Final thoughts: 9 Days (and 75 hours of traveling) later...

Highlight Photos:
(1) Exploring Hardiwar and Rishikesh, as heart-breaking as it was to see people worshipping stone.
(2) Meeting the Frank family and getting to play with Carrie and Grahm's kids.
(3) Seeing the Taj Mahal with my friends Jaclyn and Austin.
(4) Dancing with the children in the village.
(5) Being greeted by my family, grandma, and aunt, uncle, and cousin at the airport!

I currently sit in my sister’s condo in Denver, Colorado. I arrived here yesterday thanks to a caravan of my brother’s college buddies that allowed me to tag along (thanks Nic!). I have been consistently on the move the past week: from Mussoorie to Delhi to Agra to Fetapurh Sikri back to Agra and Delhi, on to Amsterdam, Detroit, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Madison, Fredonia, back to Cedar Rapids and finally to Denver! Tonight I’m going to Colorado Springs to stay with my friend Gwen and then tomorrow she’ll drive me to Manitou Springs where I’ll work on staff with Summit Ministries for four weeks (which I’m super excited about!).

It’s been an exhausting nine days but absolutely wonderful at the same time due to all of the amazing people I’ve been able to see. And amazingly enough, in spite of the busyness, I’ve had quite a bit of time to reflect on why God led me to India this summer. This is what he has shown me:

1) To grow in humility – In the past year, I’ve invested numerous hours researching and preparing for an inter-disciplinary project that I’ve come to call Academy GDB (Global Design Build). The core of the project has been about “teaching poor youth how to build.” One of the reasons I chose to serve in India is because of the breadth and depth of the poverty there: shanty-towns and slums are a regular sight throughout the country. Well, I’ve come to realize that inadequate housing in India is a complex problem. The fatalistic thinking of the Hindu worldview, claimed by 80% of the population, propels poverty. A beggar is a beggar because the gods have chosen that for him. I thought I understood India’s problem and how to fix it before I went there – now I realize that I knew very little and still have far more to learn. Though I plan on continuing the research that I’ve been doing in regards to Academy GDB (now with a team of IIT students beginning in August), I am much more comfortable admitting that my vision to teach the poor how to build will require more diverse research, continued cultural immersion, and a lot of patience.

2) To grow in hope – I spent four months living in Paris last fall and missed my family so much that I was convinced I would not live abroad for so long ever again. God changed my mind through this trip. I now have much hope that if he leads me abroad for a longer period, he would provide for me a Christ-centered family of believers like I had with eMi².

3) To grow in confidence – Though I have played guitar since I was fifteen, I have rarely played in front of other people and there is almost always someone more gifted than me selected to lead worship. Well, one of the eMi² staff named Huberth stored his guitar in the office and I was able to play it almost every day. Thanks to God’s kindness in providing me this instrument for me to practice with, I am now much more confident playing guitar in front of others and leading them in worship.

4) To learn more about eMi – I loved this internship more than any other work experience in the field of architecture. I loved the culture of the company, working for a client with such enormous faith in God, the staff and families in the eMi² office, and the daily balance between building relationships and designing architecture. God-willing, I’d like to return to complete a four-month internship with eMi²; whether that’s before or after graduate school is still in God’s hands. If Academy GDB grows into an organization one day, I know that continuing to learn about and through eMi will be very beneficial.

5) To grow in gratitude – I have never been more grateful for the foundations of Western Civilization. Being in the East helped me recognize that our culture is founded upon the Bible, and therefore founded upon truth, unity and freedom. During one of the weekends, the other interns and I visited Hardiwar and Rishikesh, two cities considered holy to Hindus. The experience was unforgettable due to the devotion I witnessed men, women, and children displaying towards statues. I’ve realized that serving 330 million gods has produced in India a culture full of paradoxes. Serving multiple gods, each with unique priorities and values, has produced a people who turn against one another consistently with “me-first” attitudes. Christ is the only hope for this culture in the spiritual battle against Hinduism’s lies. Thankfully, he is working and it is anticipated that the new Indian census will report 8-12% of the current Indian population to be Christian!

I am confident that there are other reasons why I went to India that God will yet reveal to me. Thank you so much for participating in this journey through your prayers, financial partnership, and/or simply reading my blog. If you’re interested in checking out more of my photos on facebook, please visit http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1369538276850.2029006.1183500517.

Blessings always,
Hannah

Farewell Mussoorie

Today is my last full day at the eMi2 office in Mussoorie. I leave tomorrow for Delhi with two other volunteers. We will be exploring Delhi, Agra, and Fetapur Sikri this weekend before leaving for home late Monday night. I'm very excited for the weekend! We'll be visiting some very famous buildings including the one and only Taj Mahal!

