Salem team

The Salem team has prepared for the trip to India, with focuses on conversational English, micro-enterprise, and community health. While some members of the team have prepared to work in more than one area, we plan to deploy as follows:

Conversational English - Jessica Stemm, Debbie Thompson and Jennifer Archer will be working in the government school, helping the children to improve their vocabulary and pronunciation of English. The more English a child learns, the greater the opportunities available in the future, and that is incremental. It may mean getting a better job in a restaurant or hotel, or it may mean being able to go to college, which is taught in English.

Micro-Enterprise - John Baldwin and Nate Stemm will be working with budding business owners, helping them learn basic business principles. The businesses they'll work with are a flower shop, a breakfast shop, and a petty shop (mini-convenience store). Women in India are not empowered in ways that American women, and are more vulnerable to various kinds of abuse. If a woman can run her own business, she is freed from some situations which have the potential for abuse.

Community Health - Sandy Morris, Dana Anglund, Barbara and Jim Blechl will be working to help educate the people in the community regarding diet, health and hygiene. Sandy is a nutritionist, Barbara a registered nurse, and Dana and Jim are physicians.

All of these efforts have the common purpose of coming alongside the local pastor (Job), to elevate his status in the community, and to assist him in his ministry to the needs of the community.