Mission trips
Come and work. Then go play.
A week with us is both. You will fix the building and spend real time with the kids: soccer, movie night, and field trips.
Chiapas, 2023
What a week actually looked like
This is our own first trip, to a partner home in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Scott's daughter Rylie came with us, shortly after finishing her third round of chemotherapy, and she worked the whole week. It is the honest measure of what we are inviting you into, so here is all of it.
We worked
Hard, and on what the director asked for
- Scraped and repainted the dormitories
- Replaced the artificial turf in the play area
- Built and planted garden beds
- Fixed doors that had stopped closing
- Hung a television for Sunday movie nights
- Made improvements to the bakery the home runs for income
And we were with them
Which is half of why it mattered
- Hugged nearly every child there
- Played soccer with the boys until we were beaten
- Painted a long line of small fingernails
- Took them to the movies
- Took them to the zoo
- Took them rafting
Anyone who tells you a service trip is only about the building has either not been on one or is trying to sound serious. The wall matters. The afternoon at the zoo matters too, and for some of those kids it was the better part of the week.
The one line
Be wonderful for a week. Just don't become somebody's one person.
Why this is the boundary
The injury many of these young people carry is that an adult arrived, became theirs, and then stopped arriving.
That is a very specific wound, and it is not caused by warmth, by soccer, or by a hundred hugs in a courtyard. It is caused by singling out one child, becoming their special person, and then leaving on a Saturday.
So the line is not don't interact. It is: arrive as part of a group, be generous with all of them, and don't make a promise to one child that your plane ticket has already broken. Everything on the list below follows from that single idea.
The long-term relationships are the job of paid, trained, supervised mentors who commit to three years. You are not competing with them. You are giving the kids a very good week.
- Play. Soccer, cards, nail polish, whatever they're into
- Eat with them
- Come on the field trip
- Let them hold the ladder and help with the work
- Learn names. Use them
- Motivate and encourage the kids to be wonderful in every way and set their goals high
- Be affectionate the way the home's own staff are — in the open, in a group
- Be alone with a child, or behind a closed door
- Single out one child as “yours”
- Post a child’s photo online, or share it with a name or place
- Bring your own gifts for some of the kids. If you give a gift to one, you have to give a gift to all. Fairness is a very strict guideline, and the kids understand it very well
- Give money, phone numbers or social media to a child
- Promise a child you will come back
- Take a child off-site without the home's authorization
The gift list. For each trip, we put together a list of ten items for the whole group, and each volunteer signs up to bring one. Examples: a new soccer ball for play equipment, nail polish for all the girls, candy for the piñata at the final-night party, and school supplies. We will send you the list.
Before you come
A week of paperwork, and then you're in
None of this is distrust, and none of it is about you. The young people at our partner homes are in protective care, and some of them are there because an adult somewhere was never checked. We would rather be the organization that does the boring part properly.
- A short applicationWho you are, why you want to come, and what you can actually do with your hands. Half a page is plenty.
- Two referencesContacted, not just collected. At least one who has seen you around young people.
- Background checkA criminal record check in your country of residence, at your cost. Everyone does it, including family, including us.
- Waiver and code of conductA signed liability waiver and a one-page code of conduct covering child protection and privacy. Plain language, no small print.
- A briefing before you flyAbout an hour. What the home is like, what the week looks like, and how to be great with the kids without crossing the line above.
Most people clear all five inside a week or two. If something in your history worries you, tell us early rather than late — it is very often fine, and we would rather have the conversation than find out at the airport.
Privacy
Take your photos. Keep them off the internet.
You will treasure your memories with these kids, so take pictures with them. Some of these young people are in care for reasons that make being findable genuinely dangerous, and a photo online travels further than anyone intends.
So: your photos are for you. Never post them, and never share them with a child’s name or location. Ask before you take a picture, and respect any child who says no. The home’s director will tell the group about any child who should not be photographed at all.
Want something to share? Photograph the wall you fixed, the garden you built and each other. Every trip also gets a set of images you can post, and the home keeps its own record of the week for the kids.
Upcoming
Trips we're planning
Register interest and we will contact you as each later trip is confirmed.
Trades week: for people who can teach a vocational trade
We are specifically looking for people who can teach a trade to young people preparing for life after the home. The group is limited to 20 volunteers. Cost and application details are coming. Register below and we will write to you.
Nothing yet
We will not run trips anywhere we do not already have a working partnership and a year of relationship behind us. Colombia does not meet that test today.
Register interest
Tell us you'd like to come
This is not the application, and it commits you to nothing. We will write to you with the application and payment details for each trip.
Thank you — we'll send you the application and payment details.
Questions first? Write to us — one of the two of us answers.