Christian Missionary ‘Discouraged’ Africa Isn’t wasteland

[lascuba]

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

Yes, yes it is. Assholes with White Savior complexes, the lot of them.

[Delilah]

If any of you have a sarcastic sense of humor (as I suspect most of you do), here are a fun couple of videos about stereotyping and aid to Africa. I apologize if this has already been posted before. They aren't new, so you may have already seen them.

http://www.africafornorway.no/

I didn't break the link because I don't think they'll mind.

edited because of grammar

[Palimpsest]

If any of you have a sarcastic sense of humor (as I suspect most of you do), here is a fun couple of videos about stereotyping and aid to Africa. I apologize if this has already been posted before. They aren't new, so you may have already seen them.

http://www.africafornorway.no/

I didn't break the link because I don't think they'll mind.

Thanks. I've seen those before but they are always worth seeing again!

[KittenMitten]

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.

I feel more encouraged also. Sometimes I feel as if there are fundies behind every tree trying to take my rights away. Then I read those comments, comments here and speak with family and friends I feel safer. There were two commenters that supported her. They said trip was 'Gods will', and will pray for ignorant and rude commenters when they had the audacity to call out the blogger on her comments. Practically screams Christian Persecution. Sorry for all the comments in that paragraph, I hate to over use a word.

But the blogger did a little good, at least for me. One of the commenters put up a link to Ted Talks (I love Ted Talks). Anyway, Dr Ernesto Sirolli gave an awesome presentation called Shut Up And Listen. I have no idea how put the link here, but you can go to the blog, which is linked up thread and scroll down to the comments section. Essentially he is saying people who are coming into a country to 'help' (or save, of course) are unsuccessful. Visitors should listen to the locals and get ideas from the locals of what would work best. It was very eye opening and gave me much to think about.

[salex]

OK. I have not been planning a "mission trip" to Kenya, but without any research I know 2 things.

1) a friend of mine on a business trip there lucked into a spur of the moment camera safari when his local coworker and he had a spare afternoon off.

2) Of course Nairobi has a mall, it was the scene of some major hostage taking 2 or 3 years ago...(Ok, here is a wiki on it) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate_s ... all_attack

which explains the security at the malls.

How can any person who is planning a trip to anywhere NOT do enough research to know even the slightest thing about where they are going?

[GeoBQn]

That commenter really hit the nail on the head about preying on the weak. It's like some missionaries want to go to African countries because they are too insecure to try proselytizing among people who are better off economically, socially, or emotionally. They want what they perceive to be low-hanging fruit, and they will not support efforts for system-wide improvements out of fear of losing people to "help." It makes me think of the American Dad episode where Stan is horrified to discover that his new friend is an atheist, so he goes on a mission to ruin the guy's life so he will turn to Jesus during his personal crisis.

[Delilah]

I've noticed that in response to be criticism that this trip is a vacation, not a mission, her supporters are now saying God is using her in ways we cannot see.

Does that mean this is an invisible, ninja mission trip? Even the missionaries don't know what the mission is about?

Nah, I still think it's a vacation.

I do feel a smidgeon of sympathy for Jess, though. She isn't a bad person; she's just naive. At least she's open to constructive criticism and is trying to learn from her mistakes. I don't think she'd ever heard of the term "poverty tourism" before this experience. No African is going to be helped from this trip, but hopefully Jess will be.

I also love that one of the commenters told her that her posts could be improved if she would tone down the melodrama. It was a very politely worded comment, so no one can cry that a "hater" wrote it.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

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

Well, that would require them to think critically about how the society that they belong to is systematically reproducing poverty. They might have to think about how the decisions they make in the voting booth and in their comfortable daily lives affect other people. They might have to work with people who can talk back to them. They would be working with people who are close enough to home that they might see them again after their two-week visit. Poor people who are close to home look complicated and sometimes troubling. They aren't distant, angelic sufferers.

Much better to travel into a far-away fantasy of tidy, apolitical poverty. And then come home to tell your friends that there aren't REALLY any poor people in America.

[moodygirl86]

There's a very unfortunate myth in the West that people in Africa are poor and hungry. I bet nothing annoys Africa's middle-classes and aristocracies more than hearing and seeing this being bandied about in the UK and America. Yes, some people in Africa are hungry, and some of their regions are poverty-stricken. But they're not the only continent. Homelessness and poverty is rising in Britain too, and it'll probably get worse before it gets better.

[Walking Cat Bed]

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.

How very DARE they.

