Are there atheist versions of 'mission trips'?

[Veovis]

Sometimes it seems that Christians have all the fun! :(

It seems that everywhere I look, someone in my school is going on an exotic mission trip to some far-flung corner of the world. I've known people that have gone to places like the Carribean and South America. There's even a guy in my social studies class who will soon be departing for Kenya!

Now, I really want to travel so I can see the world and get cultured, but my family could never afford it. Besides, I'd really appreciate being able to help people in third world countries. I'd go on a mission trip in a heartbeat, but I don't want a guilty conscience from knowing that I'm inadvertently spreading the gospel. *retch* :banghead:

I assume that church mission trips generally pay your way as far as plane tickets and other necessary expenses go, so I'm asking if there are any secular organizations that do something like this without the Christian baggage.

Thanks! :)

P.S. Mods, you might want to move this to Secular Lifestyle.

[Corgan Sow]

Mission trip? Gawd help us all if you want to convert people into atheism! :eek:

You'll have to face the risk of being bombarded by one of your sheeps (disguised by Muslim fundies) or hounded to death by Xtian fundies.

[Face]

You could always join the Canadian army and wander off on a UN peacekeeping mission or a local civilian assistance project.

More appropriately, though, is to become an employee of a worldwide health care organization or developmental support organization. Living in the national capital of Canada (and thus its political centre), I hear about dozens of them every day, always wandering off to help teach other people about modern medicine, agriculture, manufacturing techniques, and even as schoolteachers.

[Veovis]

Mission trip? Gawd help us all if you want to convert people into atheism!

I didn't mean actively converting people, just going to another country and helping people out with no religion involved.

[Norseman]

Just go to some church and ask if you can go on a mission trip (don't say you're an atheist, and don't go to a church that knows that you're atheist). If it works you can mooch off of some of the church's extremes of money and get cultured and avoid spreading as much christianity as they wanted to spread; triple benefits! Remeber the answer to every question will be "godidit".

[Ellis14]

And Mod saw the thread, and saw that it was good...

(Moved)

Ellis10

[MadMez]

Just go to some church and ask if you can go on a mission trip (don't say you're an atheist, and don't go to a church that knows that you're atheist). If it works you can mooch off of some of the church's extremes of money and get cultured and avoid spreading as much christianity as they wanted to spread; triple benefits! Remeber the answer to every question will be "godidit".

My wife went on a trip with HELPS international, that set off to help people in Northern Guatemala build ovens in some villages. It's a Christian organization, but she and 2 others on the 12 person trip were atheists, with another 3 claiming to agnostic and one of them was Jewish! She worked hard and came back with a great feeling of having helped. We both intend on going together when we can raise the cash. Funnily enough a theist poster here claimed she'd have been better off staying at home and praying for the villagers when I posted about it. Bless his heart.

Not once during the trip did anyone preach to the locals, nor hand out bibles, etc. The obscenity of spreading one superstition to supplant another was happily avoided.


http://www.helpsintl.org/

[NonHomogenized]

Hmmm.... maybe that's not such a bad idea...
Organize some "mission trip" type things for atheists. Not advertise it as such, and not try to convert people, but help people, and keep it intentionally completely secular. Help both with basic needs like shelter and agriculture, and also help with education, perhaps.

[Roland98]

As was mentioned, the health field is one where you'll find a variety of opportunities to travel and help people. You may want to check into the Red Cross; I'm not sure if they have travel/internship opportunities or not, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me if they did. There are also opportunities abound at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or if you look into a number of universities which have schools of public health. Even as an undergrad, if you contact professors who work in areas involved with health and sanitation in third world countries, they may be able to hook you up with an internship.

[AJ the greek]

I think they may have gotten started in a local church, but there is no relationship anymore, its just a group of construction workers mainly that go off a couple of times a year to mountain-region Haiti, where they currently are building a medical clinic.

They are quite a small group, no web presence, not really into the recognition outside the local area. There are about 20 members who raise money for airfares and construction materials, etc. No overhead, neat group of people.

A funny story on of the organizers told me a while back about drinking on their trips: The local Haitian host was used to hosting Christian groups, so the liquor was hidden away. As it was their first visit there, it was presumed they were church folk, so certain things were hidden for their stay. Conversation ensued with the people I know about drinking, etc., and once the local knew these were not the "religious" type, the alcohol flowed and everyone had a great time.

Its funny except what the locals must have to do to get help there, hiding themselves(ie bottles) in a closet. I suppose that they have to piously pretend to pray when they host the Christians from America as well.

Just consider, when you hear about bibles getting passed out, that the indiginous peoples are probably just being polite to get fed, like getting saved at the Salvation Army.

[Celsus]

Hi Veovis,

I recently returned from a "mission" trip from Cambodia acting as a consultant on development projects for a church here in Singapore. If it helps any, once you get on a trip, you should feel no qualms about "inadvertently spreading the gospel" because basic human needs come before ideology and religion. I'm a former missionary kid (my parents were career missionaries to West Africa), now an atheist, but I sincerely believe that assisting the poor comes first, and I'm willing to get involved with any organisations, whatever their religion, who have put the poor first (not all mission agencies or churches are like this). Since you're fairly young, don't worry about technicalities like evangelism and other bollocks. Go out and experience it for the sake of it if you get the chance--it will be worth it.

