Christian Missionary ‘Discouraged’ Africa Isn’t wasteland

[doggie]

and this really shows what is wrong with missionaries that are more vacation then anything else

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/02/04 ... -can-save/

Christian Missionary ‘Discouraged’ Africa Isn’t Wasteland That She Can Save

There is perhaps no bigger misconception in the West than in regards to Africa. It’s a massive continent with dozens of countries and cultures, but for reasons that defy logic, many Westerners insist on viewing it as a monoculture – a single entity that is poverty-stricken, war-torn, and starving.

That is certainly what Jes Tidwell was expecting when she embarked on a missionary trip. In a post she wrote on her blog, she explains that despite high expectations, she just couldn’t fall in love with Kenya because – as she soon discovered – the country, and especially its capital of Nairobi, is modern, affluent, and kind of similar to cities in America.

She notes:

My heart was prepared for dirt floors.

For dirty laundry hanging everywhere.

For kids that were half naked and covered in bug bites.

People who couldn’t speak English.

Instead she finds a modern supermarket with people of all races shopping among each other, modern luxuries, and conveniences.

That’s good news, right? You travel to Africa, expecting to see the worst of the world and instead find that the people are living well. That’s a good thing! Unfortunately, Tidwell doesn’t see it that way. She expresses utter disappointment that the ugly, diseased Africa that was sold to her wasn’t here in Nairobi:

It just wasn’t what my heart was expecting.

Nairobi is a hub for lots of international business. A place where new buildings are being built left and right and where traffic is a nightmare and a half.

But this girl from the states expected Nairobi to be like what you see in the movies. Or on Feed the Children commercials.

What follows is a tone-deaf account of how her Kenyan hosts try to cheer her up by explaining that there are other places in the country that aren’t so great. The entire exchange is cringeworthy. A (well-meaning, but clueless) American woman absolutely crushed that she can’t singlehandedly walk into Africa and save a starving person or hold a sick child to stroke her own ego. Her Kenyan hosts think she’s so miserable that they actually try to convince her that despite appearances, Africa is pretty bad.

She appreciates the effort, but nothing can make her get over her disappointment.

So, did I fall in love with Nairobi today?

No.

But I fell deeper in love with a God who uses all the things, including the safe and affluent, to change my heart.

Thanks a lot, Kenya! Your stubborn insistence on providing a safe and affluent environment for your citizens is a real buzzkill for Jes Tidwell, who would like nothing better than to save you.

She claims that the experience left her “discouraged,†but with a renewed sense of duty to God. For reasons that are difficult to fathom, she believes that God showing her the “affluent†parts of Africa was just part of the challenge, and that if she is lucky, God may eventually reward her with some much appreciated abject human misery.

This is exactly why Africans laugh at Americans.

[Rebelwife]

:angry-banghead: Here's where I pretend to be Canadian.......

[KittenMitten]

What does one even say to this? Damn them for being happy and affluent!! That really screws with the salvation plan. It is so embarrassing being an American.

[snickerz]

My heart was prepared for dirt floors.

For dirty laundry hanging everywhere.

Usually people hang their clean laundry. But I suppose in her mind, those backwards Africans would do it the other way around.

[GeoBQn]

:violin:

[doggie]

In her mind? That is a scary place.

[16strong]

:pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair:

[Mitz_]

Here is her blog:

jestidwell.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/it-didnt-happen-like-i-thought-it-would/

Evidently, her host took her to a mall and other places of affluence on day one. Things picked up on day 2 when they found a sick baby to pray for.

[sparkles]

Thankfully, she's pretty much getting ripped a new one in the comments.

[mrs]

Just curious is this the same trip Mckmama is on? (I don't follow that train wreck very closely anymore.)

[SassyPants]

Just curious is this the same trip Mckmama is on? (I don't follow that train wreck very closely anymore.)

Is that scammer on another African trip?

Off to check the website.

[Cleopatra7]

Thankfully, she's pretty much getting ripped a new one in the comments.

To be honest, the negative comments on that blog entry have helped restore my faith in humanity, because it shows that some people get it.

[Delilah]

I've been reading her blog for a few days. My take on it is that she and her husband were supposed to go on a mission trip, but it got cancelled. They decided to go themselves even though they didn't really have much of a plan about what they would do there. They are visiting two countries and have contacts there to help them. They want God to use them however He sees fit. The commenters have been asking her how this trip is a mission trip as opposed to poverty tourism. They also warned her to avoid Jennifer McKinney who has a terrible reputation. Jes responded by saying she was being bullied by the haters.

I don't think she's a bad person. She seems to really want to help needy people, but she doesn't understand the difference between a vacation and a mission trip. She seems shocked that so many people are critical of her and question the value of saving people by loving on them.

I agree with the commenters who feel the money they're spending on this trip could have been better used as a donation to a reputable charity. At the very least, they should have come up with a clear goal for their trip.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

Here is her blog:

https://jestidwell.wordpress.com/2015/0 ... -it-would/

Evidently, her host took her to a mall and other places of affluence on day one. Things picked up on day 2 when they found a sick baby to pray for.

