Church travelers prepared
No matter how much planning goes into a church's mission trip, travelers must expect the unexpected.
That is why safety is the No. 1 priority for church groups, whether they are traveling domestically or internationally.
"We try to plan so nothing ever goes wrong," said Kevin Mattison, youth director at First United Methodist Church on East North Street.
"But if it does, we have all the right answers to problems."
Mattison prepared the youth group for a weeklong trip to Northern Ireland's capital city of Belfast, which departed Tuesday.
Pretrip communication provides the basis for a successful trip, said Mattison, who has traveled to Belfast twice before.
Teens and parents often have different perceptions of the possible dangers, Mattison said.
Belfast has long been a scene of conflict between Roman Catholic and Protestant groups, with paramilitary factions involved in street violence, bombings and assassinations.
"I think kids hear things differently than the parents," Mattison said. "When I say that Belfast has paramilitary groups, the parents think, 'My kids could get kidnapped!' The kids hear, 'Wow, I've never heard of that before.'"
In addition to clear communication between trip leaders, parents and teens, Mattison said showing photographs of the destination can help bridge the gap in perception.
Another way to avoid potential problems is to gather all necessary documentation well ahead of time, said Jeff Gwilt, youth pastor at the First Baptist Church of Butler, which helps leaders respond quickly to emergencies.
"In general, minors have to have parental approval for everything," said Gwilt, whose youth group returned June 20 from a weeklong trip to Galveston, Texas. "We had them get a notarized permission form signed by their parents with insurance information on there."
Becky Kennedy, volunteer at the Christian Community Church of Mars, made sure travelers were insured through the church's policy and their own policies.
"The leaders also had copies of everything like insurance information, passports and emergency numbers," said Kennedy, who led trips to Northern Ireland in 2000, China in 2004 and Ecuador in 2008.
The state health department can help determine if any vaccinations are required, Kennedy said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, travelers should get vaccinations four to six weeks before the traveling, since most vaccines require time to take effect and some might require a series of boosters.Agencies that specialize in mission trip planning can help travelers navigate health requirements as well as arrange transportation, accommodations and activities. These trips are usually all-inclusive but can cost more than independently planned trips."Make sure the organization has been around for awhile, and make sure that it has a good history," said Tina Miller, a youth group volunteer from Hill United Presbyterian Church on 2nd Street.Miller, whose group returned from a trip to Slidell, La., on July 3, worked with Project Noah to organize their trip.Agency staff members can draw on their experience to help leaders evaluate the area's safeness, Miller said."I was kind of worried about the areas we worked in. They are lower-income poverty-stricken areas," she said. "You worry about the safety of the neighborhoods and having to go into bad areas."Miller said the adults assess the area upon arrival and consider their own impressions of the town, the staff members' opinions and the teens' maturity levels."We meet and talk with the staff of the organization we're with," Miller said. "We have to find out, is it safe to allow a group of six teenagers to walk around alone in the town?"If the area is deemed safe enough, she said, the teens must stay in groups of three or four and always get permission before splitting from the main group.Considering the risks and planning a mission trip is daunting but worth the effort in the end, Mattison said."It's significant when kids are taken to a place where life isn't as clean and nice as they think it is everywhere," Mattison said."They think, 'I'm blessed, but there's also a bigger world that I need to care for.'"
