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Miss Raquel's "mission" trip


formergothardite

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I wonder how much of this is just generally inappropriate behavior, period. IIRC, wasn't Raquel homeschooled and homechurched? Ie, pretty damn sheltered, with few/no in-person friends her own age, or so it very much appeared? I really wonder how much of this is just plain inappropriate behavior with no bad motives, just NO clue that it's inappropriate and a total lack of boundaries?

I also wonder if there may not be three different types of converging inappropriate behavior here. 1, that it's just inappropriate to treat the younger kids like mascots or pets, 2, that she's NOT their same-age peer for 'high schoolers' (especially as I suspect her 'these people are my age/maturity level' gauge may be off- we have ALL commented how immature she seems at times, I think- and the language difference + kids with a background (and culture) that expects/creates more maturity, younger - that all may be converging in a very, very bad way) and 3, just a total lack of boundaries, PERIOD - remember the photo of her snuggling her brother?

I think all those things are converging, along with her desire to be the center of attention and well... yeah. This is a REALLY bad situation. Has anyone forwarded her blog link (preferably with screencaps) to the mission org?

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I wish I could say I was surprised, but it's Miss Raquel, so of course everything is always all about her. :roll: I think that she loves the attention so much that she doesn't realize just how inappropriate it is, but it's definitely way, WAY out of line. As someone else said, the boys (who are the ones this is supposed to benefit... I thought mission trips were supposed to be about actually helping people who need it, not stroking the egos of those who go on them) would have been much better off if the money spent to send her there had been used to help them through local sources or actual trained professionals, instead of bringing a narcissistic, attention-loving woman-child to make it all about her. I agree that sending a link to her blog to the people who run the missions would be a good idea.

Of course, with a lot of these fundies and even nonreligious "aid" trips, the focus of the trip seems to be more about personal growth for the person going, and less about doing things to help people who need it. I know this has been discussed before, poverty tourism and people who make a mess of things or hurt the local economies of the places they visit. Raquel just brings it to a new level of self-absorption.

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If those boys have likely been sexually abused, I don't think their photos should be put up by Raquel on her Instagram or be posted on FJ. I get that is it unlikely that anyone that knows them will see the photos but it makes me uncomfortable. There is always that chance that the boys' abusers may be looking for them and those photos just will just lead the way to where they are staying.

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What kind of "mission" is this? A grooming mission? :evil-eye:

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A recipe for disaster. Raquel is, as we've often noted, immature for her age with poor boundaries. As such, she should not be in a position to be interacting with vulnerable teenage boys, in Peru or anywhere else. To be blunt, immature young adults in position of authority over teenagers is a classic recipe for sexual misconduct, because of their tendencies to view teens as peers, due to similar maturity levels. :pull-hair:

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Where the heck are the responsible adults?

Everything is so past appropriate boundaries, how could this fail to escape the notice of responsible parties who presumably were present when she was there?

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I just read an article that made me think of Miss Raquel: "Voluntourism does more harm than good"

It points out the problem with a situation that uses volunteers who are untrained and come and go every few weeks to run orphanages (and get lots of pictures of themselves with the poor orphans) rather than employing local people who can be a stable presence in the childrens' lives.

The “mission trip model“ praises individuals willing to sacrifice their time and money for impoverished communities, doing as Christ would. However, without knowledge of language, local culture, societal nuances, and the economical framework of the community, this type of “voluntourism†is oftentimes wasteful at best, and at worst, potentially destructive to the community.
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Great points. I think it can be damaging to the boy's mental and emotional health when they have random poeple coming in to love on them and give them all these fun and special experiences - provided the act affectionate and grateful and happy whether they really feel that way or not. Then the strangers leave and another bunch comes in to "love on them" so on and so forth. It doesn't promote healthy boundaries. The voluntorism article presents a really effed up vision where orphans trade their affections for material goods, it's a form of emotional prostitution.

This is another blog that is critical of Christian Orphanages and explains why they are highly problematic. http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/20 ... t-may.html

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Emotional prostitution is exactly right. It's disgusting. This bothers me so much, because it's setting these young men up for serious relationship issues later in life.

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Raquel's latest post pretty much describes what a complete bitch Raquel is. If you don't want to read her blog post I'll sum it up.

The first time Raquel went to Peru there was a pretty blond woman named Racquel who also went. Raquel hated her for absolutely no reason, but I suspect the reason is that Raquel likes to be the center of attention and can't stand any woman who takes the attention away. So Raquel was a complete bitch to Racquel and not surprisingly Racquel came away from the trip thinking that Raquel wasn't a nice person. After she had made plans to go back to Peru the second time she discovered that Racquel would be there too. This made Raquel so mad that she didn't even want to go and felt like the whole trip would be ruined if she had to share it with Racquel. She was mean and unfriendly to Racquel after arriving in Peru for the second time, but eventually God convicted her that she needed to be humble so she went an apologized.

Raquel admits that she doesn't have many friends who are female, and I bet this is why. Raquel seems to view other women as a threat and, despite her blog post, I bet she would be happy to never see Racquel again.

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Raquel's latest post pretty much describes what a complete bitch Raquel is. If you don't want to read her blog post I'll sum it up.

The first time Raquel went to Peru there was a pretty blond woman named Racquel who also went. Raquel hated her for absolutely no reason, but I suspect the reason is that Raquel likes to be the center of attention and can't stand any woman who takes the attention away. So Raquel was a complete bitch to Racquel and not surprisingly Racquel came away from the trip thinking that Raquel wasn't a nice person. After she had made plans to go back to Peru the second time she discovered that Racquel would be there too. This made Raquel so mad that she didn't even want to go and felt like the whole trip would be ruined if she had to share it with Racquel. She was mean and unfriendly to Racquel after arriving in Peru for the second time, but eventually God convicted her that she needed to be humble so she went an apologized.

Raquel admits that she doesn't have many friends who are female, and I bet this is why. Raquel seems to view other women as a threat and, despite her blog post, I bet she would be happy to never see Racquel again.

This just hit me when I read your post.

Raquel is a young Lori, to the T.

That's terrifying.

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I never realized it till you pointed it out, but she is. I can see her, when she is older as a Titus 2 mentor just like Lori. I have always felt that Raquel is going to make some man very miserable because no man will ever be able to live up to her expectations and demands.

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Raquel's latest post pretty much describes what a complete bitch Raquel is. If you don't want to read her blog post I'll sum it up.

The first time Raquel went to Peru there was a pretty blond woman named Racquel who also went. Raquel hated her for absolutely no reason, but I suspect the reason is that Raquel likes to be the center of attention and can't stand any woman who takes the attention away. So Raquel was a complete bitch to Racquel and not surprisingly Racquel came away from the trip thinking that Raquel wasn't a nice person. After she had made plans to go back to Peru the second time she discovered that Racquel would be there too. This made Raquel so mad that she didn't even want to go and felt like the whole trip would be ruined if she had to share it with Racquel. She was mean and unfriendly to Racquel after arriving in Peru for the second time, but eventually God convicted her that she needed to be humble so she went an apologized.

Raquel admits that she doesn't have many friends who are female, and I bet this is why. Raquel seems to view other women as a threat and, despite her blog post, I bet she would be happy to never see Racquel again.

I'm pretty sure that everyone here would prefer she'd stuck with that feeling and not gone.

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Well, gee, if I were Racquel II and found out there was a blog post about how effortlessly hateable I am and how it was an act of Christian charity to put up with me, I'd be pretty friggin' pissed. And it would undo all the fake friendship Raquel I put forward. Geez.

ETA: Oh, didn't see Racquel II collaborated on it. Oh well, still kinda weird.

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