[eh02]

It's definitely a letdown when people are well-nourished with a roof over their head. Vacation RUINED! What a bummer. :roll:

It is just really offensive that people can fly in to a new country and expect to "change the world" when they know quite literally NOTHING about the country or its people. This woman clearly didn't even bother to skim the fcking WIKIPEDIA page for Nairobi. If she expected anything other than a metropolitan city, it is her own damn fault.

" expected Nairobi to be like what you see in the movies. Or on Feed the Children commercials."

Really? Have you ever actually seen a movie about Nairobi? Could you have even found roughly where it was on a map? I guess you are thinking of the random commercials shot in some anonymous slum of Africa that has absolutely no identifying features that would imply that it is Nairobi, much less even in Kenya?

[Terrie]

Well, that would require them to think critically about how the society that they belong to is systematically reproducing poverty. They might have to think about how the decisions they make in the voting booth and in their comfortable daily lives affect other people. They might have to work with people who can talk back to them. They would be working with people who are close enough to home that they might see them again after their two-week visit. Poor people who are close to home look complicated and sometimes troubling. They aren't distant, angelic sufferers.

Much better to travel into a far-away fantasy of tidy, apolitical poverty. And then come home to tell your friends that there aren't REALLY any poor people in America.

Plus, poor people in America have probably done something to bring it on themselves. They're lazy, or they do drugs, or make bad decisions.... :shifty-kitty:

[2xx1xy1JD]

I'll give her a tiny bit of credit for apologizing and not doubling down while screaming about persecution.

The apology, though, was still all about her being insanely over-dramatic, and didn't show a whole lot of awareness of WHY people were angry.

For starters:

1. Don't blindly assume that your stereotypes are truth. Do some actual research with an open mind.

2. Show some awareness that other people aren't simply there to be props for you. They have names, life stories, and interests of their own, and it's not about how they fit into your narrative.

3. Africa is a continent, not a country.

4. Kenyans actually have the gospel, to a greater extent than Americans do (82% vs. 73% of the population).

5. Britain was a colonial power, so yes, there are plenty of countries around the globe, even where people aren't white, where they speak English. Will your head explode on a future trip to India?

6. All of the above isn't just criticism that you don't know things, because that's not the real problem. Remember the Golden Rule, the part about treating others like you would want to be treated? Well, I'm pretty sure you would expect to be treated like a human being, and like an individual. You would be horrified if people came by to visit and expressed disappointment that you were healthy and doing fine. If they assumed that you must not already be Christian. If your house needed work, you wouldn't want someone to gawk at it and talk about how it was rustically beautiful while ignoring you. If you had musical talent, you would want it to be recognized as YOUR talent, not some generic talent shared by all American women. Most of all - you would want some basic dignity. You would want someone to recognize that you had the same potential that they did, and that you weren't so totally helpless that you couldn't function without their help. Even if you temporarily fell into hard times, you would want someone to know that things weren't always bad, and that you had the ability to make the future better.

Finally - I'll spread around some blame for her attitude. She didn't get her incredibly distorted ideas out of thin air. How does the American media cover anything related to Africa? I do hate the "everything in some parts of the world is screwed up, always has been and always will be" narrative that sometimes pops up.

[Terrie]

I love how South African Trevor Noah plays with American stereotypes.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/201 ... to-educate

[NachosFlandersStyle]

Plus, poor people in America have probably done something to bring it on themselves. They're lazy, or they do drugs, or make bad decisions.... :shifty-kitty:

That's exactly the attitude. When you don't know or understand anything about the population, poverty seems so simple and clear-cut. These poor unfortunate brown people! They're beautiful and happy even though they live in shacks! I can see Jesus in their hungry faces!

When you know a just little bit about people but aren't motivated to actually understand them, they become less sympathetic. Now they look more like your trailer trash neighbors, people you don't want your kids to go to school with, people who ought to just buckle down and work harder.

If you are going to do any good you have to go beyond either of those mindsets and come to see that poor people, whether they live in rural Kenya or on the other side of your own town, are whole human beings who are doing the best they can in complex circumstances. I do think there are religious workers who get this-- I used to help out at a Catholic Worker house sometimes, where I saw a lot of truly admirable people. The vacation-aries aren't among them.

[snickerz]

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

They're FB friends, so maybe.

[Mitz_]

OMFG has anyone read this post? She says she was RAPED by a friend/parishioner of the church where her husband was pastor in 2011. Evidently her story was not believed, the police dropped the charges and her husband was dismissed! Holy shit!

https://jestidwell.wordpress.com/2011/1 ... pen-to-me/

Jess is certainly no stranger to public humiliation via her blog!

EDIT: Sorry, I made an error. The charges were not dropped by the police. She says she dropped them.

