JUNE 2022:
I don't know how we raised 3 kids into adulthood before hearing about HEFY {now known as Humanitarian XP} for the first time. Adam is the one who came home talking about it after hearing about it from friend sometime in early 2020. HEFY / HxP is basically a humanitarian experience for youth that has programs all around the world, where they do sustainable service projects in local communities and also do some sightseeing in that part of the world. Both Adam and Ellie were instantly intrigued as soon as they heard about it.
Adam went full speed ahead with planning and earning money for a trip to Guatemala for summer 2020. You will not be surprised to find out that that trip (nor any other HEFY trip) happened that summer...
Then came 2021 with high hopes. Ellie was old enough this time around, so she threw in her lots and ended up getting assigned to a trip in Ecuador; Adam got Thailand. They were both very excited, but COVID was still very much a factor, so it remained touch and go about how things were going to go down. Ellie actually ended up getting to go to Ecuador and had an amazing time exploring the Galapagos Islands and helping to build a women's center. She helped make and sell homemade facemasks to fund her trip.
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Adam's planned trip to Thailand, on the other hand, ended up being quite the roller coaster. First he got switched to Colombia for COVID purposes. Then the Colombia trip ended getting canceled for political unrest. And that's how he ended up in the US Virgin Islands for his trip.
So, when 2022 rolled around, Ellie was excited to sign up to go on another trip. This time she got assigned to the Southern African country of Malawi!
Getting her ready proved to be a little stressful with the traveling we did in the weeks leading up to the trip (Spain and Hawaii) and
with all that was going down with my Dad at the time, but, with the help
of Heather, we were able to get things squared away eventually. The most stressful part was the visa. For whatever reason, her visa application didn't get approved immediately like most of the others' did. It sounds like the HxP had to pull some strings to get it to go through, but thankfully it happened.
The participants put away their phones for the entirety of the trip, so
while they're gone, the only contact us parents have, is what the trip
leader posts on the trip instagram page. That meant that while they're gone on their trips, I am absolutely glued to Instagram looking for any update I can find that mentions or shows a picture of Ellie...
Rather than reinventing the wheel, I thought it might be easiest to just post the screenshots from Instagram exactly as I saw them....
They worked and played hard....
And got to go on a safari {the second one of her life}...
When I asked Ellie what some of her favorite memories were, and here's what she said:
1.She absolutely loved the Malawian people --there were tons of kids all around the worksite and they helped them with the work, played with them during their breaks, and brought so much joy to their days, There was a young girl of about 11 (named Inafi (?)) who, each morning upon their group's arrival to the worksite, would run up calling for Ellie and give her a big hug and tell her how much she missed her.
2. She absolutely loved all the animals they saw on their 3-day safari experience. They stayed in a safari camp, where there were monkeys everywhere. They'd hover around the tables waiting for scraps to be dropped or thrown their way and then go through the dirty dishes after meals looking for any uneaten treasure. One day, during mealtime a group of elephants walked nearby. They went out to get a closer look and were taken off-guard when they came around a corner and were only a few yards from the elephant group. The elephants seemed as surprised as Ellie and friends were and both started backing away at the same time. One of her favorite memories was a very sketchy hippo boat tour they went on. There were hundreds of hippos, swimming all around and even underneath the boat. Her favorite memory was of seeing a hippo open its mouth wide and snap it shut quickly, like a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hahah.
3. Ellie also loved how cheap the souvenirs were and came home with a whole bunch. :)
4. Ellie loved attending the LDS ward there and loved that they got to participate in it fully. Ellie gave a talk one of the Sundays she was there and fellow trip members gave prayers, led the music, played the piano, taught lessons, etc. It was a very cool experience for them to be a part of and she loved getting to know the people better.
6. She loved the camaraderie they experienced on the bus drives.
Some more notes from Ellie:
Each trip has two young adult and two parent leaders who come along as chaperones. Ellie didn't really connect with the parent leaders, but the young adult leaders were amazing. The female young adult leader actually had been a missionary in Virginia. She never served in our ward, but we definitely remembered her from her serving in wards in our same building. 
Looking at her pictures, it was hard not to reminisce on our trip to Uganda in 2019/2020....Honestly, I wished many times over that I could have gone with her...
Unfortunately, I didn't feel like I could commit with the uncertainty with my Dad's health and getting Adam ready for his mission....
If you (or your child) has an opportunity to go on a trip like this, I HIGHLY recommend it!
I am a firm believer that these kind of experiences can be life- and perspective-changing...
...and I am very grateful that Ellie was able to have this kind of experience.
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Mission trips like these are wasteful. There is a difference between helping people with engineering, education, etc. However, calling a trip "exotic" is really just going on vacation and feeling righteous about it. If it wasn't just about feeling good about yourself religiously, so much more could be done with the money raised just for the flight there and back if it was simply donated to these communities. Paying thousands of dollars to paint a building is a waste of resources compared to what that money could do if it was simply given to a community in need, nonetheless that these "mission trips" have become a vacation with a minor faith-based ego boost.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Not sure why anyone would feel the need to attack another’s sincere efforts to do some good in the world. These trips do wonderful things for the service recipients and the service givers. Please give the way you choose, but no need to insult others who might choose to give differently than you.
Delete"spiritual tourism"
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to be insultful - however it is simple fact that the money spent to go on this trip would be more impactful if it was made as a donation rather than an entire trip. I personally believe that if I were to try and be as helpful as possible to communities in need, I would just donate these funds- it would be the most effective use of resources.
ReplyDeleteHello Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I know that “volun-tourism” or as you like to say “spiritual tourism” can be controversial, but making the decision to have our family members participate in these kinds of trips is absolutely not something that we’ve taken lightly. This wasn’t a feel-good, let’s go save these poor people, because we are so much better than them kind of trip. 100% not. We were never under any delusions that our carefully curated “help” was going to save the world, or even one person for that matter. These trips were meant to be a transformative, perspective shifting, and eye-opening experience for my children, so they can get a small glimpse of their place and privilege in the world. Would our money have gone further if we’d sent it to some organization who could have put it to use? Perhaps. But that’s not the point. Why would we (or my children in their future) randomly send money to a place to which they had no connection to? Or to an organization that we didn’t know anything about? The world is full of too many worthy causes to think we ever would have sent money blindly to Malawi otherwise. As it stands, the organization we used hired local guides, local cooks, stayed in local accommodations, and bought locally made goods. Was it as much money for the community as if we'd donated the cost of the entire trip? No, but it was 25 people from the US who likely would have never set foot there otherwise (or frankly ever donated money there) without having been a part of that group. 25 people who wouldn’t have had the experience of learning about a beautiful culture and understanding that the world is a bigger place than the small sphere they live in. And if just a couple of those 25 people grow up and have thousands of dollars to send their way, because they’ve had the kind of experience that has gotten them vested in it, then great. But even if not, a few more people in the world with their hearts opened a little wider to the world around them, with a deeper sense of the privileges they enjoy, I dare say will make every much an impact for good in this world as sending a check would have.
PS. If I know you in real life, I welcome a further conversation about this. It’s something we clearly both feel passionately about and I acknowledge that your concerns have validity. However, my kids came home from these trips with a deep sense of humility and a love for the people and culture they immersed themselves in for those couple of weeks and they are better people for the experience.