I learned that these Christian mission trips to places in developing countries are nothing more that poverty tourism. :-P
That's not really a bad thing. The influx of money boosts these local economies. They might as well try to make a living off of Americans that need to go be with the poor people to feel good about themselves, to believe that they're making a humanitarian impact.
So, what happens? These volunteers (I mean tourists) fly to these remote villages, hang out for awhile, maybe try their hand at building a token structure (which locals have to fix later), or teaching, or whatever. They take lots of pictures (Facebook and resume publicity shots), then they hug and fly back to the First World, all happy hunky dory for such a life enriching experience.
In the meantime, these poor people stay poor due to their own country's lack of any real investment (lack of infrastructure that first world people take for granted, lack of STEM education, lack of local economic development). Thus, the door is always open for First World people to take on a future mission trip.
Just pointing out the nonsense. These trips don't make a huge difference to these poor communities. Its just poverty tourism. Call a spade a spade.
Having said that, medical mission trips do in fact bring some temporary relief to locals.
What's the last thing you learned today?
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I learned that these Christian mission trips to places in developing countries are nothing more that poverty tourism. :-P
That's not really a bad thing. The influx of money boosts these local economies. They might as well try to make a living off of Americans that need to go be with the poor people to feel good about themselves, to believe that they're making a humanitarian impact.
So, what happens? These volunteers (I mean tourists) fly to these remote villages, hang out for awhile, maybe try their hand at building a token structure (which locals have to fix later), or teaching, or whatever. They take lots of pictures (Facebook and resume publicity shots), then they hug and fly back to the First World, all happy hunky dory for such a life enriching experience.
In the meantime, these poor people stay poor due to their own country's lack of any real investment (lack of infrastructure that first world people take for granted, lack of STEM education, lack of local economic development). Thus, the door is always open for First World people to take on a future mission trip.
Just pointing out the nonsense. These trips don't make a huge difference to these poor communities. Its just poverty tourism. Call a spade a spade.
Having said that, medical mission trips do in fact bring some temporary relief to locals.