[eh02]

OMFG has anyone read this post? She says she was RAPED by a friend/parishioner of the church where her husband was pastor in 2011. Evidently her story was not believed, the police dropped the charges and her husband was dismissed! Holy shit!

https://jestidwell.wordpress.com/2011/1 ... pen-to-me/

Jess is certainly no stranger to public humiliation via her blog!

That story is awful. What do you mean when you say public humiliation?

The woman might be an idiot, but what happened to her sounds absolutely horrible. I think it is pretty brave to share her story, especially when the man who assaulted her is someone everyone in her community clearly knows.

[Mitz_]

That story is awful. What do you mean when you say public humiliation?

The woman might be an idiot, but what happened to her sounds absolutely horrible. I think it is pretty brave to share her story, especially when the man who assaulted her is someone everyone in her community clearly knows.

What? The whole thing sounds very embarrassing. The guy claimed it was a mutual consent kind of thing. He took pictures of her naked . Then she posted about all of it on her blog.

[eh02]

What? The whole thing sounds very embarrassing. The guy claimed it was a mutual consent kind of thing. He took pictures of her naked . Then she posted about all of it on her blog.

Am I missing something here? She clearly said she did NOT send him naked photos.

Why are people so quick to dismiss women's stories of assault? Just because the man said it was a "mutual consent kind of thing?" Because most rapes are committed by someone that knows you, and "she said she wanted it" is pretty much the universal excuse that men use.

[Mitz_]

Am I missing something here? She clearly said she did NOT send him naked photos.

Why are people so quick to dismiss women's stories of assault? Just because the man said it was a "mutual consent kind of thing?" Because most rapes are committed by someone that knows you, and "she said she wanted it" is pretty much the universal excuse that men use.

Yes, you are missing something. She did not SEND him the naked photos She is clarifying things people thought happened, but didn't.

[eh02]

Yes, you are missing something. She did not SEND him the naked photos She is clarifying things people thought happened, but didn't.

Right, people thought she sent naked photos, but there were no naked photos. So what is so publicly humiliating here? What should she be humiliated about? She is calling out a man that assaulted her. SHE did not do anything worthy of humiliation. He did.

Just because she maybe made a stupid decision by letting this creep get too close to her and her family doesn't mean she is somehow responsible for being assaulted.

I have two very close friends who were both raped by people close to them. And guess what? In both cases, half their friends didn't believe them, said that it had probably been consensual, and that they probably didn't remember it right. People acted like these poor, helpless men had to deal with "crazy women" tarnishing their reputation. One of the men that assaulted them ended up assaulting THREE OTHER WOMEN in our town and people still refused to believe he was a rapist until finally a woman pressed charges. Because everyone "thought he was a nice guy."

I really don't know what it takes for people to trust a woman when she says she was assaulted. It's like nobody is willing to believe it unless there is video evidence that includes her saying NO, STOP right into the camera. Rape happens ALL THE TIME. It is not that outrageous to believe this woman could have been raped.

[2xx1xy1JD]

OMFG has anyone read this post? She says she was RAPED by a friend/parishioner of the church where her husband was pastor in 2011. Evidently her story was not believed, the police dropped the charges and her husband was dismissed! Holy shit!

https://jestidwell.wordpress.com/2011/1 ... pen-to-me/

Jess is certainly no stranger to public humiliation via her blog!

EDIT: Sorry, I made an error. The charges were not dropped by the police. She says she dropped them.

Oh, that's horrible! I was wondering about some melodramatic language in the blog about things she had gone through, but had no idea that it was something like this. Now the language makes more sense (although cultural insensitivity is still a problem).

I'm glad she had the guts to post her story.

[KittenMitten]

I'm kind of thinking of my mind switch about this blogger. I was angry at her for what she wrote and just embarrassed to be a white American. Then I read about her rape and my feelings changed. I still think what she blogged is hideous and that this type of 'missionary' tourism has to stop.

But the feeling I mostly have for her is concern and sadness for what she endured and hope she got help in dealing with it. I couldn't read her whole blog, but it appears she was shunned. It seems as if other FJ's feel this was horrible for her also. I think those feelings of compassion even if you hate what she says or does are natural human reactions to someone in pain. I wonder what a fundie or Conserative would think of an evil atheist working mom like myself were attacked. Would I receive the same compassion if I were in pain? Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

[lascuba]

Humans are complicated. They can be completely shitty and still deserve compassion for the bad that happens to them. The story of her rape is awful, and it's a travesty that her rapist wasn't punished and that she had to suffer social consequences for it. That doesn't mean she deserves a pass on the shitty things she says and does.