In spite of an abundance of power outages, my team finished up our project! We had to work one evening this week because power "magically" works better when it's dark outside, but it's so fun working here that I really didn't mind one bit. :)

I'm very excited to go home since I haven't been in touch with anyone all week (internet has been down in Mussoorie most of the week due to the heavy rains). I've started missing my family more this week than before, but I can't wait to see them soon!

I hope to post at least once more about this experience after I've collected more thoughts on why God brought me here to India. Until then, may God guard each of you in his peace and bless you according to your needs.

<3 Hannah

Everyday with eMi2

Photos:
(1) The clouds of Mussoorie, which sometimes settle so heavily around the office that you can see fog entering the door to the office
(2) An electrical repair job – a common site here in India
(3) A road that loops around the hill near Oaklands
(4) Everett Frank – Graham and Carrie Frank’s 18-month-old son
(5) A stray dog napping on a store roof – there are a lot of stray dogs here.
(6) My cozy bed in the loft space of the girl’s dorm
(7) Jaclyn (an architect volunteer from MN) and Austin (civil engineering student from FL) by the eMi sign at Oaklands (you may notice that eMi stands from Environmental Management International)
(8) Jaclyn and me with the mountains in the background
(9) Himalayan mountain view from the driveway of Oaklands – the eMi campus where the girl’s dormitory, office, and Frank home is located. I have only seen this view once since it’s almost always hidden by clouds.
(10) Wild monkeys – which are everywhere in Mussoorie and known to attack you (so we carry around sticks to defend ourselves that are literally called “monkey sticks”)

Greetings from the foothills of the Himalayas! I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time here in the cozy Mussoorie eMi² office (Engineering Ministries International-India). Our team is making great progress on our design and we hope to print and publish our project drawings by the end of next week. I found out that we print the project folder for every team member, so I’ll be able to bring a copy of our work home to show anyone that’s interested in seeing it.

I really enjoy the company culture here at eMi². The people on staff are really close friends and the relational nature of the Indian culture permeates our office. The fellowship here has been awesome so far.

My every day with eMi²:
6:45 - 8:15 AM –Wake up and get ready for the day
8:30-9:00 AM – Devotions with the interns and eMi² staff in the office (which is immediately adjacent to the girls dormitory)
9:00 – 12:30 pm – Work
12:30 – 1:00 pm – Our company eats lunch together, prepared by our cook
1:00 – 1:30 pm –Occasionally we enjoy a walk, a game of hacky-sack, or we play with Graham’s kids (he’s on staff and his family lives next door to the office)
1:30 – 3:30 pm – Work
3:30 pm – (4:00-5:00) – Chai time, which consists of socializing, having a design review, or watching some sort of presentation
Post Chai time – 6:00 pm – Work
6:00 – 6:30 pm – All the interns eat dinner, prepared by our cook, but the staff often go home to eat

In the evenings, all of the interns (currently 9 people) play games, watch movies, hike around on the beautiful wooded trails, play guitar, check our e-mail (when the internet is working - which it hasn't been all week (not even at the internet cafe)), read, go to one the local cafes, or walk to the Mussoorie market (which is actually just a long road of stores and is a really good work out since it takes an hour to even get there and the path is quite steep).

The laptop that my parents bought me before coming has become somewhat like the office laptop, since two of the other interns did not bring a computer and another has been having problems with his. The long battery life of my laptop has also been really helpful since the power goes out regularly. Thanks mom and dad! Your generosity is benefiting my entire team.

I recently wrote the following article about the leader of the ministry we are serving for an eMi² publication. Her name is Yadamma and she has become my new hero. As you will read below, her story is extremely inspirational.

“God will not look you over for medals, degrees, or diplomas, but for scars.” These words, penned by the American author Elbert Hubbard, offer hope to a fearless Indian woman named Yadamma. Born into a Hindu family, Yadamma never learned to read or received a formal education. Her father was blinded by an explosion at his job as a construction worker, leaving her, her mother and three younger sisters without a consistent source of income. Desperate for money, Yadamma’s mother arranged for her to sleep with a village leader in exchange for a loan. Thankfully, she used her wit to escape the situation; but the betrayal she felt from her mother left its mark.

At age fourteen, Yadamma’s family arranged her marriage to a young Hindu man, as is common practice in rural India. She was initially glad to move away from her parents, whose relationship had severely soured by this time. Unfortunately, her in-laws proved less hospitable than anticipated. One weekend while her husband was out of town, Yadamma’s mother-in-law locked her in a room with another wealthy man who wanted to use her. She escaped his advances by threatening him with a crowbar, but she couldn’t escape further feelings of betrayal.

