Striving to Touch 90 Million People

Our destination. The Indian state of Bihar is not a destination for tourists.  Most Indians consider it backward, lowly and not worthwhile.  Whenever I or others on my team mentioned our final destination to someone familiar to India (like fellow airline passengers) it was invariably met with "why would you ever go there?"

The statistics. Bihar is India''s 12th largest state but has its 3rd largest population: 90 million people.  Close to 85% of the population live in villages and almost 85% of the population is under the age of 25.  All these people live in a state that is slightly smaller than the US state of Kentucky and twice the size of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.  While the estimated level of poverty (living on under $1.00 per day) for the country of India is 24.3%, it is 41% in Bihar.

The context. The majority religion is Hindu (83%) followed by Islam (16%).  This leaves 1% for "others", including Buddhism which was once prominent (Buddha is said to have found enlightenment in this state), but was forcibly pushed aside a few centuries ago by Islam.  Christianity barely makes a mark here as this region of India has often been referred to as the "graveyard of missions", both figuratively and literally.

The ministries. However, in recent years there have been new efforts to live out the love of Jesus as Christian ministries have begun to operate schools, dig many wells, advocate and provide vocational training for women without status (widows & single mothers), open orphanages, build community by establishing churches and train local pastors.  Our eMi team helped two such groups: Transform India Movement (TIM) led by Pastor Biju Thomas and Emmanuel Christian Fellowship Center (ECFC) led by Rev. EA Abraham.

Impressions. Our team landed in Delhi and took an overnight train to Patna, the state capital of Bihar.  What struck me as I travelled by train, plane, car, and rickshaw through India is that even 60 years after independence from Britain, India remains an interesting and unmistakable blend of Indian culture and its colonial past.

The food. I found the food to be amazing and any thought that I would lose weight on this project trip (an easy "diet plan"), soon disappeared.  Fresh baked naan, varied spicy curries and basmati rice, all of it was good and affordable everywhere we went.

The project properties. Both ministries were looking for a design to house key ministry functions: administration, teaching and housing.  But while one property was on an urban, small lot (TIM) the other was on a rural property surrounded by farms (ECFC).  We had brought one team to design both facilities.  We had Angie (civil engineer - water and sanitation), Ty (structural engineer), Dan and Dirk (architects), Jason (architecture student intern), Stephen (civil engineer student intern), Ivy (architect and eMi2 staff) and me.

Our headquarters. We stayed in a local hotel as our office for the week and went to each property to measure them, dig investigative pits to understand the soil type and bearing capacity and even poured water into them to learn about absorption rates in order to design surface drainage and underground waste water treatment (septic tanks).

Our work. Round after round of discussions with the ministry leaders and within our team resulted in master plans, building designs, structural design for each building and service design for the handling of both fresh water and waste water.  A week after we started, we gave a final presentations of our designs to each organization, each one tailored specifically to meet the needs of the ministry and for the specific challenges and opportunities of each property.

Being there…priceless. Both groups we served expressed their deep appreciation that a group of professionals would travel so far in order to be so intentional in meeting their individual and specific needs.  We could never have accomplished this by sitting at our desks in North America and they would never have been able to receive this level of service in an environment where the culture does not value what they value and where corruption would result in poor quality service at a greatly inflated price.  ECFC waited two years for eMi to be available to provide this assistance.

Visiting the local church. Since we served two ministries, we took turns attending their churches on successive Sundays.  At each I had a chance to speak and shared about our oneness in God's family.  Addressing one another as "brother" and "sister" is not merely an attempt at being polite, it is an acknowledgement of the unity we share in our brokeness, our need for redemption from that brokeness through Jesus and the grace, forgiveness, wholeness and new life we now have.

Visiting established schools. ECFC was established 26 years ago by Rev. EA Abraham who is from South India.  Several of us had an opportunity to visit a few of his established schools and orphan homes.  The principle of the largest school we visited is a woman with a graduate degree in public administration.  It is a clear statement of the equality of women (and indeed all people in Christianity) that in this highly segregated traditional community, she has received this position of authority and prominence.  (BTW in the photo below, Angie is singing and playing the hokey pokey with the girls….they loved it!)

A visit to Mussoorie. After the projects were completed most of our team took the opportunity of being in India to visit the eMi2 office in Mussoorie, about 8 hours north of Delhi.  Another night train and a very windy road up the mountain brought us to Oaklands, at the foothills of the Himalayas and home of eMi in India for 13 years.  Besides resting and visiting, we held a design review of both projects with their office staff.  Later this year, this office will move down the mountain to Delhi, to begin a new chapter of eMi's work and presence in India.

