MennoNet.com

How can you ethically volunteer overseas?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-12/h ... es/8895482

Good questions.
lots of fails in history. have lessons been learned?

this piece addresses individuals, but, i sure wonder what government leaders are thinking.
speaking broadly, my perception is, lessons have not been learned. beliefs/words have changed, i'm not convinced impacts/results have improved ..

in history, Christians have taken criticism for faulty missionary work.
i'm not impressed with today's "secular" mission work, done by government, often under the label of Foreign Aid.

all interactions have impact, are important, whether individual, private groups, or government.

this piece is written from an Australian perspective.
i believe it relates to our U.S. experience.

Here's one book I found very helpful:

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself

This web page has a useful overview, complete with videos.

They don't explain how "children are hurt" by short-term mission efforts. Sure, a child may develop a closeness with a volunteer, then has that taken from them when the volunteer returns home. But the children in many orphanages are starving for love, just someone to hold them, or just touch them. We visited a government run orphanage at least once (maybe more) in the capitol city of Rondonia (the state in Brazil where our mission base was located). The children would run to anyone who showed up at the door. Many of these children were abandoned due to physical or mental disabilities. Even if the employees there start out with compassion, there are so many children, and so much need that they must become overwhelmed. As a former long-term missionary, I've heard all of the reasons why people should "just send the money, and stay home", but personally I do not agree. (Sure, we'd have liked to see longer-term helpers, but overall, I think short-termers can do a lot of good.)

Bootstrap wrote:Here's one book I found very helpful:

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself

Here's the study guide specifically for short term missions:
Helping Without Hurting in Short-Term Missions

We went through this study with our youth group prior to their overseas mission trip this summer. It's important to be aware of the culture and how attitudes and actions can be counterproductive or offensive. But if the goal is to build relationships, not just get a bunch of work done and fix all their problems for them, there can be significant blessings for everyone involved. Not least of which is opening our eyes to the needs and opportunities for longer term involvement.