Dancing with an Elephant

A missions professional once shared a story from Africa how two dear friends, Mouse and Elephant, decided to throw a party for all their friends in the jungle. There was singing, eating, and dancing. No one danced more joyous or so hard as did Elephant. After the party was over and the guests left, Elephant sighed and exclaimed, “What a wonderful party! I’ve never had so much fun! How about you, Mouse?” Silence. “Mouse? Where are you?” Elephant began to frantically search for his friend and to his horror he found Mouse’s lifeless body in the center of the foot-print of dancing Elephant! The African minister who told the story to the mission professional said, “Sometimes that’s how it is working with Westerners–they dance hard and have big feet.” As we consider serving in other countries and cultures it is always important to remember the first rule: “Do no harm!” Short term mission projects should be approached with wisdom and care and with the view of listening to the concerns and needs of those with whom we seek to interact and serve. In working with Camp Directors in Ukraine we are very careful about listening to their needs and how they want us to participate with them. We are all strategic partners in serving the children of Ukraine. For this reason every summer the president of the Ukrainian Camp Workers’ Association (LITO), Alexander Pishcheyko along with the EEM Camp Program Coordinator, Inna Kuzmenko, and I visit all of the teams while they are working in camp. We visit with the directors and staff to see how things are progressing. This is also why we conduct three training seminars every year for team leaders, team members, and translators along with requiring teams to meet 12 times before their trip. We want our workers and volunteers to be trained and aware of how to appropriately serve in a different culture. In September Inna and I will meet again with LITO officials and the directors who hosted our teams and ask for their evaluations and observations. We want to hear their suggestions and their concerns in order to work as partners in the spiritual/character development of the children. After which we will sign a protocol outlining each of our responsibilities and expectations. If you are involved in short term missions I would recommend you spend as much time speaking with those you seek to serve to discover their perspectives and concerns. Be certain to keep current with missiological research and constantly read. A couple of resources I recommend are When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty without Hurting the Poor or Yourself by Steve Corbitt and Brian Fikkert (www.whenhelpinghurts.org) and The Cultural Intelligence Difference: Master the One Skill You Can’t Do Without in Today’s Global Economyby David Livermore. These are two general resources that are well worth the read. If you would like to know more about the EEM Youth Camp Program and more about how we  approach missions while attempting to avoid dancing like an elephant, please feel free to contact us!