IMMERS BY MYRNA ANDERSON
Mark Jakcsy and Kishore Kumar at Intense Synergies
Gray Moser and Brad Wassink with the team at Olive Technology
Early in his internship at Sri Lakshmikantha Spinners Ltd. in Hyderabad, India, Calvin senior James VanDenBerg toured the operation, including a partially built expansion. There he saw eight women filling gaps in the foundation from a nearby dirt pile. The workers were carrying the dirt on plates balanced on their heads, though an unused wheelbarrow stood nearby. James mentioned the scenario to the owner of the mill, his boss. “Why couldn’t that job be done by one person using the wheelbarrow?” he asked. The owner answered, “If I train one person to do that job, then seven people are out of work.” James, an accounting major, pointed out that American businesses put a premium on maximizing productivity, but his boss was unmoved. “He said, ‘That would never work in India,’” recounted James to Calvin business professor Leonard Van Drunen.
Justin Lambers, Kari Witte, Brad TenHarmsel and Gray Moser in Hyderabad
Ross Rysenga and Matt Mays at Sholay Online
Leonard Van Drunen and Usha Divakaran, a Calvin parent
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6 VERGE
Calvin students at the Taj Mahal
INTERNING IN INDIA James was enrolled in “Business as Mission in India,” a January interim course that placed 13 Calvin students in two-week internships in Hyderabad. The students— majors in business, accounting, political science, Spanish and English— interned with website developers, software companies, a human resources company, a real estate developer, a cotton spinning mill and a counseling service. Professor Van Drunen wanted to give Calvin students an inside look at how business operates in an emerging economy. His vision for the interim course took shape at a conference hosted by nonprofit Partners Worldwide, where he met four Christian business owners from Hyderabad who were strong advocates for business as mission (BAM), the notion that business can be used not simply as a profit generator, but also as a ministry.
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The internship was not just to give students exposure to Indian business culture, but also to give them an idea of how Christians use business as a ministry. —Professor Van Drunen
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Partnering with the business owners he met at the conference, Professor Van Drunen placed Calvin interns in companies owned by Business Seva members, a 60-strong