On the second day she seems positively relieved to see people living in tin shacks. They're "rustically beautiful"! Ooh, so authentic. Maybe she can teach the locals how to arrange tea lights in mason jars or something.

Then she goes on a long tangent about how she didn't want to come here but she knew God needed her there-- how she was terrified and thought about staying home, but now that she sees sick and impoverished people she knows she did the right thing.

She needs Kenya to be scary so that her Facebook friends can see how brave she is, and how loving she must be if she can find instagram material shared humanity in these aesthetically pleasing poor folks.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Is being a racist, misery fetishizing idiot a requirement for being a missionary?

[Terrie]

There are plenty of places to see crushing poverty here in the US, but you'll notice these types never do anything about that.

[Palimpsest]

She really got her ears boxed in the comments, thank goodness, so she has apologized.

The apology is obscured by a whole lot of God-speak and self-justification and comes at the end of her latest post. I don't think she understands the issues at all. For the record, though:

I would like to publicly apologize to the men and women who have been hurt by my words.

In complete humility and with a broken heart, I would like to ask for your forgiveness.

What a little twit. Hey, Jes! People are not hurt - they are angry. It's not your words that are the problem - it is your ignorance and arrogance.

[August]

What does one even say to this? Damn them for being happy and affluent!! That really screws with the salvation plan. It is so embarrassing being an American.

She's on a 'mission' to an 82% christian country. I think that says it all, really, doesn't it?

Still fundraising for the mission god ordered me to take to Paris and Rome to minister to the heathens in the art display and food service industries! I totally don't want to go, but the big guy has laid it upon my heart.

[August]

There are plenty of places to see crushing poverty here in the US, but you'll notice these types never do anything about that.

If they offered better photo ops they'd rake in the mission tourism.

But, in terms of actual real assistance

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Area_Medical

I agree with the commenters who feel the money they're spending on this trip could have been better used as a donation to a reputable charity. At the very least, they should have come up with a clear goal for their trip.

But without any useful skills, there is no possible useful goal. She's got no skills, the husband's a pastor. They don't need pastors, there's a pic in the blog of a group of more than a dozen local pastors who've just graduated and a room with fifty or more people at some sort of pastor seminar.

Except of course, I'm forgetting the have whiteness to bestow upon the poor folk. Prayer is all well and good, but you've never felt the power of a white person praying for you, have you? Totally worth $10,000 that could have been spent on a water pump or training a nurse.

[formergothardite]

She really got her ears boxed in the comments, thank goodness, so she has apologized.

The apology is obscured by a whole lot of God-speak and self-justification and comes at the end of her latest post. I don't think she understands the issues at all. For the record, though:

What a little twit. Hey, Jes! People are not hurt - they are angry. It's not your words that are the problem - it is your ignorance and arrogance.

She is an idiot that is just trying to get people to stop criticizing her. It is her attitude that is the problem, not her words.

[lascuba]

Everything wrong with missionaries in nutshell:

jestidwell.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/it-didnt-happen-like-i-thought-it-would/

But this girl from the states expected Nairobi to be like what you see in the movies. Or on Feed the Children commercials.

The sweet missionary couple who were staying in the guest house adjacent to us said to not judge Kenya based on Nairobi.

“Nairobi in and of itself is like city state and doesn’t represent accurately the rest of Kenya.â€

John could tell I was discouraged. That my heart wasn’t “in†today.

She wants it to be like Feed the Children commercials. :angry-banghead:

ETA: Forgot to break the link.

[Dark Matters]

I've just been reading through the comments on the blog post and this one is my favorite:

"I’ve followed this journey of yours. I’ve read the comments about Jennifer.

I’ve kept quiet…until now.

I am, as you and many others would say “African Born†I am black.

I saved and worked and struggled. As all do.

I came to America for College, I stayed because I found a job I am extremely happy with. I also found love.

Before I moved I researched. I researched the history, the varied cultures, and the state I was moving to; Massachusetts. I no longer live in Massachusetts.

I am angry. I am sad. I am also sickened.

I am angry that you didn’t research where you were going. You have endless resources to do even the most basic reading about the places you are visiting. By doing this, you show that you care about our cultures. That you care enough to know that Africa is a Continent. That you don’t refer to Africa as one place. Africa is a Continent with various countries with deep and vast histories. Peoples of all “colors†and ethnicities.

I am sad that you did not prepare in any way-except to pack your suitcase. I am sad that you didn’t care enough to learn, again, even the basics of the areas and people you will encounter.

I am sickened, so very sickened that you see “Africa†as a “place†that is only filled with “slums.â€

I am sickened, angry and sad that you were, as you wrote “disappointed†in Nairobi. And why? Because it isn’t a slum. Because it isn’t your picture of poor.

How dare you? How dare you express “disappointment†that Narobi isn’t a slum? I am nearly speechless. You are actually upset that Nairobi isn’t filled with “shacks†and “rivers of sewage.†That Nairobi has clean running water, that it has resturants. And stores. And people that can work. People that are living in homes… That are relatively safe.

