Last week, I was in Baja, building houses with people from my church.
It's the second year in a row that I've done it. Our church sends a team every year. To be honest, I have mixed feelings.
As an economist, these kinds of activities have always struck me as a form of "voluntourism". Is the trip really there to serve the people of Baja, or is it designed to meet the demand for virtuous feeling for the people who are going? If our primary goal is to increase the amount of housing in Baja, wouldn't it be more efficient to hire local professionals rather than send a group of amateurs from another country?
That being said, there are a couple of things that the trip accomplishes that I don't think we'd get if we just sent money to hire local pros:
- It builds character in the people who go. This, clearly, is a bit of a self-serving benefit, but it's not a bad thing. A good number of teenagers were there, and I'm sure it's going to be a pivotal experience in their lives.
- It builds relationships between our church and the people in the community. Because we go every year, we have long lasting relationships with people in the community. It's cool to see the same people again and again each year, and it helps in terms of spreading the gospel to that area.
- The people there are genuinely appreciative. There is something more special about receiving a house built by the physical efforts of a bunch of friends, vs. receiving a house built by pros that your friends just helped pay for.
Of course, the economist in me couldn't help but notice that we're not the only group down there building houses. It seems to be a bit of a cottage industry, and I have no doubt that some of the local businesses are sustained by the continued demand for voluntourism.
Overall, though, I think it's a net good(?) I certainly wouldn't push to end our annual trips and our relationships with the community that we've already built. The long-lasting relationships really makes the difference for me. I think if we didn't have that, i'd advocate for just sending money instead.
Just some random thoughts from an economist going on a short-term missions trip to build houses.
Oh, and I didn't see any businesses taking bitcoin. Sad! I did jokingly say "bitcoin fixes this" when people were complaining about how some local businesses use unfavorable exchange rates when you want to pay in dollars.
Oh, and here are some images of the house we built (it's actually a classroom, but I said "house" because we had a couple of different teams and some built houses while my team built a classroom)
The classroom is beautiful!
Thanks! Our build team consisted of a number of dads and their daughters. The daughters were excited to work on the mural. My own daughter painted one of those flowers :)
Beautiful, so beautiful! At least you guys were able to build good houses and class room, adding to the values of that community. That will really increase the value of the relationship between your church and the community
I have had a lot of experience with similar overseas community service projects. Was even the leader of several of them. My take on this hot-button issue: sure we youths might be woefully inadequate for construction work and the like BUT the villagers put in more effort into these projects because they were motivated to help us foreigners. So I made peace with my rudimentary skills because I am sure my presence was delightful haha
You could definitely tell that they were happy we were here and doing this.
Interesting perspective. Do you think partnering with and funding local builders while having volunteers focus more on training, education, or community support could create an even better long-term impact? Curious to hear your thoughts.
I've thought about that approach. I think if you do that, it becomes more of a long-term missions arrangement where you have a smaller team maintaining a longer-term presences down there. It could probably make an even bigger impact, but it wouldn't be as accessible to the folks back home. (It's easier for a teenager to go build houses for a week than for them to learn enough Spanish to provide training and education)
That’s really cool.
What part of Baja did you go?
North or South?
I’ve heard it’s two different states
the northern part
Relatable thoughts. Apparently it’s called psychological egoism.
I think another argument for doing it yourself instead of paying people is possible corruption, incompetence, carelessness, etc.
Also, I would think you’re gaining a lot of experience in house building.
The classroom is looking good! How long did it take to build?
It took a team of 15 people 4 days to build!
Yes, I certainly am way more comfortable with power tools and simple construction principles than before I went on these trips.
Interesting! What took the longest time? Anything that surprised you?
Painting takes overall the longest time, but it's a more straightforward task.
Tarping the roof is both time consuming and difficult.
The most technically challenging task seems to be putting the door on, because you have to be so precise with your measurements and placement of things. We actually had help from a local pro for putting the door on.
And now you’ve done the dream of the backseat guy in Fight Club
A few thoughts for your thoughts.
Those are good thoughts. Something still bothers me about a local economy that's partly sustained by voluntourism though. I'll probably never shake that feeling; but overall I think the relationships you build make it positive to both sides. And I can see myself falling in love with the place, the weather is as close to paradise as I've been.
Ideally, the relationship between your communities could become less asymmetric over time, perhaps becoming more of a cultural exchange or collaborative in some other way.
Watched Machine Gun Preacher last night.
Next time go to Cuba, Gaza or Lebanon?
The Israeli Zionists are committing genocide and destroying entire towns and villages...with support from the USA.
this is cool, how does the process work? how are people organized? i assume some people have no house building experience
Most of the team has little to no experience, but the team leader does have multiple years of experience.
The buildings are also fairly simple in terms of design, so even someone without experience can learn the build principles fairly easily.
Gyd
Having a solid team leader makes all the difference with amateur crews. Simple designs are definitely the way to go to keep things moving fast and avoid major mistakes.