Category Archives: Foreign missions

04.26.13
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Pomp, circumstance, bison and visas

I got my first-ever passport in August 2002, while preparing for my first-ever foreign mission trip, to Nicaragua in January 2003.  Passports are good for 10 years, and mine expired last August. Fortunately, you don’t have to renew right away; as long as your passport is less than five years out of date, you can use the renewal-by-mail form. If it’s more than five years out of date, you have to apply in person and use the same form as new passport applicants, which requires a $25 payment to the local office that accepts your application over and above the $110 passport fee.

Now that I’m planning a mission trip to Sierra Leone in November, I had to bite the bullet and renew. A couple of mission trip contributions made directly to me (instead of to LEAMIS, which is where people would normally contribute) paid for the $110 renewal fee plus the cost of new passport photos.

The application, along with my old passport, is now in the hands of the State Department, and it may be weeks before I get my new passport. They also return the old passport, with a hole punched through it to indicate that it’s no longer valid. That’s a good thing, because the visa stamps in the booklet are like little reminders of all your previous trips. It’s also great for showing off when you make mission trip presentations.

As I said, my old passport was from 2002. I’ve been reading up on the new passport design introduced in 2007, about the same time they started implanting RFID chips  with your passport number and information into the passports. The new design was, I discover, almost universally reviled:

Marketplace: ‘I don’t want an ugly American passport’

CBS News: ‘An embarrassingly patriotic passport’

New York Times: ‘Stars and Stripes, wrapped in the same old blue’

Here’s a quote from the NY Times story:

“It is like being given a coloring book that your brother already colored in,” said Michael Bierut, of the design firm Pentagram in New York City.

The complaints seem to be that the passport design is too garish and/or busy, and that it’s a little over-the-top in patriotic imagery. After all, say the critics, its primary function is to be shown to immigration officials from other countries, who are likely to be less-than-impressed by the Preamble to the Constitution, quotes from U.S. presidents, or imagery of bison on the Great Plains.

What little I’ve seen of the new design online doesn’t bother me that much. I do sort of understand some of the complaints – when you travel internationally, you’re proud of and grateful for your home country, but you try to avoid being the Ugly American who tries to shove the red, white and blue down everyone else’s throats. But I think immigration officials are probably too busy to take in, much less be offended by, the graphic design of any country’s passport. Their impressions of foreign countries are probably much more influenced by the behavior of frazzled and irritable travelers as they go through line.

The old passport book had the blank pages divided into quarters. I used to be a little annoyed that Kenya’s visa stamp was large enough to fill a whole page, which I considered wasteful and arrogant. My old passport wasn’t quite full, but it was getting there – and having the State Department add extra passport pages, which used to be free, now costs $82. $82! For blank pages! You can, if you think you’re going to be traveling heavily, order a fatter passport in the first place, and that is actually free.

Sorry, I was starting to ramble. At some point between my first three Kenya trips and my last two Kenya trips, the full-page rubber stamp was replaced by a full-page label, which features images of the “big five” – the five animals that give you bragging rights in terms of a safari. (I have seen all of the big five, but not all on the same trip.) The Kenyan visa label is not unlike the new U.S. passport – a celebration of the country’s heritage. I don’t see anything wrong with it. I still don’t think they should be taking up a whole page, but I have to admit the new label is more of a conversation piece.

Another thing that took up space in my old passport has now been eliminated. For a while, U.S. immigration was stamping your passport when you returned to the country. I don’t think they did so on my last couple of trips, and I’m not sure why they ever did.  I’m not sure exactly what that stamp was supposed to document which isn’t already documented elsewhere.

Anyway, the new passport pages are not specifically divided into quarters, because of the artistic background imagery. I can understand the people who find the new imagery a bit over-the-top, but I don’t think I agree with them, at least not from the photos I’ve seen online.

Ask me again when I get my new passport.

12.15.12
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A cup of water for a child

The death of children is always shocking – when we hear about it and are reminded of it.

Around the world, 800,000 children under the age of 5 are killed by diarrhea each year. That’s 2,200 each day. The key cause is lack of safe drinking water. 

Depending on the source of your statistics, somewhere between 780 million and 1.1 billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water.

I’ve obviously posted about this many times over the years, but not in a while – and when I started explaining it in a comment over on one of Katherine Coble’s Facebook posts, I decided it was time to come back here and give you an update.

When I go with LEAMIS International Ministries to Sierra Leone in November 2013, one thing we’ll do is install a water chlorination and filtration system. This is a major emphasis of LEAMIS, under the name “Project 10:42.” The name is a reference to Matthew 10:42: “I assure you that everybody who gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples will certainly be rewarded.” (Common English Bible)

Who came up with that name, you ask? Modesty forbids an answer.

