In two weeks, I will be joining the rest of our team in Togo. This will be my first time in Togo, but not my first to Africa, and far from my first time to a third world country. One of the many hats that I wear at Sight.org is “Volunteer Coordinator.” Translation: When people want to volunteer, I find a place for them. Some people just want to volunteer with our events and office work in the States. Others just want to go to Africa! When they want to go to Africa, I prepare them before, pray for them during, and debrief them after. This is where it gets fun for me!!!
I grew up oversees as a missionary kid. I have been to approximately 50 countries, yes you read that right. The majority of those countries were third world countries. About 35 of them were before I turned 15 years old. I am the very definition of a Third Culture Kid. Because of this, I am extremely passionate about preparing people for international mission trips.
There are several things that happen to me when I travel oversees:
- If I fail to prepare myself physically, emotionally, and most importantly, spiritually, I will be completely paralyzed by reverse culture shock when I come back home.
- I have so much to tell people, but I don’t know how to explain it well, therefore others don’t really understand what I’ve experienced.
- I am bothered by materialism.
- I want to go back immediately.
- I feel different than I was before I left.
- I get easily frustrated with American life.
The first time I realized that I needed help with reverse culture shock was back in 2000 after coming home from a trip to Uganda. All I did when I came home was sleep. I thought it was jet lag, but it was more than that. One day, I was sleeping and dreamed that I was back in Uganda. I was in such a deep sleep, that I nearly fell off the couch. When I did, it jolted me awake and I had no idea where I was. I was so disoriented for days that I couldn’t function.
I used to think that I was the only one who felt this way. However, after many trips with other people and much research, I now understand that this is a very common response to international travel. In the last several years, I have developed my own coping skills to lessen these symptoms of reverse culture shock. I have also helped many other mission teams prepare so that they can lessen their own symptoms.
“If these are natural symptoms of reverse culture shock, then why try to combat them?” You may be asking…
When reverse culture shock hits hard, people freeze. When you are going on a mission trip, the last thing God wants from you when you come back to your homeland is for you to be unable to function. He wants you to continue the work where you live. He wants to transform you while you serve, and then continue to transform you when you come home. If you are emotionally paralyzed, He can’t do that.
Ok, so here are some things that I teach my teams to do before they leave to combat reverse culture shock:
- Research the culture of the country you are traveling to.
- Pray, pray, pray for the trip and recruit a prayer team for while you are gone. Do a fast as well if you feel led.
- Journal every single day. My favorite journal to use is this because I can also glue pictures and memorabilia while journaling. I can’t tell you how important journaling is, even if you aren’t a writer! It gives you a space to process.
- Read one or more of these books before, during, and after trip:
- Ask God to show you one specific thing to do, change, or put into place when you get home. This is vital! If you don’t know specifically how to move forward when you get home, you won’t go anywhere. This is where you start to feel paralyzed. If you ask, God will always show you something, big or small, to do.
- Keep the Great Commission at the forefront of your mind always, even when you come home.
- Process daily with your team members while on your trip.
- Be prepared to tell your story to at least one group of people. Set up this time before you even go. This group can also become your prayer team.
If you are planning on going on an international mission trip anytime in the near future, I highly encourage you to put these things into practice.
-Beth