1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,400 Speaker 1: What you hear in this podcast does not implicate any 2 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: individual or entity in any criminal activity. The views and 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,119 Speaker 1: opinions are solely those of the individuals participating in the podcast. 4 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: Previously on The Missionary, I'm going to come and do 5 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 1: my own thing so i can be my own boss 6 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: and run my own show. That was very, very very 7 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: much a trend and a lot of my years of blogging. 8 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: I was young and I wanted to share life can 9 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: look so different than what I thought it looked like 10 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: as a girl from a rural town in America. White 11 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: people fetishize black suffering or like get off on black software, 12 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: like seeing those pictures of those like malnourished Ugandan babies. 13 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: People love that ship. You don't get to place yourself 14 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: in an e er. And then claim was an emergency. 15 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: She wasn't a good Samaritan, she was a fraud. Yeah, 16 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: because I didn't read the papers. I just listened to 17 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: what I was told. And if that was an oversight 18 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: by our nurses, then I was an oversight. Not to 19 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: cast any blame. It's not about saving kids. It's about 20 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: you being someone who shade these kids. That's what this 21 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: is about. You don't know anything You're just such a 22 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: new me, you know, so definitely a part of me 23 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: thinks like, oh, come on, Jackie, like bless your heart. 24 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: There's a photo on Instagram that you might have seen, 25 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: might have even liked. It's a Barbie Doll wearing a 26 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: white coat, standing in front of a hospital with a 27 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: little black baby doll in one hand and a pink 28 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: stethoscope in the other. The caption reads, there are no 29 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,639 Speaker 1: trained medical professionals or hospitals in Africa, so I'm drawing 30 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: on my vast amount of knowledge to cure and heal 31 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: those around me. It was posted by Barbie Savior, a 32 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: satirical profile that documents the adventures of a Barbie Doll 33 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,919 Speaker 1: following her calling in Africa, holding little black baby dolls 34 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: in her arms, tattooing a map of Africa on her chest, 35 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: banging on drums in a far flowing village. The account 36 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:03,880 Speaker 1: has a hundred and fifty followers. We didn't do any promotion. 37 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: We just started posting stuff and within the first few 38 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 1: weeks it started going viral and then kept getting picked up, 39 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: and it was very clear that we had struck a nerve. 40 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: That's Emily Warrel, one of the co founders of the account. 41 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: What people assume with Barbie Saviors that we were trying 42 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: to like solve something, and that was the opposite of 43 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: what we were trying to do, Like we were just 44 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: trying to process what we had experienced. The other co 45 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: founder you might actually recognize, Yeah, that's Jackie Kramlick, the 46 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: same nurse that saved Patricia's life. Some of the first 47 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: ones were honestly straight up mocking Renee, because the one 48 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: where Marbie's like getting on an airplane, that's like getting 49 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: backrup with how Renee leaving for you got. Barbie Saviors 50 00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:00,080 Speaker 1: started out almost as therapy for Jackie and Emily, a 51 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: way to event the endless frustrations of life in Ginger. 52 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: This culture of anything goes as long as you are 53 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: trying to make a difference. You are put on a 54 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 1: high pedestal and respected and unquestioned, and when you're in 55 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: your early twenties, that's like a drug. Emily was an 56 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: archetype of the Ginger missionary, a twenty something white woman 57 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: from the States who came to Uganda with good intentions, 58 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: the support of folks back home, and the dream of 59 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: running her own ngo. You get praised for what you're doing. 60 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: You get put on this pedestal, you get all this 61 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: respect and like your your brain hasn't even formed yet. 62 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: But after a few years of running a charity for 63 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 1: children with disabilities, Emily became another archetype, the ex missionary 64 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: who crawled out of the cave and tried to coax 65 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: the rest of her friends to come out too. And 66 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: so that realization that maybe you shouldn't have started an 67 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,839 Speaker 1: NGO was that all of a sudden or a slow realization. 