LEAMIS attacks the clean water issue from two different directions. In cases where relatively-clear, relatively-clean water is available, individuals and families can easily use a process called SODIS to disinfect it. SODIS is as simple as putting water into a clear plastic soft drink bottle and placing it in the sunlight for a designated amount of time. Ultraviolet rays kill the germs. (Plastic soft drink bottles, and I say this with some measure of regret, are available worldwide.)

But I’ve seen people in Kenya dipping water out of muddy ponds. SODIS only works on clear water. So LEAMIS works with the host church in any community we’re serving to install a water purification system at the church. This is a combined system, based on research by pillar-of-the-ministry and former Navy oceanographer Bob Willems.

DuncanFirst, the water is filtered, to get rid of sediment as well as larger parasites. This is accomplished with a series of four 50-gallon drums. The first drum, which must be higher than the others, is your source tank, where the water is collected. The second drum contains gravel and the third contains sand. The top layer of the sand, after a bit of use, actually develops good bacteria and becomes a “biofilter,” making it even more effective. The water is fed by gravity through the gravel filter and then the sand filter and drains into the fourth tank, where it is held for chlorination.

Chlorination kills off the microorganisms too small to be caught by filtration. LEAMIS originally used the McGuire chlorinator, and it’s a good product, but starting with the last trip I took, in 2010, we began using the Hays chlorinator, which is smaller, simpler and less expensive, making it better for the type of projects we do.

Both work on the same principle: electricity is passed through salt water to liberate the chlorine gas. The McGuire unit produces a stream of chlorine gas which you can bubble through a tank of water, or install inline so that it bubbles through running water.

fullpackageThe Hays unit, by contrast, produces a very strong chlorine solution – similar to your favorite bleach, but without any laundry-related additives – which can then be added, in small quantities, to a tank of water. The chlorinator itself is about the size of a softball. In a complete kit, it comes with a small battery and a solar panel with which to charge the battery. In a pinch, it can also be run off a car battery (a common power source in developing countries where not everyone is on the grid).

The complete Hays unit costs less than $600 – a pretty small price to pay, considering it can serve as many as 5,000 people a day.

Consider supporting a missions group that’s involved with clean water, or you can give directly to the producers of the Hays or McGuire units to help them make their products available. Or you could support someone who’s going on a mission trip in the next year or so. (Suffice it to say I have a suggestion along those lines.)

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11.16.12
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Other countries have elections, too

There will be a major election Saturday in Sierra Leone, the country to which I hope to travel on a short-term mission trip a year from now.

Better the election take place now than a year from now. My last mission trip, to Kenya in 2010, took place just weeks before a big constitutional referendum in that country. Our host pastor – a man I dearly love and respect – had strong feelings about the issue and talked constantly to Jan and me about them. While I was, from a very intellectual standpoint, somewhat interested, I really didn’t have a lot of background to know which side was right, and hearing about it quickly got old. It wasn’t my election, after all.

Of course, I get tense around political discussions even here in this country. Because of my work as a journalist, I don’t feel it’s right to wear my political heart on my sleeve. (Some journalists feel differently, and have good arguments for their position.) So when I am off-duty, and hear friends, family or fellow church members getting into intense, opinionated political discussion – at either end of the spectrum – I don’t feel comfortable. I don’t want to argue or agree; I just sit there feeling uncomfortable, or (if appropriate) I find an excuse to leave the room.

I had hoped that some of the political vitriol would die down after the election, and some of it has, but I still have Facebook friends whining or gloating, as the case may be, about the results. Get over it. We’ve all got to work together for the next two years.

Hopefully, the election in Sierra Leone, however it turns out, will be old news by this time next year, or at least enough of a non-issue that no one will feel like bending the American visitors’ ears about it.

11.11.12
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Looking ahead a year

Some facts on Sierra Leone:

From the always-useful CIA World Factbook web site (yes, it really is put together by the real CIA):

Democracy is slowly being reestablished after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about a third of the population). The military, which took over full responsibility for security following the departure of UN peacekeepers at the end of 2005, is increasingly developing as a guarantor of the country’s stability. The armed forces remained on the sideline during the 2007 presidential election but still look to the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) – a civilian UN mission – to support efforts to consolidate peace. The new government’s priorities include furthering development, creating jobs, and stamping out endemic corruption.

…

Muslim 60%, Christian 10%, indigenous beliefs 30%

This will be the first country I’ve visited where Christianity is in the minority. (For the record, my previous trips were to Nicaragua, Kenya, Bolivia and Costa Rica.) However, note this from Wikipedia:

Sierra Leone is a predominantly Muslim country,[8][9][10] though with an influential Christian minority. Sierra Leone is ranked as one of the most religiously tolerant nations in the world.