Bitter from the injustice she endured as a poor woman, Yadamma urged her husband to join a Sihk terrorist group with her. They were actively involved in the group for six years. In His sovereignty, God did not give Yadamma the opportunity to kill anyone, though she did not yet know Christ. It wasn’t until her husband was diagnosed with blood cancer that she began searching for answers. She and her husband could not afford proper medical treatment, so Yadamma approached a local Christian pastor to request that his God heal her husband. The pastor presented the gospel to her and Yadamma accepted Christ into her life. She then prayed that her husband would be healed of his cancer and he was healed!

The couple quickly left the terrorist group and her husband studied to become a pastor. Yadamma began to spread the good news of Christ fearlessly and soon both of her parents embraced Christ’s message. In 2005, Yadamma accepted God’s call for her life to give village children the love of Christ and a childhood that she never experienced. God brought a man named David alongside her and they formed El Rohi Ministries (God is our Shepherd) in a village in Andra Pradesh. Together they lead the El Rohi Children’s Home which especially ministers to children and widows affected by the growing AIDS/HIV epidemic spreading across India, of which the state of Andhra Pradesh is said to be the worst affected. The children supported by El Rohi are typically born into poor village families but are now fatherless, orphaned, or in some cases, rejected by their parents. El Rohi leaders present the gospel to the children as they clothe, feed, educate, and love them. Today, at age forty-two, Yadamma acts as a mother to the thirty children living in the Home, though she never experienced that type of mothering herself.

Through Yadamma and David’s leadership, El Rohi Ministries has grown to impact the greater community in and around the village as well. They currently lead the only church gathering in the village, with more than forty weekly attendees. Yadamma and David have also traveled together to villages that have never heard of Christ to preach the gospel.

In the beginning of June 2011, eMi² sent a team of architects and civil engineers to equip this ministry to better serve their neighbors and the children of the Home. The ministry owns over five acres of land but currently operates out of a temporary thatched-roof pavilion and two small sheds. The eMi² team completed the preliminary design work for a new Home that can fit up to 100 children and a Church facility for 150 attendees.

El Rohi Ministries continues today witnessing to villagers in Andra Pradesh and offering children affected by HIV/AIDS a new life. The architects and engineers at eMi² felt extremely privileged to partner with this ministry and the incredible woman who makes it tick. In spite of physical poverty, Yadamma’s strength, perseverance, faith, and joy radiate from the crevices of her scars, offering an abundance of hope to the children of the El Rohi Home.

Our office also had a photo contest for our quarterly publication (called The Indian Thread) and I submitted this photo from our project trip. It reminded me of how God asks us to trust him with childlike faith. Following in the footsteps of a child seems counter-intuitive for the average adult, and yet it is a daily necessity for this blinded man (Yadamma’s father). Watching five-year-old Leah lead him with such a gentle handclasp around his index finger testified to her patience with his cautiousness. It reminded me of God’s incredible patience with our hesitancy to trust Him.

Thank you for all of your prayers, e-mails, and financial support! This experience has been spiritually invaluable to me. If I could, I’d write you each a personalized e-mail with an update, but please don’t be upset that there’s simply not enough internet access for me to e-mail everyone. Keep sending me updates about your lives though! I love reading them whenever I have access to the internet.

Your sister in Christ,
Hannah

Settled in Mussoorie

Pictures
(1) A rainbow projected through a cloud - unlike anything I've ever seen. The sunsets in the village were absolutely gorgeous! (2) My team posed for a photo with all of the props that made our trip unique. :) All the ladies are wearing the sari outfits. (3) Myself with two five-year-old girls, Leah and Pavani, who I bonded with really well, as well as a boy named Sharit. (4) Lackshmie and her fiance at their engagement party. (5) Myself in traditional Indian garb standing by the cooling fan in the girl's living space.

My team and I arrived safely to the eMi² office in Mussoorie! The office is beautiful and cozy, and the weather here is refreshingly cool. Our week-long stay in the village was quite warm but absolutely amazing. The leaders of the ministry shared incredible testimonies with us and their faith in God’s provision was truly inspiring.

When we first arrived in the village, we were greeted by twenty-five beaming Indian orphans and the ministry leaders David and Yadama. The ministry constructed a temporary hut for the orphans and men to sleep in so that the women on my team could sleep in a roofed concrete building (about 12’ x 25’). The caretakers on staff were extremely hospitable during our stay – cooking us delicious Indian meals, serving us mango juice, chai, or coffee regularly, and washing our laundry for us. Yadama, an illiterate but brilliant woman, also designed and oversaw the construction of a toilet and bath house prior to our arrival so our team could have a Western toilet and a place to take “bucket-baths.” The children were also extremely obedient and servant-hearted, regularly carrying chairs for us, holding umbrellas over us when we were working in the sun, and filling up our water buckets.

