A little bit about the projects I'm working on at EMI

We just wrapped up my first project at EMI. The project's for Maharashtra Bible College, which is an 8 hour train ride east of Mumbai. The school was founded by the grandfather of one of our neighbors in Mussoorie. The campus is in really rough shape. Most of the roofs are leaking (few are caving in), the girl's dorm's overcrowded (some even share twin size beds). There's mosquito problems in the boy's dorm, the power supply's unreliable, and they run out of water almost every day. The college's short on finances. They charge tuition, but many of them can't pay it. Nevertheless, the principal feels burdened to take them, especially for many girls from a nearby Mukti Mission's orphanage (if you get a chance, check out the link, they do some amazing work among children and women in India, and the story behind the founder is amazing, too). We basically made recommendations to their existing buildings and infrastructure and designed future plans for their campus, including new dorms, new classrooms, and a dining hall.

The team I got to work with (4 from EMI's office, the grandson of the school's founder, 2 volunteers - from San Diego and Dehli, and the principal of the school)

View of the campus a rooftop.


some of the team members visiting the students.


wash basin for the students to wash their clothes.


The toilet situation for the married students and their kids.


Old dining room that's being used to cram in students.


The campus plan that we developed.
Rendering of the new girl's dorm and married student's housing.


Site of my next project. It's out in a crazy remote area that's closed off to the rest of the world 7 months of the year (too much snow). We're doing some civil engineering stuff, and I'm designing the K-10 school for about 120 students. I'm excited!

मेरा home

So here's a little bit about the my Indian home. Before I came here, I was warned that us India interns would "be roughing it". So... when I got here, I was quite surprised at how nice our place is. Granted, it's not exactly luxurious living, but compared to the average home here, it's quite nice, even to a point where I'd say it's too nice (I just want to live and eat like the average Joe here... but that's not acceptable for a foreigner)

This is our home, you get here by one of the million trails that wind up, down, and across the mountains. Many houses, like mine, are accessed off of rugged foot paths, not roads.

Our sitting room/foyer.


Our kitchen. I don't do much cooking, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. I'm trying to learn some Indian dishes, mmmm.


Our living room.

Our toilet. Since we could run out of water at any second, the motto's "if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down." But our toilets (like most Indian ones I've experiences) don't like to flush the brown stuff, there's one bright side to having diarrhea... And no toilet paper in the toilet, either, so you have to put it in the poop can. TP is kinda a luxury item...


Our bathroom. When I first came here, I wondered how long it'd take me to get used to the dirty (in a different way) bathroom. I'm quite used to it, and even like it, if only the the toilet would flush!

This is my room an my roomie, Satbir Singh. He's been with eMi for almost 10 years and is currently teaching at a local village. After becoming a Christian about 15 years ago, his family threatened to kill him, but somehow he ended up in Mussoorie. He has since reconciled with his family, but unfortunately this is a common occurance among Indians who choose a different faith from the rest of the family.

View out our front window

Night shot from around the corner.