Where are you from? If you're from the UK or Canada, get in touch with the Voluntary Service Organisation (VSO) and their Youth for Development program (formerly called Overseas Training Program). If American, try the Peace Corps. They're quite competitive to get into, but it's also good to know early what they require of you and perhaps you can aim for meeting their requirements. If you're elsewhere, find out any international charities (Medecins Sans Frontiers, the Red Cross (as already mentioned, or the Islamic variant: the Red Crescent), Amnesty International, Save the Children, ChristianAid, Catholic Fund for Development, World Wildlife Fund for Nature, and countless others) that you can volunteer with. Chances are, you won't get sent overseas on a "mission trip" immediately, but you will get invaluable contacts or information on how to get abroad in something meaningful. Like church missions, if you do get selected, you will have to raise your own funds, awareness, and the like first, which is the not-so-fun aspect of volunteering overseas (churches do not generally pay your airfare, etc. You must raise the money).

Anyway, best wishes on your endeavour, the world needs more people like you.

Joel

[Marruk]

You could always join the peace corps. They are always looking for volunteers and they send people all over the world to help other countries. One of my proffessors was in the peace corps for a while and she went to an african country and helped a small town build a well so that the people of that town could have clean drinking water. The also showed the people how to care for the well also, so that when they left the people would be capable of helping themselves.

[Never]

partial quote from Veovis:
"I assume that church mission trips generally pay your way as far as plane tickets and other necessary expenses go, so I'm asking if there are any secular organizations that do something like this without the Christian baggage."

I don't know about most of these, but a girl I worked with has helped with a mission trip for a local church yearly for about 10 years now. Since she was a pharmacy technician, the doctors give her a list and she works with the hospital to order all the medications and has gone on quite a few trips.
Everyone has to pay their own way on these trips. The church helps pay for the supplies only (along with any donations they can get such as the hospital buying at cost for them and kicking in some stuff).
Bit of irony. Originally the local Catholic hospital was doing their purchasing and donating to them. Then the nuns sold out to a for profit group so now the local government related non-profit (read secular) hospital has taken over the charity assistance.
One of my atheist co-workers was wanting to do this but the cost of the trip was too much for a student.

[Definitely Maybe]

That's cool you want to get out there and help. And see things others will only dream about. I went on 4 short term trips in the late '90s. Central America and Eastern Europe (Albania). Amazing experiences... BUT each one was with the end goal of evangelizing. I can't imagine going on these trips as an agnostic/atheist. While one trip was for providing medical help, we spent just as much time flat out witnessing. Another was deep into villages showing the Jesus film even though the trip started out to help Kosovo refugees. Personally, I would think long and hard about a church trip unless it's a church that is VERY far from evangelical leanings.

When we raised support we had to send out letters asking for money. It wasn't very hard raising the $1200 or so. But the focus of my letters was about the religious aspect.

Anyway, DO try and make a trip to a "bizarre" country with an organization bent on trying to make the world a better place. But, be absolutely certain a church group won't be making you do things you'd be uncomfortable with.

[AspenMama]

Here's a link to the Peace Corps:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn


Here's another one that I don't know much about:
http://www.cnfa.com/

I'm moving this to the new SA&PA forum.

[valley_girl]

I'm going to Guatemala for two weeks in September for a humanitarian agency called Common Hope. Check them out at . The cost for my trip is $1500.00, all inclusive. The organization arranges all of your travel, accomodations, and meals. The cool thing about this option is that you travel with a team of 12 people. You can get together as a group and have fundraisers to help raise money for the trip. I have also written letters to local businessmen that I am acquainted with and asked them to make donations to Common Hope to help subsidize the trip (the donations are tax deductible). I included all kinds of information about the group in my letters, and people have been very receptive and generous. I think this is a great option if you are unsure about being able to pay for a trip like this...

Common Hope was founded on Christian principles, but they welcome everyone who wants to lend a hand regardless of race, color, or creed. So far in my dealings with them there has been no hint of preaching. So far, so good.

[Definitely Maybe]

I'm going to Guatemala for two weeks in September That's the country I spent some time in. Been there about 8 times or so. I hope that you will have a little free time and able to check out the town of Antigua! One of the prettiest places on the planet... it's only 45 minutes from Guatemala City. Oh, and I believe September is part of the rainy season. You could go all week with none, but if it does rain... whooosh.

[Celsus]

By the way, watch out with those "package deals" type development tours as well. I know several Americans in Ghana who paid ridiculous amounts of money to pursue a 4 month exchange at the University of Legon when you could have done it for about 1/8th the price if you'd just contacted the university yourself (which is what I was doing). Most of that money does not go to the target groups, but to the NGOs and organising groups. I say this because $1500 to Guatemala for two weeks seems ridiculous in the extreme (Singapore to Cambodia, 6 days, = US$300 with the vast majority of the cost spent on airfare and airport tax) unless it costs about US$1200 to fly there. The expensive "Third World" countries are cities like Buenos Aires (pre-collapse), Mumbai (Bombay), Mexico City, Bangkok, Johannesburg, Cape Town, etc.

Joel