68 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: It was more of a slow realization. Um, But then 69 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: all of a sudden it was kind of like, can 70 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: I cuss on this? We encourage it? I got a funk. 71 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: What have I done? Basically, so, I think pieces were 72 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: chipped off over time, and then there wasn't like one 73 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: incident or one like aha moment. It was just coming 74 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,359 Speaker 1: to terms with the fact that something I had built 75 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: my life around was not something I believed in. Her 76 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 1: transformation came in the mid twenty a time when young 77 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: Christian missionaries were arriving in ginger In Mats You reversibly 78 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,359 Speaker 1: changing the face of this once tight knit community. I 79 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:48,359 Speaker 1: understood why Emily recoiled from it, because the deeper I 80 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,760 Speaker 1: got into the missionary world, the clearer it became that 81 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: Renee wasn't just a fluke. There was a whole industry 82 00:04:55,800 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: of mission trips, evangelical politics, and international aids were rolling 83 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: around Ginger. All those things came together in what seemed 84 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: like a perfect storm to create someone like Renee and 85 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: eventually tear this community apart from within this ship. No, 86 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: it was just something I had never seen before, and 87 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: honestly like something I still failed to put words to. 88 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: It was just such a bizarre random events that led 89 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: to what seemed like a catastrophic breakdown of an entire 90 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: community that was supposed to have each other's backs. It 91 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: was just, honestly like mean girls on steroids. In association 92 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: with I Heeart Media, I'm ROGI GOA, I'm helm CONDI, 93 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: I'm Malcolm Burnley and this is the Missionary Episode five 94 00:05:49,040 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: Barbie Savior. In s a Baptist minister named William Carey 95 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: published a book titled An Inquiry into the Obligations of 96 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,280 Speaker 1: Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. 97 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:18,599 Speaker 1: That obligation was the Great Commission, summed up best in 98 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: the Book of Matthew Chapter verse nineteen. Therefore go and 99 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name 100 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: of the Father, and of the Son and of the 101 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. William Carey is considered the godfather of the 102 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:38,520 Speaker 1: modern missionary movement, and his book was the manual for 103 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: generations of missionaries setting off from Europe to the uncharted 104 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: continents full of so called savages and nonbelievers. It's said 105 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,359 Speaker 1: that in those days, missionaries packed their clothes in a 106 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: coffin and never expected to return home. That's because the 107 00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:00,279 Speaker 1: story of Christianity of Jesus and his followers is one 108 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:04,719 Speaker 1: of martyrdom of believers so faithful that they were willing 109 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: to give their lives in service of the Lord. It 110 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 1: was even written in Philippians Chapter two. Have the same 111 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: mindset as Christ. Jesus he humbled himself by becoming obedient 112 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: to death, even death on a cross. There were a 113 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: few places a missionary could put their faith to the test, 114 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: like Africa. So many died there and en route that 115 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: it became known as the white Man's Graveyard. Someone who 116 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: really feels that they've heard God's voice might talk about 117 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: it as a call. It implies, and I think it 118 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: often is the case that it's not something that I 119 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: went around and studied or planned, or you know, I 120 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: didn't necessarily go to college and learn all the languages. 121 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: I just felt it. That's Dr Melanie McAllister. She's a 122 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: professor at George Washington University and the author of The 123 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: Kingdom of God. Has no borders about the role that 124 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: missionaries play in the modern world. And this is a 125 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: language that says, this is not just about me wanting 126 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: an adventure. This is about me feeling God's action in 127 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: my life. I'm doing this by virtue of a fourth 128 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: grader than me. But Dr McAllister says that the way 129 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: missionaries answer that calling has changed a lot in the 130 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: last fifty years. There was a transformation and how missionary 131 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: work happened really beginning in the sixties. With the increase 132 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: in flights and the lowering of costs of flights, people 133 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 1: were able to go for shorter periods of time and 134 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: get there more quickly. Nowadays, any teenager can hop on 135 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,839 Speaker 1: a plane, travel halfway around the world with their church, 136 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: build a school, take some photos, and come home with 137 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: stories to tell. What used to be a life's work 138 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:51,439 Speaker 1: was now a spring break tour package. It was now 139 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:55,880 Speaker 1: a multibillion dollar industry selling a shortcut to righteousness to 140 00:08:56,040 --> 00:09:00,959 Speaker 1: nearly two million people a year. Kurt Verbeek is a 141 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: professor at Calvin University. He spent the last twenty years 142 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: studying this stuff. How it's sold is often that this 143 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: is risky, and you know, going to put your face 144 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: to a challenge, and you're going to go and share 145 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:25,840 Speaker 1: the gospel, and there's this chance for God to use 146 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: this to do great things. It was the same language 147 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: that was used to recruit long term missionaries, and it 148 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: was now targeted at teenagers. In a sense, these short 149 