The kindness and generous hospitality of the Indian people made such an impact on me. Not only did the ministry give out of their poverty, neighbors in the village brought us a unique Indian dessert, gave us a chicken to eat, and a local seamstress even made all the women on my team traditional sari outfits. The stories of orphans also deeply touched my heart. A couple of them spent years begging for food on the streets. Some of the young girls ran away or were rescued from families who wanted to kill them (many Indian families view daughters as nothing more than an expense).

One of the orphans named Lahkshmie had her engagement ceremony while we were in the village. Though she grew up at the orphanage and became a Christian, her Hindu relatives arranged her marriage to a young Hindu man. She is only sixteen years old and her fiancé is seventeen. She will not go to school again after her wedding later this month and will likely become the mother to four to six children before age twenty-five. Lahkshmie invited my team to watch part of the engagement ceremony, which consisted of a series of rituals consistently interrupted by an Indian photographer. It was very interesting but also very sad to watch because I knew the couple had never even had a conversation. After the church service on the Sunday following the engagement ceremony, the women of my team prayed over Lahkshmie and her future marriage. Please join with us and pray that her soon-to-be husband comes to know the Lord.

In addition to spending quality time with the children, our team spent most of our days surveying the site property and completing the preliminary design for the new orphanage and church building. Throughout the week we had meetings with David and Yadama to gain feedback on our design. I felt extremely privileged to offer my architecture skills to serve the ministry. I have never been more motivated to help a client! It is our hope that the ministry will raise the funds to construct the buildings in the next 3-5 years. The drawings and renderings that we are making here in Mussoorie will be critical for their fund-raising efforts.

Thank you so much for your prayers! God miraculously kept my entire team healthy and provided two large cooling fans that were donated to the ministry the week before we arrived – so we were able to stay cool enough to work during the hot afternoons. Please continue to pray for my team’s progress on the design documentation and for our overall health and safety. Please also pray for discernment for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with eMi and am seriously considering returning to work for eMi after I graduate for a four-month internship, whether in Colorado, India, or elsewhere. Please pray that God would continually give me peace about his plans for me and faith in this waiting season.

Feel free to send me an update about yourself or e-mail me with any questions! Internet access here in Mussoorie has been spotty so far (our box broke today and we don't exactly know if we'll have access to the office's wireless network for three months..) But I will try to access the web as often as I can. :)

In His service,
Hannah

20 hrs plane + 27 hrs train = Safe in Hyderabad

Yes, mom, I arrived safe and sound! :)

After a bittersweet send-off in the Eastern Iowa Airport, I began my trek to India! I met up with Jacklyn, a very kind young architect from Virginia, at my layover in Detroit, and was able to sit with her on my way to Amsterdaam. From Amsterdaam to Delhi we each got window seats and I was able to sleep about 6 hours on the flight, which has really helped me adjust to the 10.5 hr time difference. We arrived in New Delhi and met up with our eMi trip leaders Dannah and Ryan without any problems, praise God! After a night in New Delhi and a day of shopping, we began our over-night train ride south to Hyderabad. Abishek, an Indian architecture intern, met us for the train ride before heading to the station. Unfortunately one of our team members (Austin) didn't make it to New Delhi as scheduled, but he was able to get another flight direct to Hyderabad and arrived last night. Pemila, a volunteer civil engineer, joined us late last night from the UK. We're now all staying in a very Westernized guest house (with wireless internet!) before leaving tomorrow for the village that the El Rohi Center is located in (about an hour away).

While in New Delhi, we rode in an auto-rickshaw and Jaclyn and I bought some traditional Indian clothing so we won't stand out as much in the village (pictures to come!). There are very few Westerners here in Hyderabad, but I'm getting more accustomed to the stares and cultural differences. This morning Ryan and Dannah led us in a team orientation. I'm very excited to work with everyone! We each bring such unique gifts to the team, so please pray that we are able to use them well! Please also pray for unity as a team, overall hydration and health, and for our time interacting with the 30 children of the El Rohi home. For myself, please pray for strength in spirit. I've seen things in the past few days that have broken my heart, including children with limbs maimed to beg for money and women hidden from the world beneath burkas. Please pray that I continue to trust the Lord's sovereignty in spite of such injustices.

I do not expect to have internet access while in the village for the next week, but we will pass back through this guest house before taking the train north, so I will try to write then! Thank you all for your prayers and support!