A club set up by a Jesuit priest that works for poor and elderly in Hills

Amitava Banerjee, HT, 2 Oct 2016, DARJEELING: A tall man walking around the streets, greeting people passing by, especially the underprivileged with folded hands is how Darjeeling fondly remembers Late Father Edgar Peter Burns – the messiah of the poor.

Upholding his ideals, the Burns Memorial Club commemorated International Day of Older Persons in Darjeeling on Saturday.

“The poor deserve the best” was Late Father Burn’s conviction and he worked towards this through the Hayden Hall which he founded. The Hayden Hall along with the extension work in the villages of Darjeeling, ran programmes of adult education, pre-school education, primary education, supervised afterschool tuition for poor children from the poorer neighbourhood schools, mother and child care, community health, prevention and cure of tuberculosis, paramedic training, housing, income generation, feeding and nutrition rehabilitation, help to the old.

Father Burns, born on April 26, 1925 in Montreal, Canada, had joined the Society of Jesus in 1943 and came to Darjeeling in 1951. Having served in various capacities at St. Joseph’s School and College, Darjeeling; St. Robert’s High School Darjeeling; St. Alphonsus High School Kurseong and Regional general of Jesuits of North Bengal in 1969 he founded the Hayden Hall Community Development and Social Welfare Centre.

“After Father Burns passed away we founded the Burns Memorial Club to carry on with the work he had started especially in giving care and time to the elderly, poor and the needy,” said Cassian Dukpa, a member of the club.

Club members go around Darjeeling town and surrounding areas including Lebong, Harsing, Ghoom and enrol the elderly especially the needy and the lonely with the club.

“We have weekly meetings where they come, talk to each other, share their joys and sorrows and are provided economical, nutritional and medicinal assistance by the club,” said Dukpa. The club has 150 members.

Seventy-year-old Doma lived alone after her husband, who was a construction worker fell from a roof of a construction site and died. She had no one to come to her aid. “I approached the Hayden Hall and was given a house at Navin Gram in Darjeeling. I am a member of Burns Club. They take care of all my needs,” said Doma.

A feast and entertainment programme for around 150 elderly people were organised by the club at the Hayden Hall in Darjeeling on Saturday to mark the International Day of Older Persons. They were also felicitated.

For 68-year-old Bina Sherpa of Burra Ging, the club has come as a major relief. “I live alone. My life was so lonely. Now I have lots of friends to share my joys and sorrows with,” said Sherpa, standing in the feast queue. Many social workers from within the country as well as abroad join hands with the club to work for the elderly.