Resident student: Devdas Shrisunder

Dear friends of Pendle Hill,

I’d like to share a story with you about what your gifts have made possible. Devdas Shrisunder, an Indian Quaker, came to Pendle Hill last fall from Bhopal, India, with support from the Nancy and Scott Crom Scholarship, the Pendle Hill Annual Fund, and the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting India Friends Working Group.

Attracted by the simplicity of Quaker worship, Devdas became a member of Bhopal Friends Church in 1963. For the last 30 years, he has served on the governing board of Friends Rural Centre, Rasulia, and the Friends School Governing Board, Itarsi, in order to strengthen the social witness of Quakers in India. Coming to Pendle Hill gave him the opportunity not only to deepen his own spiritual life through study, worship and fellowship on campus, but also to visit and speak at Wilmington Friends School, Westtown Upper School, and Haverford College.

Devdas’s home city of Bhopal was the site of the Union Carbide plant gas explosion that killed more than six thousand of his neighbors. This year, on the 26^th anniversary of the tragedy, the Pendle Hill community was privileged and saddened to hear Devdas’s eye witness account of the event, as well as the continuing effects of the disaster on the community. That same day Devdas spoke about the disaster to first year environmental health students at Haverford College.

Devdas shared with all of us how the small Bhopal Quaker community had provided for the education of 50 children whose parents were injured or killed in the disaster.

As his term ended, Devdas summarized his experience with a commitment to apply what he learned when he returns to India:

It was a wonderful experience for me to learn more about Quaker principles, its history, splits, witness etc. This helped me to deepen my faith and also gave me new ideas as to how put this faith into action. I will share my experiences with the Quakers in India, particularly with Young Friends by organizing study camps.

Already Devdas has encouraged a young Indian Friend to apply to Pendle Hill’s summer Young Adult Leadership Development program.

In the photo above, Devdas is flanked by his two closest friends at Pendle Hill. Jiseok is an ecumenical leader in Korea who is writing about Quakerism for Korean Friends as well as for young Korean Christians. Bill is an American Episcopalian who has spent the last 25 years teaching in Japan. All three have enriched the experiences of the American students studying at Pendle Hill as well as the other international students on campus.

Devdas’s story is the story of Pendle Hill, where people from near and far come to share, to learn, to deepen, and to be renewed. Devdas would not have had this opportunity without your support. Pendle Hill would not be here if not for the contributions made by many friends over our 80 year history. Fees cover only a portion of what it costs to operate this container for transformation that is Pendle Hill.

If you have given in the past, please join our community of support again. If you have never given to Pendle Hill before, please join our community of support and help change lives in meaningful and long lasting ways. We can’t do it without you.

In Faith and Friendship,