Real Work is Done on the Inside

As I noted in an earlier blog our goals in education are to educate the wealthier people about the poorer people and their struggles.  We do that through various mediums: newsletters, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, speaking tours…
 
And delegations.  We want to expand our volunteer delegations to Nicaragua.  Why?
 
In her article The Problem with Little White Girls (and Boys): Why I Stopped being a Voluntourist, Pippa Biddle talks about her experiences of going to Tanzania and the Dominican Republic to volunteer and “help” when in actuality she realized that she was more of a hindrance and could have donated the cost of her airfare and done more good.  Now as an adult, she funds a camp in the DR that is run by Dominicans.
 
The article is excellent and Biddle hits the problem of being the “white savior” right on the head….but what she seems to miss out on completely is that those trips are what made her into the adult that she is now…aware and committed to the poor abroad.

This is why expanding delegations falls under our 2014 goals for education.  Biddle is right…nationals can do much of the work better than unskilled volunteers.  But the real work that volunteers do is the work within themselves.   

Our delegations spend an hour or so each day with speakers so that volunteers learn about Nicaragua, the relationship between Nicaragua and the rest of the world, and poverty. 

We take them outside of their comfort zones to see poverty and help them to process what they see…because their most valuable work and long lasting work for Nicaraguans and the poor will come when they go home and start making changes in their own lives.

Quote on bus: "Just remember: you're here to help a little and learn a whole lot. When you Truly understand this, you've done something right."

Poverty is intertwined with the distribution of wealth and most people do not see that unless the poor have faces and touch their lives.  The poor need no “white saviors,” but they do need friends in powerful countries who can change those power structures. -Kathleen 

Adios Bus!

 Our final goal in education for 2014 is to spend less for better quality bus service for delegations…in short, we are retiring our yellow bus that has taken groups to so many places around Nicaragua.  It was purchased and driven down by Highlands Presbyterian Church in Maryville, TN in 1999.  It will be missed.