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:40,719 Speaker 1: trips were a form of role playing. You could live 150 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: the life of a missionary without the long term commitment 151 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: and sacrifice from the pulpit and in the pews. It's 152 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,319 Speaker 1: more of this is going to be this life changing 153 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 1: experience for the people who receive us. But what lots 154 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:58,839 Speaker 1: of times I think the parents and the leaders are 155 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:02,839 Speaker 1: hoping for is a life shaping experience for the people 156 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:08,679 Speaker 1: who go. After a century of colonialism and forceful efforts 157 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:12,160 Speaker 1: to change local cultures, Africa was now a place where 158 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: Christians from the West could reconnect with God to heal 159 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: their own souls. They would see in Christians from these 160 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 1: parts of the world a kind of idealized faith that 161 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:30,200 Speaker 1: they saw as perhaps more authentic, more passionate, more pure 162 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: than their own, and they looked to those parts of 163 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: the Global South as a kind of spiritual resource. If 164 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: all this work was just a way to find yourself, 165 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 1: then it didn't really matter what the work was, or 166 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 1: if it was even useful at all. I talked with 167 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: Dr Verbeek about a story I heard about a mission 168 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 1: in Mexico that really made that point clear to me. 169 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,720 Speaker 1: Every summer, an American church group brought volunteers to Mexico 170 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,000 Speaker 1: to help build a wall for a local orphanage. After 171 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 1: a week, the group would move on and locals would 172 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 1: tear the wall down in preparation for the next crop 173 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,319 Speaker 1: of volunteers. There's sadly a good chunk of stories like that. 174 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:15,200 Speaker 1: In haiti Un, there's some school. It's a sleep in school, 175 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:17,680 Speaker 1: but the only time there's kids in the school is 176 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:20,320 Speaker 1: when the church or mission groups would come down, and 177 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:22,840 Speaker 1: then they would send them all back to their homes 178 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: until the next group came. Jesus does not ask that 179 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: we care for the less fortunate. He demands it. I 180 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,199 Speaker 1: would like to invite you to come with me on 181 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: this journey that is so far from over and see 182 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:53,199 Speaker 1: what God will do next. One woman seemed to embody 183 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:57,320 Speaker 1: the perfect balance of self discovery and serving others. She 184 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: did it so well that she made ginger as snary Mecca. 185 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,040 Speaker 1: I'm Katie Davis. I'm twenty one years old and I 186 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 1: lived here in Uganda. I ran a Maggima ministry. Katie 187 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,680 Speaker 1: Davis's story is one that you might recognize by now. 188 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 1: She was fresh out of high school when she felt 189 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: God calling her to Africa thing and I'd always said 190 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:18,680 Speaker 1: I wanted to be mother to resetch just because I 191 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: guess I just loved her heart her children. So she 192 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:24,040 Speaker 1: left her Tennessee town and said off for Uganda on 193 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 1: a short term trip just a few months. But when 194 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 1: she got there, she couldn't believe the poverty around her 195 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,040 Speaker 1: and felt she needed to do something about it. Lord 196 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: with all your heart, and then you're to love your 197 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: neighbor as yourself. I'm like myself doesn't want to be starving, 198 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:42,079 Speaker 1: and so I don't want other people in the world 199 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:46,040 Speaker 1: to be starving. So she started an NGO to offer scholarships, 200 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:51,280 Speaker 1: schooling and resources for thousands of vulnerable children across the country. 201 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 1: But that's not what made her famous. What made her 202 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: famous were the thirteen Ugandan children she adopted as her 203 00:13:00,679 --> 00:13:03,240 Speaker 1: And the littlest one looks up and she calls me, Mommy. 204 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: My heart breaks in two. I have no idea what 205 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 1: to do, but something clicks. I'm even more scared than 206 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: the day that I stepped on that plane, but I 207 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 1: know that this is right. She wrote a book about it, 208 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 1: called Kisses from Katie, and it made the New York 209 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: Times Best seller list. The recording You've been hearing is 210 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:26,400 Speaker 1: from a Simon and Schuster advertisement for that book. The 211 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: cover shows a young, smiling Katie Davis on a dirt 212 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: road surrounded by laughing children, and inside the book features 213 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: a photograph taken by one of Katie's best friends, Renee Bach. 214 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 1: Being a missionary today was not just a way of 215 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:48,240 Speaker 1: life anymore. It was a lifestyle brand. Blogging about your 216 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:52,199 Speaker 1: daily adventures, posting photos of your picture perfect Christian family, 217 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: sharing heart wrenching videos of children in need. It wasn't 218 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 1: just about selling a cause, it was about selling yourself. 