Learning about whom we visit in short-term mission

In January of 2009, I posted a blog on what we can learn from the poor. I talked about Fr. Alejandro Mesco and what he had taught me about sharing the good things that the Lord gives us. Just today, I read an article in Mission Frontiers which is a magazine of the US Center for World Missions. It is found in the column titled Further Reflections and the particular article is called, Learning the Lay of the Land.

The author is reflecting on Haiti and a culture where, “the rule of law is questionable and where only a few people control the flow of the money.” He answers that question with some reflections that do not give a direct answer but cause us to think. Among his reflections are:

“How prepared are the 14-day teams that have gone to Haiti or other places we in the USA consider ‘needy’? Were these teams really helpful? What did they actually do? How prepared were they to understand the situation in the country before they got there?”

He then talks about hearing an interview on a travel channel, of all places, where a question was asked about teams who go to other countries in order to participate in short-term help. The interview was not addressing disaster situations, rather it was addressing a planned short-term situation, such as the physicians who will often go during the summer with a non-profit to do a two-week surgery visit or dental visit, etc. The person being interviewed commented:

Rick first talked about the need for the group to learn about the situation, learning about the history of Latin America and the relationship between rich and poor. . . . He recounted the uneasy historical tensions between the rich and the poor, and the cycle of the rich often oppressing or killing the poor and the poor often revolting and killing the rich. . . . Then Rick Steves added a comment that points to a core issue in mission today. Church people (and he is a church person, he noted) tend not to ask the questions as to why the poverty is there in the first place.

Comments of this type then lead the author of the magazine article to make some very interesting observations:

I couldn’t help thinking about the lingering question: Why are we “church” people often so far behind in our awareness, reflection and action? I know there are many exceptions, but we often seem to be stuck in a sort of “pre-Information Age” in which we bumble around the world with two-week teams ignorant of the histories and cultures of those we serve, and then we’re so relieved to go home, “where people at least pick up the trash.” But what does that kind of mentality communicate to those we visit in other nations?

These short-term trips may impart some blessing to the peoples they purport to serve, but how do these trips really help these peoples deal with their situation? What other problems do we ignore or create while trying to help?

I can remember short-term mission teams coming to “help” us in South America. Sometimes they would be a blessing, but we always shuddered when we received the news that some visitors or a team was coming because us missionaries knew that their expectations and our needs would often be wildly divergent. Interestingly enough, there was one group that we were always glad to receive and it was a secular group. That group was World Challenge from England. What is World Challenge?

World Challenge provides educational expeditions in the developing world and closer to home which teach life skills, stretch comfort zones and expand minds outside the classroom. The bespoke 1 to 6-week itineraries foster team and leadership skills and are the culmination of our pioneering programmes, which see young people involved in planning and fundraising their way to the experience of a lifetime.

The students who travel with them, travel for a mixture of adventure and social service. Each trip requires that the student fully and freely participates in some hands-on work on a social project of some type. But, at the same time, they also do some adventure hiking, etc., so that the whole trip is not simply “work”. The students raise their money during the year, but must also attend seminars in which the history and background of each country that is visited. They must learn important cultural do’s and dont’s. They learn to work as a team, with some team-building exercises during the year. And, most important, they may not go on the trip unless they have completed the entire training.

Thus, by the time we received a team, they were shepherded by experienced adults–who most often were schoolteachers during the year, not full-time employees–,  the students would know how to properly greet and behave among us. And, while the students were every bit as rowdy as First World students often are, they knew how to work as a team and when to cut off the horseplay and get to work. Even in their horseplay, they would never do in public anything that would run counter to the culture. They did their own laundry, asking only where the facilities were, and did not expect us to cook for them unless they had pre-arranged it with us before they even arrived. Again, they would only ask about kitchen facilities or would simply go to a local cheap restaurant.

In the article I cited from the beginning, I mentioned that it documented how I had learned from the poor. This article documents what I learned from the rich. Realistically, the students that I met who traveled with World Challenge were often upper-class since the South America trip was a six-week trip. They taught me about how incredibly helpful a prepared short-term team can be. I took at least one team on the multiple hour mule ride to Choco. I wish I could find a couple of the photographs so you could see a 30 some mule team strung out, hanging over a canyon on a narrow trail, with a student or adult perched on each one. And, when they got there they pitched in and helped in the building of a Mother’s Center, guided by the local Quechua villager. Note: the villagers were in charge of the building and directed, not the other way around. They taught about having the humility to accept the direction of someone who could barely read and write.

So, what about the “Christian” short-term teams or visitors? Frankly, they were the ones who caused us to shudder. . .