Do Gooder Travel

Just stay home. Seriously. I'd like to end the blog right there. Ok, twist my arm. I'll elaborate.

We have a serious erosion problem here. It's bad. Of course it's part of life on a coast or a riverside, but this is different. All along the Monkey River, there are banana and citrus farms that suck the water from the river and use it to water their farms. I know. Infuriating. Anyway, if you're not making that connection, decreased water flow in the river means less sand being deposited at the mouth of the river.

So, the village got a grant to help with the problem, and a whole lot of rocks got dumped along the side of the road. Those rocks get bagged up and strategically placed on the coast in front of the village. It's absolute grunt work. Often when it's blazing hot. The other morning I awoke to see 5 late teen/early twenties volunteers bagging and lugging 50# sacks of rock. In the pouring rain. That's the good kind of do gooding. They came and offered to be the bodies for work that needed to be done. Not sexy or glamorous. Helpful.

What remains of our giant rock piles

Some examples of unhelpful do-gooding:

• Donating fancy equipment that no one knows how to use or will be able to fix when it breaks
• Getting righteous or preachy about anything you don't like about someone else's culture
• Requiring anything from people before giving needed aid like food or medicine
• Assuming everyone needs or wants what you have
• Assuming you know what people need

When I was a college student, I went on a service trip. We connected with a local organization to find out what they really needed. We took our college age bodies down there and labored. Even still, our anthropology professor drilled it into us that we were absolutely doing this for ourselves. Perhaps we help a bit, but mostly it's us that benefits - from the good feeling of helping and also from exposure to the developing world.

He made sure we understood we were not better people simply because we came from a developed country or were educated or anything of the sort. He helped us understand the value of real world experience and wisdom. He was honestly kind of a dick, but I've often wished that every service or mission trip had to be trained by him. What I learned from him and through the experience of the trip was of far greater value than anything I gave.

It's very nice that you want to help people. It's important to remember, though, that you're mostly doing this for you. It's because it makes you feel good. Now that's not a reason to stop. It is important to keep in mind, however. Don't come in as a savior. It's arrogant. It's obnoxious. It's annoying. You are bringing resources to the table. Nothing more. Perhaps you bring money or materials or your body to labor. This does not make you a hero, and it doesn't mean you know everything.

In fact you know almost nothing about what is needed or what will actually work. So if you want to help, go to several community leaders and try to find out what is truly needed and what the best ways to implement those would be. It's ok to bring your ideas to the table, but you need to take the back seat here. Be the supporting role. Support local voices without taking over the conversation. You know, pass the mic. Offer your money and help but don't think you know best how to use it.