Justus Selwyn and Hepsiba Vivenkanandan, professors of computer science from India, fought a global pandemic to arrive at John Brown University.
The couple and their son had been prevented from coming to the Natural State due to the imposed travel ban to the United States for all Indian passengers since 2020, thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. However, after months of uncertainty, JBU has welcomed Selwyn and Vivenkanandan to their community.
“I had been teaching in India for 20 years, but we thought that it is time to shift our careers to an international level,” Selwyn explained. “Then, the Lord prompted us to apply to Christian universities, and when I started browsing colleges on Google, JBU stood at the top of the searches.”
Selwyn and Vivenkanandan explained the hardships of being Christian in India. Unable to freely profess their faith in their workplace, teaching at a Christian university in the U.S. became a priority.
“We found that [JBU] is a good Christian community that practices what they preach,” Vivenkanandan said. “In India, we are not supposed to talk about God, but in our interview with professors at JBU, they told us we can talk about God and teach the values along with the subjects.”
Although the process of coming to JBU was tedious, the professors highlighted the support they felt from Chip Pollard, the university president, and from other professors. Both Selwyn and Vivenkanandan also taught online classes during the last fall.
“It was really amazing seeing all of our kids face to face and to have eye contact,” Vivenkanandan said. “They were very cooperative when we were in India, and now they will also easily understand whatever is taught in the classroom.”
However, transitioning from India to the U.S. has not been a smooth process. Leaving one’s home is never easy. When asked about what they miss the most from India, Vivenkanandan said she misses her parents the most. For Selwyn, who has led choirs and male vocal quartets as a form of ministry, misses being able to travel around the country singing in churches. Despite this, traveling to America to teach is similar to missions work and has been worth it.
“God is sending us from India to the US to teach student values, to preach the gospel, to sing and to make music,” Selwyn said. “We are nowhere compared to the dedication and sacrifice Christian missionaries made back in the day, but God brought us here, and it’s a great gift.”
While Selwyn and Vivenkanandan still try to adapt to a different culture and environment, they express their desire to serve God by pouring into their students’ lives. They recited Deuteronomy 11:11 to represent their mission: “But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.”
“[JBU] is the promised land God has set for us,” Vivenkanandan said. “We should not look behind, and we have to run along with that purpose.”
Photos courtesy of JBU Communications