Recently, after coming back
from a mission trip, a friend of mine, a dental school student, wrote the
following article.
Over
this last break, I made the executive decision to go on a mission trip to one
of the poorest nations in the world. I would love to use prettier adjectives to
describe my decision for going. Adjective such as: ‘wonderful opportunity’ or
‘blessed chance’, but in reality, I just saw a flier and signed up. I went
overseas with the idea that I was going to help as many people as humanly
possible.
The morning after we arrived, I and about 20 other students
excitedly got on a bus that would be our means of transportation for the
following 5 days. The first order of business was to introduce ourselves to our
peers, when it quickly became apparent to me that not everyone had the same
intentions for coming on the trip.
On the bus ride I heard several variations of, ”I am about
to start student clinic and I want to get better at drilling teeth”, which
immediately sent me back to a conversation I had weeks before my departure.
In a gathering of fellow students, the topic of mission
trips had come up, and we were sharing our views. Most people involved in the
conversation had a positive outlook on mission trips. That is until one of the
fellow students asked,
”Why do you think the students are sent to these countries
for mission trips?’ I thought I knew the answer—these are poor and impoverished
nations that need our help. Then, why not go to poor and impoverished areas in
America, and serve there?’ We ALL knew the answer to that question, IT IS
ILLEGAL FOR THE STUDENTS TO DRILL UNSUPERVISED AT THIS POINT OF OUR DENTESTERY
CAREER.
And why do you think it is illegal in America,’ he continued
and then, not even waiting for our response, he said, “Because there are laws
protecting the citizens of America from YOU.”
Jump back to the bus ride…
This is where my wheels really started turning. Our
translators had told the natives that we were doctors. We were AMERICAN
doctors. In the eyes of these poor people, those two credentials deified us.
When in reality, we were students who, at most, had never drilled more than one
tooth per week under the scrutiny of a professor, and on top of that, most of
us had not been successful with that one tooth, anyway. However, that hadn’t
stopped us from coming on a mission trip to a third world nation where there
would be no judgment from the patients, no constructive criticism, and no real
feed back other than the occasional smile and “merci.”
For most of the journey we were unsupervised. There were
some licensed dentists on the trip. None had brought their tools of the trades
with them, and our leader spent the majority of the days in the comfort of our
air-conditioned bus because ”the heat exhausts [him].” If a student had a
question, they were advised to seek out the help of other students.
The mission trip became student-training ground. Where else
would we have had the opportunity to drill 60, 70, 100 people in a week at our
skill level? Never in the United States of America!
HOWEVER, in this third world nation, we’re encouraged to
practice on any type of dental problem that we weren’t confident in—regardless
of its necessity. The second night on the trip, one of the doctors told the
students, ”If you aren’t proficient in any type of drilling, just decide this
in your head now, tomorrow, I am going to perform that technique on everyone.
Every person who lays on your chair will get that treatment.” WHAT?!? I felt
sick to my stomach. I immediately stood up and walked out of the meeting room.
How should we respond to a group of dental students who’re
going to practice their drilling technique on third world children? Their skin
color might be different, and their language may be foreign, but they are still
human beings.
I don’t think the students should be held liable for their
attitudes. We are encouraged to go on these trips to get better—to practice on
these trusting people. The students come back from these overseas trips very
encouraged by all they learned, and all the ”good“ they did. But in reality,
these trips are monetarily profiting those who put it together. That is why,
regardless of your level in school or your competency, if your check clears,
you are qualified to go on a mission trip.
Let me leave you with the following proposal. For the next
mission trip, I challenge you to give it a second, third, fourth thought before
you choose to sign-up. If a pre-requisite for the mission trip were to drill
holes in everyone’s tooth in your class, would you be confident and competent
enough to do so? If you were handed your infant niece or nephew, would you be
able to analyze their problem and drill their teeth properly? Are your fellow
peers lining up to have you fix their teeth? If not, then you probably are not
ready to serve as a dentist on a mission trip.
So, what does
drilling teeth have to do with Apostle Paul’s admonition, “I do not permit a woman to
teach or to assume authority over a man…”?
Isn’t in interesting that many Christian denominations
who are strictly against women in authority over men, often have no problem
sending the same women overseas to become teachers to non-American males? And
even worse, frequently, these ladies are sent out unqualified or unprepared
because they just want to get away from their families, their pastors want them
away from the church, or their checks cleared.
Pastor, if you’re not willing to let these ladies
teach your fathers, brothers, sons, or other male members of your church, isn’t
it hypocritical to have them teach other males? Don’t these third world males
deserve to receive the true teachings of the Bible, which, according to you, can
only be communicated by other males? Or, are you telling me only the Westerners
deserve the proper teachings of the Word and the rest of us should be happy and
honored with the crumbs we might receive under the table?