From the U.S. State Department travel web site:

Lungi Airport is located across a large body of water from Freetown. There are usually four travel options to and from Lungi airport: helicopter, ferry, water taxi, and by car. None of the options are without risk, and Embassy personnel do not travel from the airport to Freetown by car. The cost for the ferry service is minimal, but the service experiences frequent delays. The ferry terminal is located in East Freetown, which has a higher crime rate than other parts of the capital. When the helicopter is operating, the charge is $120 each way (payable in U.S. dollars). Passengers departing Freetown by air should expect to pay an airport tax of $65.00 (payable in U.S. dollars).

Lonely Planet, meanwhile, gives a good explanation for the timing of the trip, which will cause me to miss Thanksgiving next year:

The best time to visit is November, after the rains and before the dusty harmattan winds blow in and paint the skies grey. During the rainy season, washed out roads make travel to some destinations difficult or impossible, though there are some sunny days at the beginning and end. The further you go into the dry season the more heat you’ll have to endure and the less green you’ll see in the countryside.

Mission trip travel is always an adventure.

11.10.12
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In which I announce travel plans

From 2003 through 2010, I went on a series of foreign mission trips through LEAMIS International Ministries – one per year. On the morning I left for Kenya in 2010, my father told my siblings and me that Mom’s cancer was inoperable and thus terminal. She died mere weeks after my return.

Obviously, I had other things to worry about at that point. Even apart from Mom’s condition, and some time before I left on that last trip, I had decided it might be time for a break in the mission trip schedule. I’ve had to rely on the kindness of friends, relatives and co-workers to raise money for the trips, and the Africa trips were especially expensive. I did not want people to get sick of hearing from me or cringe whenever they saw my name on an e-mail.

Over the past couple of years, though, people have frequently asked when I was going to take another trip.

I think I have the answer to that question. I left word last night for Debra at LEAMIS to count me in for a trip to Sierra Leone, in West Africa, a little over a year from now, in November 2013. (I will be away over Thanksgiving.)

Sierra Leone is on the opposite side of the continent from Kenya, and it’s different in culture, size and demographics. It should be interesting to see. This will not be a large team trip; it will be a small group of only two to four people. We’ll be installing water purification systems and doing cottage industry and other types of training.

I will be sending out a fund-raising letter later this month to notify my past mission trip partners of my plans; every now and then, people need to make a charitable gift before the end of the year for tax reasons. I anticipate that more of my fund-raising will take place next year. I don’t have a dollar figure yet, but some casual peeks at air fare to Sierra Leone indicate that it certainly won’t be any cheaper than air fare to Kenya was. And there are all sorts of other little expenses – my passport, which I first got in preparation for that 2003 trip to Nicaragua, expired in August, and I need to get it renewed. But if God wants me to do this, I know the money will come from somewhere.

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11.29.11
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Hit the road

A couple of weeks ago, I had a lengthy post about Mountain T.O.P.’s Adults In Ministry program and why you – yes, you – should join me there next summer. If you missed it, I’d consider it a personal favor for you to read it now. I’ll wait here until you get back.

Anyway, I was walking at the rec center today, thinking about that post, and realized there was one issue I meant to cover and didn’t cover in great detail, although I sort of got got close to it a couple of times. It’s a pretty big issue, one I’ve encountered whenever I talk about Mountain T.O.P. or whenever I talk about my foreign mission trips. It’s more relevant than ever right now, because of the tough economy.

People from all over the eastern U.S. come to Mountain T.O.P. camps, but sometimes when I talk to my own friends and neighbors here in Tennessee about it, I get a response – sometimes implied, sometimes stated outright – that it makes no sense to go to Grundy County (or Kenya!) to be in ministry when there are needs right here in our home county.

It’s exactly right that we have needs, serious needs, right here at home. We see that more clearly at the holidays than at any other time of the year, although the needs themselves are year-round.

But the first point I want to make is that it’s not an either-or situation.  Listen to the very last words Jesus spoke to his disciples before his ascension:

Acts 1:8 (NIV) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus calls the disciples to be in ministry in their home city, in their region, and beyond.

It needs to be said, immediately, that what you do on a mission trip, domestic or foreign, is not a substitute for, or an alternative to, being in ministry in your home community the other 50 or 51 weeks out of the year. And, in fact, many of the people I know who are most passionate about short-term missions are also heavily-involved in various ministries, non-profits or community outreach in their hometowns. One of my good friends from both Mountain T.O.P. and LEAMIS trips, Jan Schilling, is a great example of this. One week, she’s in Kenya making charcoal; the next week, she’s back home in Smyrna working for Habitat For Humanity or an animal shelter or doing some other type of volunteer work.

