Crowds of beggars and grinding poverty, constant power cuts and water shortages, horns screeching and traffic that stops for no one. This sensory assault is everyday life on the streets of Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta), India, and it doesn't sound like a vacation most people yearn for. It's home to some of the worst living conditions in the world.

Amid this huge city, home to 4.5 million, many sick and dying people are alone and without solace, much less medical attention. Others wake up without knowing whether they'll eat that day. It's what inspired Mother Teresa to begin her now-famous relief work there, a cause former Reedsburg resident Rita Montgomery has wanted to support for a long time.

Montgomery, the daughter of Sauk County Board member and Reedsburg resident Charles Montgomery, is volunteering for Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, a religious order the beautified nun founded in 1950. Montgomery is working at the shelter that started it all, the Home for the Destitute and Dying, founded by Mother Teresa in 1952 and located in the Kalighat neighborhood of Kolkata.

"I wanted to do this for a long time, to take a longer period of time and just give back," Montgomery wrote in an e-mail message to the Times-Press. "I have always been inspired by Mother Teresa and am enjoying my time." ontgomery spends six days a week as a sort of nurse, performing day-to-day tasks like passing out meals, washing dishes and folding laundry.

More importantly, though, she spends hours with dying patients — listening intently, holding a hand and giving a hug. She also spends a couple afternoons a week visiting handicapped children at the Shishu Bhavan shelter. There she helps feed the unfortunate children, give them drinks of water and help them exercise, all while working to get smiles.

"There is such extreme poverty staring you in the face every day, asking you for anything, something, every time you walk down the street," Montgomery said. "And it is a country with great wealth. I don't understand it, nor do I need to."

Montgomery is just there to help, as Mother Teresa did her whole life. Despite the record-breaking economic growth India is enjoying, the influx of capital has yet to reach millions of Indians. The nation's poverty rate remains at a staggering 25 percent. Although the economy is rapidly developing, many still go without basic necessities.

To help them, Montgomery has taken a six-month sabbatical, leaving her job as a private wealth management recruiting coordinator for the Baird financial firm in Milwaukee. She was raised in Reedsburg. In addition to India, Montgomery will visit neighboring Nepal and Sri Lanka to do more volunteer work for the Sewa Lanka Foundation before returning to the United States.

Montgomery, who is unmarried and has no children, said so far she misses hamburgers the most. "I am missing a big, juicy, grilled hamburger," she said. "I can't wait to have one when I return." Anyone interested in reading how Montgomery is doing or looking at pictures she has taken can visit her Web log at www.ritamontgomery.org.