WASHINGTON, U.S., October 7, 2014 (Military.com): Georgetown has hired its first Hindu chaplain, Pratima Dharm, who recently retired as the first Hindu chaplain in the U.S. Army. Dharm, who began her role at Georgetown Oct. 1 in the university’s Office of Campus Ministry, has served on Army bases and hospitals around the world, including a year-long deployment in Iraq.
While serving as a captain in the Army, she was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for organizing and leading numerous humanitarian aid missions for Kurdish Iraqis. “War can dehumanize you and I was watching the dehumanization of my soldiers, so I was fighting to give them a sense of family,” says Dharm, who began her stint with the Army in 2006. “Army ministry has touched me so deeply and it has made me a better chaplain and a better human being.”
A native of Mumbai, she came to the United States in March 2001. Dharm is trained in the Vaishnav Hindu tradition in India and is endorsed by Chinmaya Mission West, Palo Alto, California. At Georgetown, Dharm says she will lead the weekly Hindu pujas or prayer services, now attended by about 100 students, look at programs that could better Hindu education on campus and work closely with other religious groups on campus.