InterVarsity's StudentSoul.org

Why would smart, prosperous American college students spend their summer in the poorest urban centers of the world? We like our comforts: showers, flush toilets and air conditioning. Heat, dirt, bugs, poverty — most of us would pass. Yet we find their stories compelling, calling us to consider more ultimate realities than the high price of movie tickets.

This summer, students all over the world are discovering the rich presence of God in barren circumstances, and learning about his heart for the world. Living with the poorest of the poor is transforming them, and we are a little envious. Check out these journal entries from gutsy students who are inhaling the polluted, urban air in Cambodia, India, and Peru. And there are more where these come from!

Phnom Penh

Nhuanh bursts into tears on her first day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. As beggars in the marketplace flock around her, she’s overwhelmed with the brokenness of the city, the massive corruption, and the desperately poor. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be,” she cries. As she struggles with the weight of human sin, she’s reminded of the words of a praying friend, “Find God in the eyes of the people you meet in Cambodia. Listen, be still and hear God’s voice through their joy and suffering.” Follow Nhuanh’s summer journey. Ride shotgun as she finds God while scratching endless bug bites.

Lima

“Kids deserve to play on playgrounds instead of trash heaps,” Matt writes from Lima, Peru, after he and his team dedicate the playground they just built in an urban slum. “It was definitely amazing to see the kids’ faces as they played on the ladders and ropes… the brightly-painted playground looks like a beautiful oasis for the children in the middle of the desert. But even though we built a playground and a community center, they were far more touched that we were there at all, willing to greet and touch them. Just being there spoke to them of our love for them far above anything we could construct in their community. They knew we treated them that way because we were Christians.”

Kolkata

Kristina will always remember her first day in Kolkata, India. “I was scammed by a young woman begging milk for her crying baby.” She was also sworn at and flipped off by five-year-olds. We can understand why she found it difficult to stay soft-hearted in the face of the city’s aggressive, abusive poverty. Kristina’s group was encouraged not to block out any of it, but rather to “breathe deeply” as they walked through the streets, taking it all in. She honestly admits, “If we take this advice literally, I’m sure it would kill us; Calcutta is quite fragrant.” She holds her breath a lot. “But the goal is to take it all in, even if I have no idea what to do with little children who know the f-word.”