EMAIL THIS PAGE
PRINT
RSS
In only two short months, I will board a plane with a team from my home church and head east, to Malawi, Africa. Every African country has its startling statistics of poverty, disease, violence and all things injustice. Malawi is without exception. As my team and I move forward in our trip planning and preparations and get closer to our departure date, I feel more and more compelled to pray. Africa overwhelms me. I have yet to find words to describe most of what I experienced in DRC Congo back in 2003 and now I am going again. If i'm honest here, I'm afraid I won't be able to handle the Malawi scene very well. I'm afraid I will completely lose it and look like a basket case infront of my team and the Malawians or worse, I'll freeze in the chaos and not react at all, which would be a horrible reaction. I was sharing these throughts and fears with a new friend of mine who lived in Cameroon for a couple years. I spoke without thinking to him as I admitted, "Sometimes I think it would be more effective for teams like mine to send the thouands of dollars it takes to send a little team from the US, directly to the country, rather than sending the team." My friend was quick to call me a moron which I completely deserved in that moment. This launched us into a discussion on developing countries. Developing countries have been developing for decades now. Why is this the case when we know that millions have been given to fighting disease, violence and poverty throught Africa? It's simple. People continue to pour money into those countries without pouring themselves. Money continues to be given freely into the hands of corrupt leaders. It rarely, if ever, reaches the victims of injustice. Articles like this one http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05/21/ethiopia.hunger.ap/index.htm about Ethiopia's current famine, should never happen in our world today. This story angers me. A couple nights ago I sat on the cool sand and watched the massive waves crash down on the shoreline at the Wedge in Newport Beach, CA. I do this from time to time on nights when there is a full moon because the waves are incredible! Sitting there, freezing (I forgot my sweatshirt), I listened to the loud roar of the waves crashing down and watching the enormity of the white waters splash high above the water. As always, I felt ity bity gazing out over the vast, strong ocean before me. I thought about how if God roars through each powerful wave, how much more does he roar for his suffering children? I thought about how easy it is for me to believe that I am God's masterpiece because of the endless privilges I have surrounding me daily. And then I thought about how difficult it would be to believe I was God's masterpiece if I were suffering in Africa or in China or Myanmar right now. Would I still believe? I thought about this world's great need for its Creator; its Developer. I was reminded of the words written in Ps. 33:
"The Lord foils the plans of the nations;
So I am going to go to a developing country and will do my best, along with my team, to point towards the Developer God for restoration, for joy and for hope in Christ Jesus and in nothing else. |
Comments
You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that there have been countless dollars poured into these countries, yet there is still no remedy in sight. Giving money to a cause like Doctors Without Boarders or World Vision, these are worthy and Godly causes, but to give of the self, to put your body in Uganda, or Myanmar, that takes a lot of faith and a lot of sacrifice. The problem with just throwing money at a situation is that giving money can stop being sacrificial once you have enough of it. But our own lives, our own flesh, the thing that most would give anything to save, should be put on the line for the sake of others. I have been trying to get my family to give more to charitable causes lately, to try and inspire something within them. I was relating all the recent global disasters to my mother yesterday and she asked, "So what am I supposed to do?" If everyone asked this question, nothing would get done. We must be willing to go out into the world and serve as Jesus did, whatever the risks to ourselves.
"We must be willing to go" That's it Ridley! I think it's the willing self and the willing heart that God seeks in us. This idea of sacrifice has been a consistent theme in my life recently (a new blog to follow perhaps). Is service really a service without a sacrifice? Can I serve and be comfortable at the same time or is it one or the other? I'll keep thinking on this theme...
I think its great that you are encouraging your family to give more (whether personally or financially). I come from a large family and 2 years ago, we decided to participate in the heifer project (www.heifer.org) and that has been a great way for us, as a family, to give, in place of gifts for each other.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments here!
Having done long term full time service and short term volunteer work in Yemen, Jordan, Kenya and Cameroon, I have seen people come who have contributed enormously to the work and others that people would really have rather have seen send their money.
I agree that we should be investing our lives, our incarnational selves, into others lives and not just "throw money" at crises around the world, but sometimes it would be better for me to spend a little money and a lot of time with migrant farm workers locally and send my money to someone who has "boots on the ground" somewhere else. We should definitely NOT send the money to African governments and UN organizations are suspect. Even Doctors without Borders, although I believe they do some good work, has some unintended negative consequences.
For international trips, I believe that there should be pretty careful analysis of what the goals of the trip are. It is expensive to go to South America or Africa or Asia. Just because it is "my" money does not relieve me of the responsibility to be a good steward of that money. Am I going to do something that I am most qualified to do? Am I going to play a servant's role to the local church (if there is one) where I'm going? Am I going to spend $3-4k on a trip for a month and do manual labor that will just take employment away from local people? Then perhaps I should send that money to Campus Crusade or Samaritan's purse or World Vision or some other Christian organization that is building into people's lives in that location. If there is no local person to do the job, and I am qualified to do the job (do surgery, work with developmentally handicapped people, teach at a level not locally available), and God is calling me to go, then I should definitely go.
Doc-
I appreciate your insight here and your great questions to be considered regarding this issue. Thank you for sharing a bit about your experiences working internationally as well! I look forward to hearing more from you in the future!