Sujanna Raj would not have imagined herself in the role of charitable beacon for international college students in the American Midwest just 10 years ago.
Raj, from India, was sent by the Church of England on a full-ride assignment to the U.S. to Eden Seminary to earn her master’s in Theology in 2017. Three years later, Raj found herself at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Lockwood Avenue in the vortex of the pandemic.
Raj believes her arrival at Emmanuel is no coincidence at all.
“God doesn’t stop surprising me,” she said.
Every Wednesday night in the spring and fall, Raj and her clergy host an interfaith dinner for dozens of international students studying next door at Webster University.
The university’s enrollment worldwide swelled to 13,448 students last fall, with much of that wave coming from India.
Even as early as 2020, when Raj first arrived at Emmanuel, she was already seeing a growing population of Indian and Nepali students out and about in Old Orchard, some of whom were seeking help.
“They said they want groceries and supplies, and even sometimes work,” she explained. “I cannot give all that, but any essentials, human needs, we would be willing to help.”
Essentials such as a well-stocked pantry, winter coats, wool socks, beanies and even mattresses are also supplied to students in need by Emmanuel, due to Raj’s efforts.
With many of the new students from central and southern India, they are more acclimated to a humid, tropical climate year-round.
“You only have three seasons: hot, hotter and hottest,” Raj joked.
The Midwest’s four seasons are hard on the recent arrivals, she says. When temperatures drop below freezing, some of the students are ill-equipped for frigid cold snaps and are unable to access warmer clothing, making them reliant on places such as Emmanuel to stay warm.
Food, clothing, transportation and language aren’t the only obstacles for students, who face the culture shock of coming to America, as well. Seemingly banal details of everyday American living such as proper footwear – closed-toed shoes for cooler seasons – are not intuitive changes to make for some of the students, according to Raj.
“Even these tiny details are things they miss because there’s nobody to tell them,” she said. “When I meet with them, I advise them, I counsel them, I teach them.”
In addition to the pantry, the ministry has begun hosting culturally informed dinners on Wednesday nights during the spring and fall that used to only be available to the congregation. The idea was born on a Wednesday evening last fall when Raj convened her clergy with a proposal: Why don’t we offer some hot food?
The proposal proved wildly successful. The South Asian students were especially pleased to see Indian cuisine offered at the dinners.
“Our staple food is always rice. If you give them bread, they think it’s [just] for breakfast,” Raj said, adding other food commonplace to Americans like tacos seems unfamiliar to the foreign students at first.
The church has also had to adapt to the individual palates and religious sensitivities of some students by offering vegetarian dishes with every meal.
“That is when hospitality comes into question,” she said. “When you give hospitality, you have to make sure that you accommodate them, according to their needs, not what you want to give them.”
Raj says her hospitality is still in its early stage. She has many more ideas to help accommodate international students in the future. One of these ideas is parking the church’s charity food truck in one of the university’s parking lots and distributing free meals to anyone who needs them.
“Because there’s a need for the students, I think I’m appointed here,” she said. “Otherwise, I would’ve been at any other church.”
The pantry at Emmanuel operates Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
But not all students experience hardship like those who rely on the kindness of neighbors like Raj and Emmanuel Episcopal Church. Goutham Adulapuri, a graduate student who is studying Information Systems, says the key to adapting is finding a way to become involved with campus life and all it has to offer.
“When I first got here, I was not in the SGA [Student Government Association],” he explained, “I didn’t know that a lot of things were happening on campus.”
Adulapuri is from a mechanical engineering background in India, where he first became involved with student governance. There, he rose through the ranks of his university’s mechanical engineering association.
When SGA elections were announced, Adulapuri nominated himself for comptroller and was elected with the help of his adviser, Jennifer Stewart. But prior to his election, he would only come to campus for classes and then go home to his apartment off campus.
“I always want to stay on campus, I always try to have some other work with some other clubs,” he explained. “I even [tried out] for the lifeguard position on campus.”
Adulapuri says he likes being in-the-know, and the only way to do that is getting involved with the university. He even spreads word about campus events through a WhatsApp group for other international students.
His biggest advice for new international students is not to just get involved, but also spend time in spaces outside of normal classes like the University Center.
“Once they get into the UC, they may find opportunities to talk to students from different countries,” he said. “Don’t be ashamed to talk!”
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