his friends like Dr Miskin and the late Moti Champ-see, who also donate generously to the cause.

When he pauses to think about the future of TCF, he admits to feeling a little concerned. “We are all getting older. Who will carry this work forward? Will the younger generation be as connected, as motivated?”

Then he answers his own question. “I believe it will. We have many young people who are involved and I hope we can continue this good work for years to come. The need is only going to grow.”

To donate or to get involved with TCF’s programs in Kolkata or Toronto, visit http://www.toronto-calcutta.org

Sweater distribution in one of the schools TCF supports in Kolkata.

COVER STORY

A TALE OF TWIN CITIES