Often when things aren’t going well for new interns or kids on summer mission trips, they call home in tears. Unable to really articulate what is going on, most parents just think its homesickness or something trivial and encourage their child to stay. Parents assume that their children are with trustworthy people who will take care of them, but they often have no idea what is really going on.
When you go to a Christian campus and your experience is totally different than what you expected, it can be hard to articulate. Add to the fact that these are kids. They don’t always know how to tell you that they aren’t being kept safe. That they are verbally harassed. That they are not cared for when they need medical attention.
In this story, a parent shares how her teenage daughter called her every few days from her mission trip upset and in tears. Only now, years later, has the mother discovered what was actually going on during that trip.
Read it here. (2021 update: blog has since gone defunct. Link goes to Wayback Machine and it. is. slow. to load!)
Parents, I beg you, please listen to your children.
2 comments:
I know exactly this feeling. I called home in the days before my mission trip (and hours before) in tears because my “leaders” kept telling me they didn’t have my money or my name on a list or any of my paper work. Even though I had been there for days training when it came to load the bus they told me I couldn’t get on. I remember calling home and my dad telling me to trust them. I wish I could have explained everything that was going on in my young mind. It was the beginning of two weeks of neglect and guilt. Terrible.
I remember calling my parents on multiple occasions telling them what was going on and they never believed me. When I came back home they treated me like I didn’t matter because I had “Left a perfectly good environment.” It wasn’t until a month ago that my mom (with the help of three glasses of wine sadly) told me that she had read the site and had seen my story. She said she felt horrid about not believing me and she wished she could undo what happened.