Students for International Mission Service (SIMS)

Outlook, Spring 2000

When knowing interferes with learning
by Juan Carlos Belliard, MPH program director, Students for International Mission Service

In the last decade SIMS has sent hundreds of students, faculty, and professionals from various health disciplines to serve at mission sites around the world.

A large number of students that join these projects are beginning their training in their respective fields, and questions that are often asked are, "Why do you send freshman medical students as volunteers to overseas hospitals?" and "What can a freshman or a sophomore student do overseas?" On the other hand, many of these students are anxious to go to a "needy" place where they can be "useful.î

Having students that are concerned with other's needs is something that we can be proud of at Loma Linda, a trait that we hope to foster through SIMS activities. However, a word of caution before we launch out to save the world.

If we have a genuine concern for the well-being of others, it is time to move beyond a naive "hand-down" mentality to a more critical approach to missions and service. We must evaluate our impact and the side-effects of our work.

This can be done by asking some of the following questions: Do the people whom we serve feel more capable and empowered by our work with them? Or are we fostering a paternalistic relationship with the recipients of our good will? Do those whom we minister to feel like they know God better as a result of our interaction? Or are we so busy "helping" that we do not take the time to establish relationships with our hosts?

Could it be that we get so preoccupied in saving others from illness and pain that we fail to get to know the very people we work with and serve? Instead of wondering how people feel about us and our work we should ask how people feel about themselves after working with us. How does our service positively influence the level of respect that we have toward those in need?

Christ calls us out of a mission of servanthood to a mission of friendship; for we have seen entire continents conquered by people who claimed to be on a mission of service.1 Putting missions in a historical context, we see that the servant runs the risk of becoming master, but the friend submits to a reciprocal relationship, continually learning from one another. Friends should have a strong enough relationship to work on each other's needs while building up one another's strengths.

So, to those wondering what our less experienced students do when they go overseas, the answer is: they serve less, they learn more, and therefore grow more. And hopefully what they learn in those first years before they become experts will equip them with an organic understanding of people, and compassion that makes quality Christian health-care professionals. That should be the trademark of our graduates.

[SIMS Outlook contents]

[SIMS homepage]