Gaston Grandjean meets with the handicapped children of the welfare center of Belari, a village in Bengal.

From the time he was a child, through a brilliant academic career and his training as a nurse, Gaston Grandjean was deeply influenced by the plight of the needy. Realizing that the poor are exploited--even in the wealthiest, most developed of nations--the Swiss-born nurse devoted his life to improving their welfare.

He set out for some of the most impoverished areas of the world, working in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. In 1972, Grandjean arrived in India. He wandered through the countryside, giving aid where he could, but it was in Calcutta, in the slums of Howrah, that he found his life's work.

	Read more about Gaston Grandjean: • The Lapierres Meet Gaston

So moved was he by the dire conditions he encountered, the nurse adopted the slum as his home, living with and caring for its inhabitants. Eventually, he became a health worker with Seva Sangh Samity, a non governmental organization based in Howrah, and through his commitment, love, and compassion, he earned the trust of his neighbors.

Grandjean sits with Dr. Mohammed Kamrudin, a young Muslim who has started a center of humanitarian action in the slums of Calcutta. This center is also supported by the Lapierres.