On the road again

Every time I try to explain what I'm doing this summer, I don't seem to know where to begin. If someone (aka the Fund for Theological Education) offered to give you the funds to do any kind of project you wanted for a summer, what would you do? I decided to find a way to combine my love for Southeast Asia with my interest in economic justice. So, I'll be going back to India and Sri Lanka, and then to Namibia with a group from school, to learn from groups that are empowering minorities to overcome poverty.

On June 13 I depart for India, where I'll spend two weeks at Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary, which does great work with the Dalit community. I'll also be making short visits to an organization in Kanchipuram called RIDE, which helps child laborers get out of the silk sari weaving industry and transition into school, and to see Global Ministries missionary Thandiwe Gobledale, who serves at an orphanage near Vellore.

After that, I'll go to Kandy, Sri Lanka, for two weeks with Satayodaya, an interfaith group which does organizing and advocacy work with the tea estate workers (most of whom are part of the minority Indian Tamil community). I'll also have a little free time to catch up with some old friends, hopefully.

My last trip to Kandy, with Jaffna College students.

Then it's back to the U.S. for a few days to join a group from Vanderbilt Divinity School for our immersion trip to Namibia, where I hope to focus on (among other things) how the country has dealt with the end of apartheid. We'll be there for two weeks, talking with leaders from all segments of society (politics, business, religion, health care, ordinary people, etc...).

Once I get back to Nashville and unpack (literally and theologically), I hope there will be some new insights that can be applied to both the Vanderbilt living wage campaign and to the way the church understands the connections between racism and poverty. I'm sure I will have a whole new way of looking at these issues.

Intro

Vanakkam! Welcome! This blogging thing is new to me, but it seems like a good way to journal and stay connected to friends back home as I embark on a new adventure this summer that will take me through India, back to Sri Lanka, and on my first trip to Africa.

If you're wondering about the title of the blog, Nesam, this is a Tamil word for love that has the connotation of affection or compassion (at least that's how it was explained to me). I first heard the word in the name of a project that one of my heroes and mentors in Sri Lanka, Reverend T.S. Joshua, started called the Nesam Infant Programme. This project was led by the young women of Jennifer Girls Home, who would save rice and corn a handful at a time, out of their own meal supplies, and then prepare the collected handfuls of food and deliver it to hungry families in surrounding villages. These young women came to be my dear friends and sisters during the 2 years I lived across the lane from them, and my heart is filled with nesam when I think of the special relationship I was able to build with these girls so different from me. Nesam is able to break down the barriers that divide us, and I hope that on my travels this summer I am able to form new, meaningful relationships that I will carry back home to Nashville.