consultant, and attending Ascension Lutheran Church, South Burlington, Vt. She struggled with the loss, but found “some healing” aſter mov- ing to Toronto in 2007 for graduate school. Like her father, Yeshwant, too, has
gotten into gardening and cooking, which she finds bittersweet as she enters a stage of life and roles her mother had. Sometimes she dreams about her mom. “Te dreams are kind of an escape back to times before,” she said. “I miss being able to have her here. … I hope she is happy in heaven to see me and my husband. “I think part of what’s keeping my
dad young [is that] he is so active in the community and he is very hospi- table. Tat’s one of my favorite things to emulate—to have people over for dinner and enjoy the fellowship. “It can’t be the story for every-
one post-tsunami, but I’ve been so blessed. I couldn’t have my mother at my wedding, but I had people who knew and loved her.”
The impact of $11.4 million ELCA congregations and individu- als gave more than $11.4 million for post-tsunami relief in South Asia. Below is a sampling of ways the ELCA has provided help that continues to offer benefits over time, oſten to those who received little or no other assistance in the aſtermath of the tsunami. In India’s coastal areas, Dalits,
once called the “untouchables” in India’s caste system, were oſten denied or last in line for government and local relief. Working through the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India, ELCA giſts pro- vided housing, counseling and liveli- hood assistance. In Villipalayam’s Jubilee Village, Tamil Nadu state, the ELCA contributed around $170,000 to construct more than 112 homes.
In Parangipettai, India, some
120 students take classes to become auto mechanics, electricians, health assistants and tailors at the Arcot Lutheran Church’s one-year Com- munity College. Working with Minneapolis-based Lutheran Part- ners in Global Ministry, the ELCA is providing $1.2 million to complete the campus, with space for an auto shop, a medical clinic, dormitories, bus transportation and more. Sebastian Jones Arpudaraj Simp-
son, community college director and a Lutheran pastor, said people received some “short-term remedies” from government and other funding agencies aſter the tsunami but more was needed. Additionally “govern- ment and also nongovernmental organizations were concentrating on the fishermen [a higher social class], but many Dalits were also affected [and lost] houses and land,” he said.
In Indonesia, the ELCA worked
with Nommensen University, a school of the Protestant Christian Batak Church, a Lutheran World Federation member. Te ELCA contributed more than $2.3 mil- lion to create a Center for Disaster Risk Management and Community Development Studies. Additionally, the ELCA provided about $165,000 for tuition assistance to more than 100 students who were financially struggling aſter the tsunami. Te ELCA also provided support
in Sri Lanka and Somalia, which suf- fered damage in the tsunami too.
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Author bio: Hunter is a section editor of The Lutheran.
Does your congregation need help to build or renovate its facility? The ELCA Mission Builders can help. Our carpenters, contractors and builders work side-by-side with your congregation to help you construct your facility at signifi cant cost savings.
TO LEARN HOW MISSION BUILDERS CAN ASSIST YOUR MINISTRY, CALL
800.643.5295
OR EMAIL BILL GRAVES
msnbuilder1@gmail.com
December 2014 39
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