Project Photos. A new set of photos has been place in my Photo Gallery and you have three options to view it.  If you want to browse the set, click here.  If you wish to see a slideshow of the photos, click here.  If you want to see the titles and read the captions of each photo, click here.

Thank you to all those who have donated to this work through your financial support, encouragement and prayer: you have made this project a reality.

India Bound in February

Tradition says that St. Thomas (yes, "doubting" Thomas) was the first Christian in the 1st century to sail to India to spread the Good News to the Jewish diaspora in that region.  In the late 1700's, William Carey, sometimes referred to as "the father and founder of modern missions", was very impactful in India both in missional as well as benevolent endeavours.  Today there are scattered communities of Indian Christians throughout the country and for my next project trip I will be leading a team to Patna, Bihar in northeastern India to serve two local ministries.

Rev. EA Abraham of Emmanuel Christian Fellowship Center (ECFC) and Rev. Biju Thomas of Transform India Movement (TIM) both have established programs in medical care, education, leadership training, vocational training and children's homes.  Each are operating in scattered rented facilities and both have acquired parcels of land to construct new centres for their work.  Our team will visit them in Patna to master plan and design the buildings and infrastructure (water, sanitation, power) for these new centers.

This project is being undertaken in conjunction with the eMi Southeast Asia office in India, commonly referred to as eMi2 (it was eMi's second office).  This will be one team with a set of engineers and two architects, each to take on a separate ministry.  In this way, we will serve two ministries in the time it normally takes to serve just one. The goal of our team is to complete two sets of preliminary design master plans, building designs and preliminary engineering recommendations.  The eMi2 office will complete the remainder of the work after our time at the project locations is complete.

This is my first trip into India and I'm thankful to have Ivy Coffey, an architect on staff with eMi2, participating on our team.  Ivy will provide much needed insight into the local culture and how we can function and serve in the most effective manner possible.  You can read more about the projects by visiting the links under Greg's Upcoming Projects at the top of the right side bar of this blog.

Our team will be flying into Delhi on February 11th and for the next 14 days will be travelling by planes, trains, automobiles, buses and pedicabs plus even a little trekking with our own two feet as we do the design work in Patna and afterward make a brief visit to the eMi2 office in Mussoorie (in the foothills of the Himalayas) to conduct a design review of our project with their staff.

Pray for our travel safety and good health throughout the trip.  We also desire to have open minds to learn, listening ears to understand the needs and soft hearts to come alongside our Indian brothers and sisters to serve them in a way that will be most beneficial to their work.

We also ask for prayer for our families at home who need to handle the ongoing busyness of life without those of us on the team.  Thank you to all supporters and friends who are making it possible for me to do this work.  I will update this blog as I am able in India but for sure will provide a follow-up upon our return.

Five Years at eMi Canada - An Update

Julie's Medical Mission to Haiti

Several months following the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in January, many people in Haiti who had sustained physical injuries were in desperate need of rehabilitation therapy. From June 26th to July 3rd of this year, I joined a Medical Ministry International (MMI) medical mission team to Port-au-Prince to help meet some of this need.

Those with complex fractures, amputations, spinal cord injuries and many other injuries needed therapy to regain function and mobility. In response, MMI organized their first Haiti project that focused specifically on Physical Therapy. Once there, we partnered with several other organizations, including Christian Blind Mission (CBM) and Handicap International (HI), which were already working there to fill this huge need.

Before the trip I was concerned that going to Haiti on a small team of six volunteers, of which only three were therapists, we would have limited ability to help. However, my concerns were alleviated when I was informed that we would be partnering with CBM and HI to assist them during a shortage of available physical therapists. God's timing is amazing!

CBM and HI had established several physical therapy tent clinics around the city and also had therapists working one of the private hospitals. I was privileged to have the opportunity to work at each tent clinic as well as the hospital setting.

The heat was, at times, unbearable. It was 38C in the tents and treating patient after patient in that heat was exhausting but it was a very gratifying and enriching experience. What I found most rewarding was educating the patients and teaching the Haitian Rehab Techs who, despite having minimal training, were eager to acquire as much knowledge and skills as we were able to impart to them.

God graciously taught me many things on this mission trip. He gently helped me overcome many personal fears and insecurities, by simply facing them with the belief and trust that He would be with me through them all. I have gained a much broader perspective on the plight of the poor and what is really needed to make a difference in their lives and in their future.

I now see the immense value of teaching and the lasting impact that it has in changing the plight of not only individuals, but also communities and even entire nations. God has now placed in me a desire to teach and I prayerfully look forward to where He would have me serve Him next.

Thank you for your encouragement and support. Right click here and select Open In A New Tab to see my trip video without leaving this page.