Bethany student starts project to support Lebanese village

May 14—A Bethany Lutheran College student is using "contagious charisma," as his faculty adviser described him, to bring sustainable electricity to his family's homeland.

John Sadaka, who was born in Mankato but lived in Lebanon for about nine years as a child, recently formed a new Enactus Club to pursue the project with adviser Kenneth Johnson. Enactus tasks students with putting their entrepreneurial skills to work on projects around the world.

The Bethany sophomore and club president first heard about Enactus from Johnson, an associate professor in business administration. Sadaka had a new club idea in the back of his mind when he returned to Lebanon to visit family last year.

Seeing how ravaged the country was by inflation, he returned to Bethany with a project in mind.

"The economy crumbled basically," he said. "People can't afford electricity."

In his grandmother's village, Barsa, he saw how the Our Lady of Lourdes Church struggled greatly with electricity costs. What electricity it could utilize seemed as inefficient and environmentally unfriendly as it was expensive.

Our Lady of Lourdes is a Maronite church, part of the largest Christian denomination in Lebanon. It serves as an important community space for Masses and other services, Sadaka said.

"The church in many Lebanese communities is really the main central focus of the community," he said. "In this culture it can't be stated what a church means to the community."

His Enactus Club idea is to raise funding for solar panels to power the church, followed by funding for solar panels on homes in the village. He hopes to rally enough support for the project to provide lighting at the church for Christmas.

While at University of Minnesota Crookston, Johnson worked on Enactus Club water projects in Nigeria and Nepal, the Lebanon electricity plan is the first international project for Enactus Club at Bethany.

"Without electricity it's hard for people to prosper," Johnson said. "That's what Enactus' focus is, three p's: people, planet, prosperity."

Upon starting the club with Johnson's help, Sadaka immediately set out to rally support on campus.

His contagious charisma proved highly useful, Johnson said, adding that Sadaka has "an ability to see students with potential and just win them over."

Megan Torner was one of the students recruited by Sadaka, jumping aboard as club secretary.

"John had been talking to me about it in class and I got really excited about it," Torner said. "I'm really excited to see what we can do next semester."

Sadaka joked that he couldn't quit talking about the club when he'd see people around campus.

"I was like a bird just yapping trying to get everybody to join," he said with a laugh.

The first new Enactus meeting was April 24. They had to move the location to accommodate all the people who showed up.

Enactus, being an entrepreneurial-fueled program, naturally drew business students. Sadaka was particularly pleased to see a diverse mix of students from different countries, majors and clubs get involved.

After its first two meetings, the club is focused on spreading word about the project. Next, Sadaka will return to Lebanon soon for about two months to visit family and continue formulating project plans ahead of the fall semester at Bethany.

Raising funds will be the biggest challenge, Sadaka said, but sharing the need among Lebanon's wide network of support will help.

Partly due to the country's economic situation, there are more Lebanese people living outside Lebanon than there are living in Lebanon. The Lebanese diaspora, often leaving to find economic opportunities elsewhere, sends money back home to support their families.

Part of Sadaka' stated vision is to help Barsa and other Lebanese communities recover so talented people don't have to leave, Johnson said. Sustainable electricity and other necessities are steps toward it.

"We really believe this is a project that will be supported," he said.

Putting a Lebanese flag in the club's headquarters Wednesday, Sadaka described the symbolism on it.

Two red stripes represent bloodshed to defend Lebanon from invaders. A white stripe down the middle represents peace times. And a Lebanese cedar tree in the middle, the country's national symbol, has biblical origins.

Thinking back to the strong early response on campus to a project close to his heart, Sadaka said it got emotional thinking about it.

"Everyone was here for Enactus, but it also felt like everybody was here for me and for my country and for my people, which means so much to me," he said.

Follow Brian Arola @BrianArola