The boys of Boys Village with (from left) Katie Norris,
Wendy Wimer, Tom Coughlan, and Matt Ferreira

Again in 2008 the Vandu Paaru (“Come and See”) summer immersion program sponsored by the District of San Francisco has paid spiritual and educational dividends for its participants. In words, in photos, in video, the Vandu Paaru volunteers offer reflections on their transformative trip.

Ten educators traveled from the west coast of the United States to spend a month in mid-summer in southern India, living and working at two educational apostolates of the De La Salle Christian Brothers: Boys Village in Madurai and Boys Town in Bartalagunda. 

The ten who made the trek to India are Thomas Coughlan (from Justin-Siena High School of Napa), James Puccetti (from  De La Salle High School of Concord), Brady Lowdermilk (from Cathedral High School in Los Angeles), Matthew Ferreira (from Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley), Kristina Ortega (from Chaminade College Preparatory in West Hills, CA); two staff members from  La Salle Catholic College Preparatory in Milwaukie:  Michael Devenney and Wendy Wimer;  and three staff members from Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco: Renee Demirdjian, Katie Norris, and Julia Rinaldi.

In the Lasallian apostolates for poor children where they served, the American volunteers lived in community, worked in construction of facilities, and spent time with the students providing recreation, teaching special skills, and tutoring in English. After his return to Milwaukie, Oregon, Mike Devenney was asked by the diocesan newspaper The Catholic Sentinel about his experience. He said, “As a teacher, I prepared myself to ‘come and do,’ with two CPR manikins, a couple of splints, and a bag full of bandages and wraps.”  He taught first-aid skills to the students and the Christian Brothers at Boys Town, which is a trade school for teen-age boys. “In just a couple of days,” Mike continued, “I realized that my real job was to ‘come and be.’”

The journey, he said, was “transformative.”  “One evening,” said Mike, “I was walking with a Christian Brother on our way back to the dorms after Mass. I saw in front of me several boys gathered around the head of the school. It was clear to me that they love him. I said to my companion, ‘Those boys would lie down and die for him, wouldn’t they?’ He replied, ‘That’s because they know he would do the same for them.’”

“I spent three weeks,” Mike continued, “living in a community and school where love and caring were the order of the day every day, every moment. Now it is my turn to live that out here at La Salle. This experience will partly change how I teach but mostly it will deepen my understanding of what it means to teach at a Lasallian school.”

The three Vandu Paaru volunteers from Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco shared some reflections in the Autumn 2008 issue of the school’s Second Century magazine.  

Katie Norris, director of campus ministry, experienced God’s presence: “I witnessed immense poverty that was enveloped by much more love, compassion, and hospitality than can sometimes be found in the United States. I discovered the joy of walking to school through rice and banana fields. I experienced faith in action through the Christian Brothers program that can only be described as revelatory and Christlike. I learned how to settle down; to breathe, not plan; and to enjoy the moment, allowing discovery and God’s presence to occur organically.”

Renee Demirdjian, science instructor, played monsoon basketball:  “I played basketball with the boys every day. One day, in the middle of a game, geese squawked and walked across the court. I started to laugh at the rarity of the sight, which was normal to the boys. Then, dark clouds rolled in, and it began to pour. We continued our game of basketball, sliding around on the court (the boys were not wearing shoes). The rain was welcomed, considering that most days were in the low to mid ’90s. At one point I was on the sidelines during this rainstorm. I smiled, looked up at the sky, and thanked God for the moment. When I was a kid I would never have dreamed that I would one day be in a monsoon in India, playing basketball with local shoeless boys who had never really played the game before.  I felt extremely lucky to be alive and to have shared my passion with children on the other side of the world. It was truly amazing!”

Julia Rinaldi and friends

Julia Rinaldi, service learning coordinator and health educator, felt grace: “I have heard grace described as a gift of the present moment where joy, love, and faith converge. Grace filled my every second—in India. Kindness and generosity were found daily. And whether we were praying with the Brothers at 6 am, playing soccer with the boys on a dusty red field, washing tiles for the roof of the new sick room, dancing under the moon to the latest Tamil music hit, eating spicy curry, walking the boys to school through rice fields, visiting the local clinic, or swimming in the Arabian Sea, we were held by and in the spirit of the Christian Brothers in deep, meaningful, and powerful ways…. Grace had a way of slowing us down, forcing us to throw out our ‘to do’ lists and our way of living that is too often fueled by a sense of accomplishment and urgency and importance; such a lifestyle does not always leave room for seeing the miracles that are present in each moment. And in this ‘slowness’ there was space to wonder, think, ask questions, love, laugh, e-mail, rest, pray, reflect, and work— absorbing and digesting the culture, and the scents of a place and a people with so much to teach us about relationships, God, authentic living, and learning. This grace brought out the best in all of us—I am convinced of this….”

Three albums of photos from his Vandu Paaru experience have been posted online by Jim Puccetti in “James’s Public Gallery” at  http://picasaweb.google.com/jimpuccetti

School affiliations for the volunteers above are Saint Mary’s College High School (Matt), La Salle Catholic College Preparatory (Wendy), Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory (Katie and Julia), Justin-Siena High School (Tom).

Upon their return to Southern California, Brady Lowdermilk and Kristina Ortega created a video that gives viewers a firsthand sense of what the Vandu Paaru experience is.  The 13-minute video, with live action and still photos, music and narration, is on the Google video channel.

To view the video, click this link: Vandu Paaru, Boys' Town.  [Note: If this embedded link doesn’t work for you, simply go to http://video.google.com  and search for “Vandu Paaru” to find the video.]

Since 1999, these summer immersions have provided an opportunity for Lasallians from the western United States to experience the Lasallian mission in a very different part of the world.  Nearly a hundred members of the District of San Francisco have taken part in Vandu Paaru programs in India and Sri Lanka since the program’s founding. The Vandu Paaru program is open to all faculty and staff members of Lasallian institutions in the District of San Francisco.

For complete information, contact Robert Jordan in the Office of Education at rjordan@dlsi.org.