"Take root below, bear fruit above" - Shanti Niketan Children's Home

Wow, it's been exactly one month since my last blog post! Sorry about that. Things have been busy, but now I have some time and wanted to tell you about my second EMI project trip to a place called Shanti Niketan Children's Home (SNCH).

Before I start, I must say that I spent all day yesterday compiling and captioning a photo album for this trip (it's not extremely long, it's just that I wanted to do it carefully), and it would really be great if you could take some time to look through that album before reading this post [if you saw my Facebook pictures, they're the same ones]. :) Pictures are more fun to look at than bunches of words anyway. ;)

To see the album,

click here

Now, with that in mind...

Matthew (in the khaki pants) and I did some surveying during this trip. Surveying in the Himalayan Mountains feels pretty epic, I must admit. :) [CG]

Shanti Niketan (pronounced "SHAWNtee nicKAYtin") means "house of peace" in Hindi, and it is a very fitting name. SNCH is nestled up in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains near a town called Subathu, in the state of Himachal Pradesh. It's a beautiful, serene, secluded location. The site was originally founded by the Leprosy Mission back in the early 1900s (1916, I think?), but now it belongs to SNCH [note: technically it belongs to one of SNCH's supporting organizations, but I don't want to bore you with the details.] You can actually search for "Shanti Niketan Children's Home" in Google Earth and it will take you right to the correct spot!

This is one of the property markers put in place when the Leprosy Mission site was originally established (in 1916, I believe). Obviously it has stood the test of time!

Another EMI team came just 3 weeks ago to survey the site and create a map, so our team's goal was to follow up on that by creating a site master plan for the campus. We also worked on designing the first new structure that would be built - a bigger dorm for the boys.

A sneak peak of the masterplan in progress. ;) The blue blocks in the lower left corner are the proposed boys' dorms.

The first order of business (spearheaded by the architects) was to talk with the SNCH staff and see what their needs/concerns were for the new site layout and building design. What kinds of struggles were they facing? What kinds of features were they hoping to see in the buildings? Did they have any suggestions for where they should be located, or how the floor plans should be laid out? Etc...

Interviewing the SNCH staff to see what their needs/concerns were. [CG]

For the engineering side of things, the main concern was the water supply/distribution system. For one thing, it was quite complicated (built in a piecemeal fashion that made it difficult to decipher which valve controlled which tank/pipe, etc.). It also ran out of water during the dry season sometimes, which was a problem.

So John (the civil engineer volunteer who came on this trip) and I went to see the springs where the water came from, visited the big storage reservoirs, and worked to map their current water system so that we could find ways to improve it.

This is one of the places where a pipe (that tiny hole that Dipuk is pointing to!) captures spring water for the SNCH water supply. Excellent opportunity for  a "spring development" project (basically scraping away the dirt and building an underground concrete box to capture as much of the water as possible before it comes above ground). Should make a noticeable difference in both quality and quantity of water.

The reservoirs (uphill) are great, but the sand filter (downhill) was poorly designed and unnecessary. We're recommending that they get rid of it.

Look, a flower! :)

One neat thing about this trip for me was that I actually got to use something I learned in class to contribute to the design! Back in 2010 I took a Water Resources Engineering course (CE 443) that taught me how to use EPANET software to model water pipe networks. I was able to use that to model the system here at SNCH and then predict how things would perform if we made certain changes (different pipe diameters, different pipe lengths, different tank elevations, etc.). Neat! :)

Woohoo! I felt like such a legit engineer once we got the system modeled correctly and error-free! Haha. :)

By the end of the week we had a set of conceptual design drawings to show the SNCH directors and staff (and donors, who happened to be visiting!). They were EXTREMELY appreciative and excited to see this first step toward improving the lives of the children and staff who live here. I don't think I'll ever have a client in the US who is as grateful for design drawings as these folks were!

So that covers the technical side of things. But there was a whole other set of neat things happening during the week!

For one thing, the love of Christ was vibrantly evident during our stay at SNCH. Their hospitality was overwhelming - every meal was a feast, every meeting required tea and biscuits, every task we did was an chance for them to help/serve/encourage us somehow. Incredible. If you want to know what 1 Peter 4:9 looks like in real life, talk to these people!

The first of COUNTLESS cups of chai that I drank that week! :)

Another striking thing was the prayerful attitudes of the SNCH staff. These people didn't just pray to look pious, they prayed because they knew that it worked. They prayed and then trusted God to answer. For example, not ONCE during our week there did they give us an advertising spiel about the home, or ask us for money/support - they just prayed regularly that God would provide funds, and then trusted that he would make it happen as he always did.

This became really vivid for me when I heard how EMI had lost SNCH's application a few years ago(!). Apparently, in 2008 SNCH applied to EMI for help, and inexplicably (this is NOT a regular thing!), the paper form got stuck to the back of a folder and lost before EMI could reply. So SNCH never heard back. Instead of pressing the issue, following up, and asking what had happened, they just figured, "Well, God must not think we need engineering help at this time." And they kept praying about it. [Incidentally, the lost application was recently found, which is why I heard this story.]

Now, four years later when we finally arrived, they were overjoyed, explaining how we were the answer to "prayers they had been praying for years." Wow. There were so many things that fell into place when we came on this trip that it's difficult to chalk it all up to coincidence; clearly God has honored their attitude of trustful dependence on Him. Some of the staff members have lived and worked here for 10, 15, even 20 years (they are cross-cultural workers originally from the northeastern state of Mizoram, mind you), and over time it seems that their prayer lives have only been strengthened. Very cool to come work and pray alongside them.

There are more stories I could tell and pictures I could show, but this is enough for now. Ask me in person the next time you see me, and I'll be happy to tell you more about what God is doing at Shanti Niketan. Long story short: very cool stuff. :)

Gate at SNCH. Very cool.

Just for fun.

[note: EMI = Engineering Ministries International]