Research Proposal

In Project 1, I wrote about my beloved mission team. We have gone on mission trips for several years together, over many summers. However, our mission trips have never exceeded more than two weeks. The community I would like to research is long term mission teams. It has always been an interesting concept to me, and potentially a goal in life to go on a long term mission in a few years. I will specifically be researching long term mission work in Haiti, as I have come across many inspiring people that have spent four months in the country. An organization by the name of Mission of Hope is a prominent team for Haitian mission trips, and I will be using their website for information. Some interns currently in Haiti for the summer also post blogs regularly. This will be beneficial in order to learn about personal experiences some people have had while on a long term mission trip. My goal is to convey the importance of building relationships with the people in the countries being visited, as well as share the concept of white savior complex and why it is such a common and frustrating epidemic. I will be interviewing a friend of mine, Jake Uttich, who is currently in training to go on a nine month mission trip in various countries. He is a perfect example of someone getting their foot in the door; learning about important situations he may come across, and how this long term mission may differ from the week long mission trips he is used to. I may also interview Marla Duvall, an intern I met in Haiti last year and got to spend time with once again this summer. She is currently in Haiti on her second internship, so she has first hand experiences of being in a third world country for months at a time.