Mark's Blog

Just today, Guatemala is preparing for a volcanic eruption and a tropical storm; Belize is flooding, as is El Salvador. Tajikistan has an outbreak of polio, and there are still travel warnings out for Thailand and Sri Lanka. In addition, a major earthquake has struck the Philippines.  Only this last item is listed in the CNN headlines however.  Whoever is organizing your short-term mission should be aware of the natural, political, and cultural risks and have a plan for dealing with them.

Natural risks  – Christians should not be fearful! Being informed, however, and measuring the risks are not acts of fear. It is unfortunate to be stranded in Cambodia because of a typhoon, but it is foolish not to know that July and August are peak months for typhoons in Cambodia and to have a plan in the event one occurs. It is foolish not to know that malaria is also dangerous in Asia and the Americas and not just Africa. Many travel sites, but especially the government-sponsored Center For Disease Control (www.cdc.gov) and the U.S. State Department (www.state.gov) have important information for evaluating natural risks.

Political risks – Christians should not be fearful! Being informed, however, and measuring the risks are not acts of fear.  LST has had workers in Moscow during a political coup, in Yugoslavia when civil war broke out, and most recently, in Thailand during the political unrest and violent demonstrations. In reality, there are very few truly stable governments in the world. How do you make good decisions about going/sending into foreign areas where there is almost always some level of political unrest?

1. Rely on more than just the U.S. media to stay informed. LST is a member of OSAC –the Overseas Security Advisory Council (www.osac.gov). This agency is run by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security in the U.S. State Department and publishes daily information on all trouble spots around the world. The information is primarily gleaned from foreign newspapers.
2. In this last trouble in Thailand, LST actually evacuated two teams early because the violence had spread unpredictably. We were aware of surprising developments at least 12 hours before hearing it on U.S. news because we were following local news sources on Twitter (www.twitter.com)
3. Believe the local Christians with whom you are working. I have found local Christians to be more cautious and more concerned for the potential safety of their guests than the guests themselves. This also means that if they say to come ahead because it is safe, that may be compelling.

Cultural risks – Christians should not be fearful! Being informed, however, and measuring the risks are not acts of fear. Remember the boy who was caned in Singapore for keying a car! Did you know it is illegal to chew gum in Singapore? Do you know what the three T’s are in China that workers should avoid conversations about with locals (Taiwan, Tibet, and Tiananmen)? Do you know that pickpockets work every subway in the world?  Do you know that your passport is the only way to positively identify yourself in a foreign country?

Someone in your church/organization should be responsible for researching cultural risks at your hosting site and then all participants should not only be informed, but trained to avoid risky situations and risky behaviors. Risk prevention begins long before your mission trip.

Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Missions require an appropriate risk management plan. Preventing emergencies is 90% of any plan. Next I will write about your plan for handling emergencies once they occur.