Sep 25
 This is my new favourite Cross-Cultural picture … is it warning of the dangers of smoking? or of children trying to steal a puff?
Mark Crocker
Sep 11
I recently came across an old CTV article that referenced an Australian government travel website. I googled the Aussie government site and read the warnings firsthand, some notable warnings are:
- We advise you to exercise caution and monitor developments that might affect your safety in Canada because of the risk of terrorist attack.
- The wind-chill factor can also create dangerously cold outdoor conditions beyond the thermometer reading.
- The province of British Columbia in western Canada is in an active earthquake zone.
- Forest fires can occur in Canada.
Terrorism, cold weather, earthquakes and forest fires! These dangers place us on their watch list in terms of tourist security. At first the warnings seem laughable – as Canadians we know ourselves to be living in the safest place on earth … right!? It is too easy to poke fun at this seeming over-careful concern for personal security, and the readers comments after the article seem unanimous in their withering reply.
It would be easy to retaliate with the fact that seven out of the ten most venemous snakes in the world live in Australia, the vastness of the outback … or that Dingo’s Eat Babies! But now we are just getting silly. Fighting the argument at the same level at which it is made, validates it as an accurate argument.
As I smiled over the article, I suddenly remembered the many hundreds of people I have talked to over the years who have shared concerns very much along these lines when it comes to releasing their loved ones to participate in short term missions in other global ‘hotspots’. I think of it as the one Immutable and Infallible law of Short Term Mission; whenever someone decides to participate in mission, the news will quickly report of some significant danger around going to that specific place.
It happens everytime. Perhaps it is because we are simply paying attention and now listening for news on that region of the world, or because we have done a great job in sharing our mission with many others (who are all collectively paying attention to listening for news on that region of the world). Whatever the case, these new-found dangers sometimes have participants drop out due to their own fear, or the fear of friends and family.
Two thoughts jump out at me:
- How much do we miss of what is actually happening in our world, simply because we are not listening (anyone remember this happening in the past? Rwandan genocide perhaps … or Sudan right now)
- At a loss to first ourselves, how often does our fear keeps us from the adventure in front of us?
Of course everyone needs to make their own minds up whether or not they will go. I do not think that we are playing games here, and it is in no ones best interest to promote a naive bravado, or gung-ho cowboy attitude. A good friend took a team on his first trip overseas, and one of the team-members died after drowning in the sea during a day off. The fact that ‘it could have happened here’ is not too comforting to a grieving family, because it did not happen here, it happened in that vague space known as ‘over there’ – somewhere foreign. It is good to think through the ramifications of safety and security surrounding international travel. But … I do not believe that safety and security are the identifying reason why we do what we do.
If you would like my opinion on how to make a good decision on entering into insecure areas, check out this link to another article I had put together in April.
By the way, I promise I will blog details when the earthquake seperates us in BC from the rest of Canada, if you will let me know how the wind-chill and dangerously cold temperatures are working out for you.
Mark Crocker
Aug 01
This is a video I put together for Westside King’s Church in Calgary in order to help prepare the teams heading down to work with San Diego/Ensenada YWaM.
I used the video function on my 3 meg point and shoot camera for the images and audio.
It was helpful for teams as they prepared to go – sometimes something this simple, just a quick peek at what the destination and the work actually looks like, is helpful for participants as they ready themselves.
Jul 28
We do mission because:
- it is good for us
- we feel bad for others
- we are called to be obedient to God
- important people let us know of it’s value
- we owe it to others – they have so little
Ask any number of people of people why we do mission and the answers tend to be various responses somewhere along the theme of responsibility. While I believe in our responsibility, as well as the ethic necessary to move that feeling toward action, I think that there might be something more to the reason ‘why’ …
Here is my answer to the question, “Why do we do what we do?” – it was recorded during a training session in Ottawa, November 07. Check out others at the podcasts tab at the top of this page
Jul 10
If you are a mid-termer – individuals who have worked in a cross-cultural setting for one month to one year – I would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to help out others planning a mid-term experience themselves.
Click here to take this survey to provide valuable feedback for others as they prepare. You can also navigate there from the Surveys link at the top of this page.
Thanks
Thanks!
Jul 03
Here is an series of emails that I sent home to Supriya a few years ago when I was in Sierra Leone. I like how they remind me of the realities of travel. The ebb and flow of strange customs and basic differences, the joys and frustrations. Makes me wish I was back there …
____________________________________________________________
Arrived, safe and almost sound.
My appreciation for air travel was again diminished as I traveled from Calgary to Toronto, beginning with the surly Customer ‘Service’ Agents shouting at people lining up in the too small waiting area. Although I arrived 2 hours before the flight and was the second person in the lounge, I still had a crappy seat near the back (although I was able to change for a window – being a night flight) soon after we took off, I began coughing as a very sharp odor came wafting forward, I thought it was the disinfectant or something, but was soon proved wrong.
My seat companion also began coughing, and after a couple more episodes, I turned backward, to the woman behind me, and asked if she was spraying something. She told me that she needed to use these essential oils, but it was okay, because they were natural. I tried to reason with her, my seat companion joining in – natural or not, they were causing respiration failure – but she would have none of our reason – not for her.
I am not sure how to describe the stench, somewhere between sandalwood and methane … with notes of cat pee, vinegar, and pepper thrown in for good measure.
