I fix it. You fix it. No, we fix it

Last week I met, Steve, a young man who was staying in the apartment next to us.  He said he would love to visit with us and asked if we would go to lunch.   So this is about our lunch with Steve.

As I said, he is young, married with three small children, and is living 11 hours east of Niamey, that’s called desert, for three months so he and his wife can learn the language there.  He is whiter than we are even though he grew up in a missionary family in Guatemala.   He has wanted to be a missionary in Africa since he was five. 

Before finally getting to Africa he had other jobs and lots of schooling.  One of his jobs was leading short-term mission trips in Guatemala. Then he went to Seattle to help organize and send people on mission trips.  From those experiences and from his schooling he has some definite beliefs about short-term missions and what is needed to really be of help.

For example, he believes that foreign aid over the years has seriously damaged the culture in Niger by diminishing the creativity of the locals.  They, in his opinion, have been taught that eventually the money for things will come (from the whites) if you just wait.

He also is not a proponent of the short-term mission experience.  He’ll admit that many people are impacted from short-term experiences but he thinks the cost is too great.  He thinks they hurt far more than they help.

He recommended a book called, When Helping Hurts, by Steve Corbett.   (Thank you Steve Jobs, I came home and had it on my computer in no time.)  I wish that I had read it before I got here.  It is making me rethink what exactly is “helping.” 

The work he does now in Niger follows a teaching from 2Kings 4:1-7.  To refresh you, this is the story about a woman going to Elisha for help to keep her sons from slavery.  Elisha starts out by asking her what do you have…

These are some of the principals from that story that guide how he applies to his ministry now include:

• Jesus is already there
• I need Jesus as much as they do.
• We are all sinners.
•  Don’t ask people/communities what they need or want and don’t assume you know what they need, rather, wait and respond to their request for help.
•  You help them identify what resources they already have.
• You work with them to use their resources to solve their problem.
• Tools:  Listening, respect, walking with them, facilitating, patience, and earning the right to be heard.  This is so different from our “fix it fast” mentality.

He works with about 5-10 groups who have come to him to work on their community issues.  Some have to do with hunger, water, farming, etc.  He is not into “relief,” he is into long-term development.

I told Steve that I am interested in getting closer to the people of Niger and would be open to helping him in any way I could.  He asked me about what skills I have.  I got an email from him today and he suggested the following:

• Create and teach a Sales and Marketing Module to people who could then go out and teach the villages how to sell their goods.
• Write a 1-2 page summary on what causes people to change their behavior.
• Help the association of national denominations better market themselves to their members
• Web research and write a summary on other topics of interest.

Who knows where all this might go but one of my interests in coming to Africa was to see God at work here – God at work with needs that are beyond me.  Looks like I am going to get a closer look.

Our lunch with Steve and the interaction principals he uses have already changed the way I am interacting with the staff here.