The other day, I was talking to a very nice lady at Starbucks who had been sent from the Sunday school, and youth group to make a "Starbucks Run" and bring back all the Frappachinos, lattes, and passion tea drinks. While we were waiting, we got to talking about her Sunday School, and the Youth Group and how they raise money for their endeavors. I indicated that car wash fundraisers work quite well, and that I had written an e-book on the topic, and would be glad to e-mail it to her.
She said; "that would be really wonderful because our church is planning another mission to either Costa Rica, or Honduras, it will be a medical mission, to help the indigenous poor people."
Then she told me a story that her church was in Honduras when there was an overthrow of the government, actually they ousted the president in a military coup. They didn't know what to do, and the group couldn't return home for two weeks, and a State Department official helped them get out of the country. They decided to do their medical mission in Costa Rica working with some the other churches, and another group which left early and couldn't complete their mission either.
It's a good thing they had a back-up plan, but more importantly they had strong adaptability, and they improvised as they went. Having an itinerary and a mission with a list of things to do may not always work out as planned. In fact, most of the people I've talked to that go on medical missions to foreign countries explain some of the hardships they encounter. Roads washed out, civil unrest, criminal gangs, parasites in the water, sickness, and all sorts of other calamities.
Many of these things you might not consider big deals, but when you are in the middle of it, you either adapt or die. Therefore a strong leader leading the medical mission is very apropos. If you are thinking about going on a medical mission, and you don't have a lot of experience traveling to Third World Nations, I suggest that you take leaders who have done it before, have stories to tell, and have turned crisis into opportunity on the fly. Your experiences and observations on these trips will give you memories for a lifetime, and lots of great stories to tell your kids and grandchildren.
Indeed I hope you will please consider this and if you are thinking about going on a medical mission to Africa, or perhaps Central America, why not send me an e-mail and share your concerns, comments, and questions. I'm also very interested in case studies. Think on it.
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 23,900 articles by July 4, 2011 is going to be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..
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