Day-8a, July 10, 2009

Updated: July 14, 2009

Reflections from Bolivia....

In a blog last week I wrote about the importance of the nightly bible study to the Construction Team in Cochabamba. Amit Parasar, who is the Bible Study Leader, has chosen the bible study time to put faith and provocative questions on the table.

Amit isn't the only one to put provocative questions on the table. Tyson Malo of the Ninos con Valor projects - the children's home for girls and the daycare and residence for babies affected by HIV - challenged the media team.

First of all, he says he's "a big supporter of short-term work." He says that Ninos con Valor has "always been appreciative of short and long-term volunteers and service teams." And he adds "we have always sought to build bridges between the chidlren we serve and those abroad who are making this service possible." Afterall, "all of what we do is heavily dependent upon the support that we receive from outside of Bolivia, as Bolivia is a country full of beauty yet crippled by poverty."

However he shared what we considerd to be cautionary words of wisdom for all short-term volunteers as they approach their mission work. Tyson pointed us to an article on what some call "al-tourism" or altruistic tourists who come on missions.Check out www.briarpatchmagazine.com/20006/11/02/ive-come-to-help-can-tourism-and-altruism-mix.We would later hear the same message from our Santa Cruz sponsor who used the phrase "spiritual tourism." Tyson asked that teams remember they are "coming into the homes of the children and need to respect this."

The overall message from our visit was that mission work should have one focus - building relationships - investing in projects over time by creating and maintaining connections with local sponsors in the year leading up to a mission and then following up. We feel encouraged to explore this approach to short term mission work as espoused by Christianity Today International - in particular view a documentary they've produced called Round Trip. I took a cursory look at roundtripmission.org and will see if I can obtain the DVD.

Tyson is a direct and committed young man and his words have caused me to rethink how I approach my own mission work. He was reflecting generally about short-term missions and I invite team leader Cassie Williams to share her thoughts below...

I took Tyson's reflections back to Amit later that day. At the age of 25 years old, Amit has already been on seven missions. Amit agrees with Tyson that mission work is mostly about developing relationships. He says the Construction Team is anxious to put in long days to get the work done but their hosts want them to begin mid-morning, break for a leisurely lunch and finish early for dinner. However Amit believes the slower pace will allow for relationship-building.

Amit also believes misson work is about self. On his very first mission (at the age of 16), he says "we joked that missions were about doing good work to atone for being crappy the rest of the year."

On a mission last year, Amit says he helped a fellow worker who'd been traumatized to get back in touch with her faith. The woman says she "found herself" on that mission. Amit concluded "I think missions are therapeutic. The Construction Team is building a temple but perhaps - through God and this work - our true mission may be to rebuild ourselves."

Cassie Williams writes....

The team felt that it was an honour and privilege to serve with the Ninos Con Valor volunteers and staff both at the girl's home and the daycare. Through their organization, they are protecting and caring for 21 high risk girls and 9 babies and toddlers. They maintain the 2 facilities with wonderful Bolivian "Tias" (Aunts) and loving long and short term volunteers. They have created more than a home for these children; they have created a family. We were very impressed with all their hard work and the loving atmosphere that they have created.

We started our work with the organization through email contact and plan to continue the contact. We have built a relationship with Tyson, Kimber, Barb and all the other staff and long term volunteers and we just want to say that we think you do a super job. You are to be commended for all your hard work and efforts.