The “Mountain T.O.P. song,” which the ministry has adopted as its theme song, makes allusions to this; we can’t live on a mountain top, but we can take our mountain top experiences home with us and share them “in the valley below.”

It’s also important to note that there are different types of needs in different places. I would never make light of poverty here at home, but then again there’s no comparison between being poor in Bedford County and being poor in the Kibera slums outside Nairobi. The poorest person in Bedford County has access to clean water, free school for the kids, emergency room care, and various types of public assistance. People in Kibera live in tiny huts, crammed together like sardines, with filthy water running between them, in constant danger of being attacked or robbed.

Grundy County is much closer to Bedford County than to the Kibera slums, but even in that case the needs are different. Poverty in Grundy County goes back decades, and there are conditions which are short-term hardships for us but a way of life for them. There are cultural differences, geographic differences and vicious cycles that apply in the mountains that make it different from life here at home.

In some ways, it’s not a matter of one person being needier than another. You’d go crazy if you tried to rank or prioritize the needs of every cultural subgroup in Tennessee, much less Planet Earth. But when we recognize that there are different types and levels of need, we recognize the value in exposing ourselves to different cultures and different types of ministry.

Short-term mission work takes nothing away from local ministry. But I’m going to go further than that: I think short-term mission work enhances local ministry.

The primary purpose of a short-term mission trip is the ministry being conducted, the people being served. But an important secondary benefit of a short-term mission trip is that it often serves as a time of spiritual development and refreshment for the volunteers themselves. I know it has served that purpose in my life; I sometimes feel selfish for going on such trips, because it seems as if I get more out of them than I put into them. There is something about the process of separating yourself from your regular routine, immersing yourself in intense Christian community, making obedience to God your primary focus, that can be powerfully inspiring and uplifting. As a former Mountain T.O.P. board member, I’d like to think that Mountain T.O.P. is organized and operated in ways that maximize this effect, but it’s by no means unique to Mountain T.O.P. or any other specific organization.

I think that process requires getting away from your regular surroundings. If you lived in Grundy County, I’m not sure Mountain T.O.P. would have the same impact on you as a volunteer. Frankly,  I think you have to get out of town to get the full impact of being in short-term mission.

If that sounds interesting to you, get in touch with me or go to the Mountain T.O.P. website for more information.

09.17.11
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OK for croquet

After visiting my nephew at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital this morning (he got to come home later in the day), I went to the lovely Nashville home of my fellow LEAMIS board member Kathy Edwards. Kathy hosted a “Croquet For Hope” fund-raiser and ice cream social to benefit LEAMIS, and then we had a board meeting afterward. The ice cream social featured ice cream from our good friends at Pied Piper Creamery – Jan Schilling, who like me has known the Piper family for years through Mountain T.O.P., made the arrangements.

Top row: LEAMIS treasurer Marilyn Schroer, co-founder and executive director Rev. Debra Snellen, board chair Martha Coleman, secretary John Carney, (seated) board members Jan Schilling and Kathy Edwards. From Croquet for hope
Margaret Siegrist takes her best shot. From Croquet for hope
12.27.10
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Not up in the air

As we pass Christmas, we start to look ahead to 2011 – and there’s one particular gaping hole in my calendar for the new year.

As most of you know, I’ve taken a foreign mission trip with LEAMIS International Ministries every year since 2003, but I won’t be doing so in 2011. It was harder to raise money in 2010 than it had ever been, and I felt I needed to give my friends and family a break before they get sick of hearing from me, assuming we’re not past that point already.

It was the right decision, and I’m looking forward to attending two weeks of Mountain T.O.P. Adults In Ministry (AIM) during the summer, something I haven’t been able to do since 2003 because it takes place around the same time of year as most of LEAMIS’s trips. I’ll spend one week in AIM’s “Summer Plus” program, teaching enrichment workshops to teenagers, and a different week in its “Kaleidoscope” program helping others teach arts workshops to special needs kids.

But I still feel a little longing. Even news stories about the nightmare of air travel make me wistful.

Being honest with myself, I wonder if what I’m longing for is the satisfaction of obedience to God’s call or the chance to travel to unusual and exotic places. I suspect that my wistfulness comes more from the latter than the former, and I’m ashamed to admit that. LEAMIS is breaking new ground in 2011 with ministry in the Dominican Republic; a fact-finding team will travel there in January, hopefully leading to a full team trip during the summer. I wonder what it will be like there, and I look forward to hearing the report from the fact-finding team.