Stuck in a Dhaka traffic jam with a voluble Spanish-speaking Bangladeshi taxi driver, Megan Sanders couldn’t help laughing at how strange it felt. Strange because all of the drivers in the other cars were looking at them with curious expressions. And comforting at the same time because the driver was an answer to her prayer for getting back to the home where Megan was staying with her Global Urban Trek team.
Megan’s companion for the afternoon visit was another team member who had grown up in Paraguay. He was able to easily communicate with the driver, who had driven a taxi cab in Chile for a number of years.
“God works in unexpected ways,” she said of her summer’s experience. “I learned to look for him.” Megan, a graphics associate with InterVarsity’s Twentyonehundred Productions, spent much of her 5-week project at a Salvation Army children’s school, working as a teacher’s aide and sharing her graphic design skills with the staff.
Megan’s team of 14 students and seven staff were among eight Global Urban Trek teams sent out this past summer. Teams also went to Cairo, Kolkata (Calcutta), Lima, Manila (2 teams), Mexico City, and Phnom Penh. A total of 144 students and staff participated in the Global Urban Trek this year.
The Global Urban Trek became a part of InterVarsity’s Global Projects in 2001. Eighty students went to six cities that first year. “We created a set of projects that gave them an opportunity to spend their summer living, working, and rubbing shoulders with urban poor in slums across the world,” said Global Projects Director Scott Bessenecker.
Stirred by the story of Viv Grigg, a New Zealand Christian who lived in a shack in the slums of Manila, Scott had begun to wonder if God was stirring others who had a heart for the poorest of the poor. “What if we have Mother Teresas in InterVarsity?” Scott wondered. “How can we make them aware of the poor in these communities?”
Just as Jesus sent his disciples out to minister and live among the people (Luke 10:1-7), the Global Urban Trek participants live among the people that they work with each summer. Many later consider long term ministry in that environment. “Year after year about one third of the students who go on the Trek commit themselves to that sort of ministry lifestyle,” Scott said.
Scott senses a growing interest among American young people for opportunities to make a difference in the lives of people who don’t have many options.
“I’m impressed as I see the mettle of the people who are applying for these projects and committing themselves to this ministry,” he said. “There’s a monastic-like spirit about them in their desire for spiritual discipline, their desire for community, their desire for incarnation, and their love for the margins of society. It’s a population that will have an impact out of all proportion to their size.”
In 2007, in the wake of Urbana 06, Scott expects the number of Global Project participants may double 2006 participation, which was the largest Global Project season so far.
________
Megan and Scott spoke at a chapel service at InterVarsity’s National Service Center. An audio file of that service is this week’s InterVarsity podcast. To listen to the audio file or learn more about InterVarsity’s podcast, go to our audio page. Also check another story about the 2006 Global Urban Trek in Kolkata, and more reports at urbana.org.