219 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 1: The aspiration used to be martyrdom and conversions. Now it 220 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 1: was a book deal and influencer status. It wasn't just 221 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: Katie's book or Rene's blogs that were filled with photos 222 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,359 Speaker 1: of people like Nabucosa skinny to the bone or Patricia 223 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:21,960 Speaker 1: swollen to the point of bursting and all in need 224 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: of rescuing. There were tons of missionaries out there, carefully 225 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: curating their online personas and posting similar images across every 226 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 1: social media outlet. The missionary brand depended on a charismatic, 227 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:40,960 Speaker 1: selfless white woman surrounded by black children in need. It 228 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 1: required everything to be exaggerated. The missionary had to appear 229 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 1: more selfless, and the Africans had to appear more needy. 230 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 1: Here's Elizabeth Nicholson, one of the older missionaries in Ginger 231 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: in Uganda. If the children are go out and play, 232 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,200 Speaker 1: it's muddy and dusty and dirty, so you put them 233 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: in the crimest clothes they have and they go out 234 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: and play. But somebody coming from the first world just 235 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: sees these dirty children in rags on Sunday. They're all 236 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: cleaned up and in their Sunday gloves. But actually this 237 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,000 Speaker 1: is just a very old tactic on you platforms. Here's 238 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: Dr McAllister again. There was real pushback in the nineteen 239 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 1: fifties and nineteen sixties by African Christians about how Africans 240 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: were being represented and a young Congolese Methodist who then 241 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: comes to the US and sees how missionaries are talking 242 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,600 Speaker 1: about Congo, and you know, he's saying, this is a 243 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 1: We're part of an African continent that is on the rise. 244 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,000 Speaker 1: We have you know, big cities, We're going to be modern, 245 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: we have decolonized, we're talking about freedom, and you all 246 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 1: are still showing pictures, literally showing pictures from thirty years previous, 247 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: in order to present Africa as inherently and uniformly backward 248 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 1: and mired in poverty, in order to praise money for 249 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:04,479 Speaker 1: the missionary work. All of this revolves around a deceptively 250 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: simple question. What is a missionary's job? Is it to 251 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 1: serve the vulnerable and needy? Or is it to convert 252 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: people to Christianity and save their souls. Renee believed that 253 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: it was to serve. She thought that providing medical care 254 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: and healing children was a way to open the door 255 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,080 Speaker 1: for a conversation about God. My job there was to 256 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 1: like show people the character and the nature of Christ 257 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: by just acting out of love and kindness. And being 258 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: so compassionate. And I do think that that was effective, 259 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 1: not in people just walking up to me and being like, 260 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,200 Speaker 1: oh my gosh, like you must love Jusus. I'm like, 261 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:43,280 Speaker 1: I want to love do thus too. But I had 262 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:45,240 Speaker 1: a lot of experiences where people would just be like, 263 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,200 Speaker 1: why are you being so nice to people that aren't 264 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: even related to you. There's something different about you, and 265 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: I like wonder what it is. And I think that's 266 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: a far more rooted place to start a discussion about God. 267 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:01,840 Speaker 1: But her board disagreed. When they responded to accusations of 268 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 1: Renee's malpractice, they quoted a nineteenth century missionary named Oswald 269 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: Chambers in missionary work, the great danger is that God's 270 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:13,080 Speaker 1: call will be replaced by the needs of the people. 271 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:16,960 Speaker 1: We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath 272 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, 273 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: their education, nor their needs, but as first and foremost, 274 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: the command of Jesus Christ. In other words, saving souls 275 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: was the only thing that mattered. Her job was to 276 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:38,399 Speaker 1: win conversions, and there was no cost too high. The 277 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 1: dead kids were just collateral damage. That's a staggering mindset. 278 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 1: So you can understand Ugandans who looked at a hundred 279 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: years of colonial history and at the current state of 280 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: things and saw darker motives in Africa or in a community, 281 00:17:55,280 --> 00:18:00,159 Speaker 1: is a people grotify what people? That's Olivia Alasso, a 282 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,440 Speaker 1: social worker and the Ugandan co founder of No White Saviors. 