How dare you?

If you are really here to spread the mesage of God. Why can you not spread that message to the people of Nairobi?

I’ve read some of the “reasoning†and it can be summed up by “it’s too hard…because the people are too well off and might not listen…the people are too well offâ€

Again: How dare you?

If you are truly here to spread the word of God, who and what the people you encounter would not matter.

After reading this, I can say with no doubt that the only reason you are here is to see “the poor brown skinned people.†So you can return to your home, your friends, your church…and say that you “helped the poor.†So you can feel good. So you can feel proud. So people will give you praise for “helping†the “poor brown-skinned people.†So you can tell others how you “survived†the “slums.â€

If your message is so important, if bringing Him into the lives of others is paramount… It should never matter who or what the people are. How and where they live. It should not matter at all.

So I am sick. Revolted. By you by the very fact that you are ‘disappointed’ Nairobi isn’t “what you expectedâ€â€¦a slum.

Will you express disappointment if the slums you visit are actually eliminated one day?

I’ve seen people say “poverty tourism†and this post proves that. The only reason you have come is so you can walk amongst the poor. So that you can brag that you “helped†them.

You are here to say that you hope one day that the people you visited, the poor, one day are no longer poor…but that’s obviously not true. Since you are so disappointed by Narobi.

You aren’t here for the poor. You aren’t here for Him. You are here for yourself, so you can brag and boast and get “points†for “helping†the “poor brown skinned people.â€

You sicken me."

Wonder if it will help shock her into a little self-reflection. Nah, I doubt it.

[mrs]

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=24934

IMHO that whole "mission" is delusional.

[rainbow_vixen]

I've just been reading through the comments on the blog post and this one is my favorite:

"I’ve followed this journey of yours. I’ve read the comments about Jennifer.

I’ve kept quiet…until now.

I am, as you and many others would say “African Born†I am black.

I saved and worked and struggled. As all do.

I came to America for College, I stayed because I found a job I am extremely happy with. I also found love.

Before I moved I researched. I researched the history, the varied cultures, and the state I was moving to; Massachusetts. I no longer live in Massachusetts.

I am angry. I am sad. I am also sickened.

I am angry that you didn’t research where you were going. You have endless resources to do even the most basic reading about the places you are visiting. By doing this, you show that you care about our cultures. That you care enough to know that Africa is a Continent. That you don’t refer to Africa as one place. Africa is a Continent with various countries with deep and vast histories. Peoples of all “colors†and ethnicities.

I am sad that you did not prepare in any way-except to pack your suitcase. I am sad that you didn’t care enough to learn, again, even the basics of the areas and people you will encounter.

I am sickened, so very sickened that you see “Africa†as a “place†that is only filled with “slums.â€

I am sickened, angry and sad that you were, as you wrote “disappointed†in Nairobi. And why? Because it isn’t a slum. Because it isn’t your picture of poor.

How dare you? How dare you express “disappointment†that Narobi isn’t a slum? I am nearly speechless. You are actually upset that Nairobi isn’t filled with “shacks†and “rivers of sewage.†That Nairobi has clean running water, that it has resturants. And stores. And people that can work. People that are living in homes… That are relatively safe.

How dare you?

If you are really here to spread the mesage of God. Why can you not spread that message to the people of Nairobi?

I’ve read some of the “reasoning†and it can be summed up by “it’s too hard…because the people are too well off and might not listen…the people are too well offâ€

Again: How dare you?

If you are truly here to spread the word of God, who and what the people you encounter would not matter.

After reading this, I can say with no doubt that the only reason you are here is to see “the poor brown skinned people.†So you can return to your home, your friends, your church…and say that you “helped the poor.†So you can feel good. So you can feel proud. So people will give you praise for “helping†the “poor brown-skinned people.†So you can tell others how you “survived†the “slums.â€

If your message is so important, if bringing Him into the lives of others is paramount… It should never matter who or what the people are. How and where they live. It should not matter at all.

So I am sick. Revolted. By you by the very fact that you are ‘disappointed’ Nairobi isn’t “what you expectedâ€â€¦a slum.

Will you express disappointment if the slums you visit are actually eliminated one day?

I’ve seen people say “poverty tourism†and this post proves that. The only reason you have come is so you can walk amongst the poor. So that you can brag that you “helped†them.

You are here to say that you hope one day that the people you visited, the poor, one day are no longer poor…but that’s obviously not true. Since you are so disappointed by Narobi.

You aren’t here for the poor. You aren’t here for Him. You are here for yourself, so you can brag and boast and get “points†for “helping†the “poor brown skinned people.â€

You sicken me."

Wonder if it will help shock her into a little self-reflection. Nah, I doubt it.

I was just coming here to post ^ this very thing!!! I think this is comment deserves a prize and I love when she calls her on her "poverty tourism"! :cracking-up:

[lascuba]

Oops! I looked for this topic, too. I don't know how I missed that.