My Experience as a UESI Staff Worker

I worked with UESI as a coordinator/staff for almost eight years. And until I joined as a staff member in 2003, I was an EU member, having even served in the ICEU committee as Secretary and President. It was through a friend that I got introduced to EU; and in a Bible Study led by Dr. David Jayakumar that I came to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. In 2011, I left the staff team for higher studies in Delhi University.

The last two years I have not fallen really ill even once. Compared to the frequency I fell ill during my days as a staff worker, this is a big change. As a (national) staff member, I remember falling ill at least two times a year. Point is that physical wear and tear as a staff worker is tremendous. I have not experienced myself how life is like to be in a government service or to be a software engineer in a private company. But I can definitely say the life of a PhD research scholar is much 'easier' than the life of a UESI staff worker. It drains you a lot physically and emotionally being a staff worker. In fact, I notice that even my clothes last longer now than they used to be!

In those eight years, I interacted and learned so much from some of the finest people I worked with. Had I not been in the staff team, I would have missed out those people. I want to point out specially Mathew Varghese in shaping me so much. It's not just the personal learning I got from him, but observing him and staying with him was tremendously helpful. I think it's fair to regard him as a man of fine character. Despite tough life one has to face as a staff worker, the eight years experience with extremely good people was something I would treasure all my life. Only as a staff worker one would get this rich and unique experience!

Maintaining discipline now and then has been different. I have taught QT so many times in DTC. Doing QT then as a staff has been so much more consistent than it is now. The tendency to react or get annoyed at rash driving was almost absent then; now it's not quite that way. Sitting idly on a hot and humid day or on a cold evening is getting more frequent now. As a staff worker that sort of 'vice' is rare because one does not get time to remain idle. One has to read a book or think of some plan or get in touch with a long lost friend or do something productive as a staff worker; it's about keeping oneself busy. Sadly, disciplining oneself is not easy unless one also puts oneself in such a situation where one is forced to be discipline. Being a staff worker helps a lot!

One change I would like to see in UESI is this. It's usual to appeal to 'emotional attachment'  to raise fund or encourage people to get involved. I think this is not a good approach. People must give or get involved, I think, because they are convinced of the vision: the vision to minister to the people in Universities and Colleges. Vision statement of UESI is clear. And I believe it is this vision that must be reminded and expounded. UESI is uniquely raised for the students in colleges and universities; it's unlike the organisations started by Billy Graham or Joyce Meyer. Appealing to this sentiment or some other sentimental attachment will drag UESI down from being a progressive organisation. And fleshing out the vision statement of UESI will include challenging students to ask why they study this subject instead of that subject or why a particular economic theory should be preferred over others as a Christian and so on. It's going to be about why this particular worldview engenders seeing things this way and not that way; and why this lifestyle over that lifestyle etc.

UESI is a man-made organisation, run by imperfect people. So it's going to be infected with this problem or that problem. In fact, every organisation, religious or secular, will be infected with all kinds of problem. Being such a huge organisation, one should not be surprised if the problem in UESI is even bigger than one might have thought. Whatsoever, my way of seeing is that as long as the vision remains, one should get involved as a grad or an EU member or a staff. At certain point of time if you felt called to change direction, so be it. But let's not get bogged down because of the petty differences and the quarrelling one experiences within the organisation. It's all part of becoming more mature....