08/14/2007

Special to the Record-Eagle
Sara Baumann with one of the children from a village where she was conducting a women’s meeting.

Sharing the Love

Local student devotes time to helping people in India

BY JOLYNN PAIGE
Special to the Record-Eagle

Special to the Record-Eagle
Baumann with a woman named Beula, who received the first sewing machine through Arise and Shine Church of Christ Missions, and Mercy, who helped Baumann start “The Thread Project.”

Sara Baumann, a senior at the University of Michigan and a 2004 graduate of Suttons Bay Schools, has her whole life in front of her.

She could pretty much choose to do anything with it.

But what rocks the 21-year-old's world and makes her feel alive is helping others —especially women and children — in Chennai, India.

"For a long time, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to study at the U of M. I now know that my future will probably be in working in the field of international health,” she said. "There are so many tremendous needs in the world, and I just feel this is where I can best use my life to work towards what matters to me — sharing the love that is within us.”

Baumann spent two months in Chennai, formerly and still popularly known as Madras. India's fourth largest metropolitan city, it is located on the southwestern coast of India — an area hard hit by the tsunami of December 2004.

"I went on a fellowship grant through the U of M to study some of the health issues facing the Indian people,” said Baumann. "I was allowed to pick where I wanted to go and what I wanted to study. I was most interested in studying behaviors of sex workers in this city and HIV.”

Baumann has yet to analyze the data that she gathered while in India, which involved going into villages and interviewing women who were willing to participate and answer her questions.

"I wanted to know why these women made the choices they did, and I was especially interested in how peer pressure influenced their decisions.”

Education programs over the past several years have helped to alleviate the spread of HIV amongst the sex-worker population in Chennai; however there is still a long way to go.

"There are still so many misconceptions about how HIV is transmitted,” Baumann said. "Many of the non-governmental agencies (NGO's) are now targeting the middle class in India because many of them are not practicing safe behaviors.”

When Baumann needed to find a place to stay while on her trip, she found Roy and Mercy Knight — an Indian couple who run a church and an orphanage in the city.

"They were my adopted family while I was in India. I was so moved by their mission, and the needs of the people they were trying to help, that I spent all of my spare time working with them.”

Baumann worked on projects addressing domestic violence, hunger and tsunami rebuilding. She also worked with residents in the children's home that the Knights' church supports.

Another major effort started through her involvement there was the Thread Project, which involved raising money to buy sewing machines for women who would otherwise have no other means to support themselves or their children.

"We were able to raise enough money to provide four sewing machines and some fabric to women who the Knights' church — Arise and Shine Church of Christ Mission — works with. It's wonderful to see,” said Baumann.

Baumann hopes to be able to connect Bay Pointe Community Church here with the project, and is working on having the Knights come and visit Suttons Bay and Traverse City so that they can do some presentations about their mission and their needs.

"It was incredibly satisfying to be able to provide the sewing machines to the women,” she said. "They had big ceremonies and celebrations when they got their machines. It was really a life changing experience for them and for me.”

For those interested in knowing more about the Thread Project, call Baumann at (231) 883-5571.