Huldah Buntain. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Mission: Building a better India by building better boys and girls

Means: Education, healthcare and vocational training

Huldah Buntain harbours a dream for India. The lady, who was born in Tokyo, grew up in the US and Canada, and has spent 50 years of her life in Calcutta, believes in “investing in human lives”. And that’s what she has been doing as part of the Assembly of God Church’s Mission of Mercy.

“My husband and I came to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) as part of an Assembly of God Mission. We were asked to proceed to Calcutta till further notice,” recounts the septuagenarian, who fell in love with the city and made it her home. The institution she and her husband Mark created is celebrating 40 years in Calcutta and Buntain was felicitated for her contributions at a function in Netaji Indoor Stadium on Tuesday.

The Buntains made a modest beginning in 1959 from a church at 18, Royd Street. A small school on the adjacent plot followed and in five years the Mission set up its first Hindi medium school at 40, Elliot Road.

Today, the Mission has 23 schools in the city with thousands of students, a daily feeding programme for over 20,000 children, a number of homes for the deprived, vocational training centres to impart professional training, and hospitals and clinics to treat the poorest of the poor.

“A little girl fainted in front of our first school. My husband asked her when she had had her last meal, and she said she couldn’t remember,” says Buntain, recounting how the feeding programme for students and street children had started. Lack of healthcare facilities for the economically challenged sections of society prompted the couple to set up a hospital.

“Little things have made the 50 years worth it,” she says, before yelling out for Robert, a child brought into the school from the streets of central Calcutta. “He studied here and today he is an accomplished singer and holds programmes in churches and halls around the world,” announces Buntain, the pride shining through.

Besides managing the Mission that is growing bigger by the day, Buntain keeps criss-crossing the globe to generate funds to run the show. “Earlier, my husband used to do this, but after his death in 1989, I have taken on the responsibility for fund mobilisation,” she adds, while admitting that the economic downturn has had its impact on the funds flow.

But with the extra effort and support from donors in the US, Canada and Germany, she will carry on with her programmes. “Now we are focusing on other regions like the Northeast, Jharkhand and Orissa. We have schools, training centres, homes and clinics in all these places,” she adds with a smile.

Though there have been a few problems — “stray flare-ups” — in parts of Orissa from fundamentalists, she is sure to carry on. “There has been a lot of improvement around since we first came to India. But the poverty and unemployment really bother me and I think only taking education to more and more people can resolve these problems,” sums up Buntain.