May 14
Travellers are well aware that Heathrow in London, England is often the hub through which you connect to the rest of the world. Often the stopover is several hours, or a day. What do you do with a short term mission team? Several team leaders and friends have asked my advice on how to spend the day in London, here is the itinerary I put together … enjoy your next Stopover!
Apr 28
the comments on all of my posts died a horrible death some time ago when I transferred my site to WordPress … so if you were going to leave a comment, and thought twice when you saw no others, think again.
Be a trailblazer, follow no path but your own, leave a thought …
On an amusing note, I was just emailing back and forth over the last hour with a friend who is on his Blackberry in the Congo right now.
Apr 03
I just added a link to the Government of Canada Travel Info page for travelers, you can find it under my link at the top of the page ‘A Full Suitcase’, then scroll down to travel agent. While I find this a helpful link, and important information on helping make the decision regarding safey and security while travelling, I certainly do not treat this as Scripture while preparing any team for short term missions. I try to keep in mind that often percieved risk is higher than actual danger.
The only promise regarding a life of mission is that it will be real, raw and life-changing. Although all reasonable care and caution is considered, risks assessed and participants informed for each initiative undertaken, it is important to note that while risk management is very important, it is not the primary method by which we determine our future mission endeavors.
The reality is that the greatest risk for participants in travel to foreign destinations is the same primary risk that all Canadians face every day – auto accidents are the number one issue for injuries for missionaries on the field (Source: Murray Cornelious. Director of Missions PAOC). Additionally, by far, the most dangerous place for Canadians to travel the last couple of years has been the resort towns of Mexico, with several national publications headlining a variety of attacks and injuries on Canadians. It is the unknown and exotic quality of African and other distant travel that tends to elicit a stronger reaction to most people when it comes to risk management. Similar to the fear of international guests afraid to travel to Alberta because of a few SARS cases in Ontario a few years ago; the fear of the unknown (coupled with an all to common ignorance of geography in this case) exaggerated the actual risk.
In keeping with similar organizations involved in missions relief and development – and within the primary foundation of our calling by Christ to people in need – the following determinants will provide the missions committee the appropriate information in order to make an informed determination of the allowable risk:
• Government of Canada travel advisories.
o Intended to provide a helpful starting line to determine future risk management, not to be the determining factor.
o See the next section ‘Travel Warnings’
• Like minded organizations involvement
• Insurance assessment
• Partner perspective
o Need and Opportunities
o Our capacity to meet the need and opportunity
• On Field Host Assessment
o Nature of the danger.
o Frequency of the danger
o Distance of the project/partner from the danger.
o Capacity to mitigate or avoid the danger.
• Scout Trip Assessment
o Missions Committee Member
o Informed and Experienced Leadership Scout Trip Assessment
After weighing all applicable factors, the prudent mission committee will offer a recommendation to the Senior leadership for for written approval. Understanding the risk often allows for better training and risk management strategies.
Travel Warnings
The Government of Canada uses a website to relay information to assess the threat level of a destination. Travel Reports and Warnings.
In short there are four specific categorizations of risk:
• Advisement for Canadians in the specified country to leave
• Advisement against all travel to a country
• Advisement for Canadians in a specified region(s) of a country to leave
• Advisement against all travel to a specified region(s) of a country
The four broad categorizations are also further specified into ‘all travel’ and ‘non-essential travel’. These various categories are combined to form the nine travel warnings found on the Government of Canada website.
It is important that the leadership of a group interested in international work make the determination of their own risk and liability expertise and ability. Once this is determined it is important that board of director approval is written and obtained.
For example, the following recomendation may work for some experienced or entrepreneurial agencies.
The Missions committee is not asking for permission for travel to countries or specified regions where the Government of Canada (GC) advisement is for Canadians to leave, or where the GC advisement is against all travel to a specified country.
The Missions Committee is requesting that the board of directors would:
• Approve travel to countries where there is no advisement against all travel to the country.
• Approve travel to regions where there is no advisement against travel to that region.
• Approve travel through regions where there is an advisement against travel in the specified region in order to reach a final destination in a region where there is no travel advisory.
• Require a travel restriction to international initiatives only when it refers to ‘all travel’, and not to ‘non-essential’ travel
In short, the following nine travel warnings would be taken into consideration, and would be used alongside the determination of partner perspectives, other organizations knowledge, and scout trips to help make a determination on destination selection. The government warnings are not intended to be the final arbitrator of travel approval, but instead are helpful starting points to allow for a reasoned strategy for missional engagement, participant warning/education and risk management.
Feb 15
Over the last couple days, I once again found myself teaching at Vangaurd in Edmonton. I had a great time looking at development and internattional issues relating to Partnership. I gave a Readers Digest version of the following article, but I thought I would reproduce it here in its entirety. I am not sure about reprint info, so if I hear anything, I will take it down …
A Single Lucid Moment: Robert Soderstrom
As the plane buzzed back over the mountains, it was now just us and the villagers of Maimafu. My wife, Kerry, and I were assigned to this village of 800 people in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It looked as if we were in for a true Indiana Jones adventure!
The mountains were dramatic and thick with rain forest. No roads had ever scarred them. We had loaded a four-seater plane with cargo (we would fly out every three months to resupply) and flew for 30 bumpy minutes southwest to the mountain ridges. From the plane, the village looked very much like a shoe-box panorama from a grade-school science project.
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