Introduction
As an MBA student at Baylor University, Susanne Blake met Leena when she came to share about her work with business students, in hopes they could contribute valuable insight into the business aspects of ServeTrust. This brief interaction with her led to planning a trip to visit Leena in Narasaraopet, India a few months later …
First Encounter
When I raised my hand to ask Leena a question, I asked, “What is it that you need most? Money? Resources? Etc?” Leena replied “people”. Her speech and gentle nature touched my heart and after the class I made a beeline to her. I told her that I’d been praying about doing volunteer work in India for a long time, that I was planning a trip to a friend’s wedding in Delhi, and I would love to come and do anything I could to help in India. Those 15-20 minutes of chatting with Leena proved to be some of the most valuably invested time of my life. Perhaps others call it coincidence, I call it divine intervention. I knew from the moment I met her that God led her into my life for a reason. Over the next couple of months, we kept in contact and planned my trip to visit her in Narasaraopet.
Suzanne spent two weeks with Leena and the ServeTrust team visiting many of the programs described on this website.
Thoughts returning home …
I know the woman who walks out of this plane will not be the same one that entered Delhi weeks ago. With my hair in braids, wearing multi-colored bangles, a flame-colored, traditional Punjabi suit and a silk scarf embroidered with turquoise, India’s influence is externally evident. However, it is the interior, intangible side that is even more decidedly different than the bright, exterior array. How could I not be changed? After holding a malnourished, dying child in my arms, after feeling hot tears in my eyes while witnessing the greatness of the Taj, after visiting destitute women my own age in their mud huts, after seeing the love of God in the soft brown eyes of one of the most incredible women I have ever met (Leena), my heart is indelibly marked and I will continue to “Pray for India” as I hear the slum children’s voices singing the words.