Operation Awaaz

Awaaz is the Hindi word for "voice".

It is the name adopted for a project at Northwestern College, in Orange City, Iowa. Two representatives from the college met with JP Sundararajan, ASM India-Asia Director, while they were on a visit to India. Upon returning to the U.S., they encouraged the college to partner with ASM in the area of missions. In JP's words...

"a group of students was given the task to come up with creative ways to challenge the student body on campus. I sent them a list of languages that awaited recording of audio Scriptures. From that list, the team selected the Vasavi language, largely due to it's number of speakers, and the low literacy rate in the region and language. This tribe lives scattered along the banks of the Tapi river in the state of Gujarat in India.

Then the student group encouraged their peers to get involved by dividing the New Testament into 800 portions. Students could sponsor the recording of a portion of the New Testament for $5. It was great to see students come in droves to sponsor their favorite passage and sometimes even a favorite book in the New Testament. Posters were put up all over campus highlighting Operation Awaaz. As I began to walk across campus for various meetings during the week, I was immediately aware of a strange sound. The campus was broadcasting audio Scriptures through the loud speakers!

Bible study groups on campus were encouraged to 'listen' to the Bible passage instead of reading it that week. Other creative ideas included changing the language settings for the Northwestern College Intranet system. The page that students use to navigate to access to their email was in Chinese for a week. Two students from Northwestern will travel to India this summer. They will spend close to 8 weeks with our technician and missionary where they will help to record and edit the Vasavi New Testament."