283 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: If people are not held accountable, if people's bad vices 284 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:11,920 Speaker 1: are not brought up, a people continue to praise them. 285 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 1: This is also one way of creating awareness in our 286 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:21,400 Speaker 1: communities by actually calling up people who are doing what 287 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: we consider inhuman. To Olivia, the missionaries continued a white 288 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:31,879 Speaker 1: supremacist system that placed Ugandans on the bottom, subject to 289 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:33,919 Speaker 1: the whims and fancies of people who would come to 290 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:37,640 Speaker 1: do good, a system she and No White Saviors were 291 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: determined to dismantle. This also works up the community for 292 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:44,320 Speaker 1: them to stand and ask next time to see a 293 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: white person and say, hey, look, you're coming in to 294 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,440 Speaker 1: present yourself as a doctor or as a teacher, can 295 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:54,199 Speaker 1: we see your papers? This gives them the confidence because 296 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: they have seen someone held But if we leave things 297 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: past like that, then this will continue on the African 298 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:07,320 Speaker 1: continent because for us here all the time, when you're 299 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:13,400 Speaker 1: white is right and black is wrong. Olivia was only 300 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:18,640 Speaker 1: one of many Uganians trying to ensure accountability. Margaret Chambaku 301 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,360 Speaker 1: Laba is the head of the Ginger and Geo Forum, 302 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,399 Speaker 1: an independent body set up to coordinate the activities and 303 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: offer oversight. Tell the hundreds of organizations in Ginger and 304 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: they're still happening because you will find when you go 305 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,720 Speaker 1: to Facebook pages there's so many organizations and when you 306 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:35,440 Speaker 1: go to the ground to look for them, you don't 307 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 1: see them. But when you really want to interact and 308 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: say where are you based? Can I come and visit? 309 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:42,639 Speaker 1: Can I come see the people you're really working with 310 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: the community? You don't see them and they will change 311 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: their names in the face. For years, Margaret has been 312 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: on the front lines doing her best to police and 313 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,520 Speaker 1: geos with a few resources. She has She worried that 314 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 1: many of the missionaries were only out to enrich themselves, 315 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:02,200 Speaker 1: but you'll see they're receiving funds that are receiving money. 316 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: The people who want to help, I think as pathetic 317 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:07,639 Speaker 1: when they hear a story that is so touching, they 318 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,679 Speaker 1: will send the money before they realize it's just a fraud. 319 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,360 Speaker 1: We really have so many of those cases. Margaret told 320 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:18,399 Speaker 1: me that there were over nine hundred registered organizations in 321 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:22,520 Speaker 1: Ginger that came out to one NGO for every five 322 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:26,440 Speaker 1: people in the district. Now, to be clear, not all 323 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: NGOs or missionary run and many are actually Uganda owned. 324 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:35,200 Speaker 1: But still the numbers blew me away. I asked Margaret 325 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,600 Speaker 1: where Renee in serving his children fit into that picture. So, 326 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 1: based on the allegations you have heard that she was 327 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,680 Speaker 1: an unlicensed medical facility, that she was providing medical care 328 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:50,680 Speaker 1: without having medical qualifications, do these allegations surprise you given 329 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 1: what you know about how NGOs operate here. Um, of 330 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: course they don't surprise me. I know anybody here can 331 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 1: come and people be live in foreign people very much, 332 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: even you when you're time to see your doctor. No 333 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:09,000 Speaker 1: one would quote the question your qualifications or anything. So 334 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: to me, it's not a surprise. Do you think it 335 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:14,879 Speaker 1: could happen again now? Yes, it could even be happening 336 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 1: somewhere else right now. I wouldn't be surprised to see 337 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: Anson being you know, cold to doing the same thing. 338 00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:25,560 Speaker 1: Every person I spoke to in Ginger had a horror 339 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: story to tell. Some orphanage was abusing kids, or an 340 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 1: NGO was embezzling its donors, and well, you didn't hear 341 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,200 Speaker 1: this from me, But did you hear about that American 342 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,679 Speaker 1: couple's sketchy adoption renee box story is actually quite a 343 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: bit more common than you might think, maybe not the 344 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,919 Speaker 1: hundred and five dead children, but other parts of it. 345 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,840 Speaker 1: In the year I spent in Uganda, I saw a 346 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:54,720 Speaker 1: surprising number of missionary scandals in the headlines, like the 347 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: American evangelical who was deported after giving Ugandans a miracle 348 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: drug to cure cancer. US passed up from New Jersey 349 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:07,640 Speaker 1: had been giving MMS miracle mineral solution, which is basically 350 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 1: like a bleaching agent to over fifty thousand Ugandans. Or 351 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,359 Speaker 1: the old white guy who was caught on video punching 352 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: a hotel concierge while shouting Uganda hates Jesus, got Jesus, 353 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:34,040 Speaker 1: oh yeah feeling and though he wasn't a missionary. A 354 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: German national who ran a children's home was arrested on 355 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:41,480 Speaker 1: charges of defilement and child trafficking. We first said the 356 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: complaint AGAINIST team said that team or Navigations of Sexual 357 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:53,960 Speaker 1: Actors againist because she was taking care of it was 358 00:22:54,080 --> 00:23:12,679 Speaker 1: clear that Ginger needed a radical transformation. To be honest, like, 359 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,200 Speaker 1: I mean, there is a personal aspect of this case 360 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: for me, and I can't pretend there's not. But the 361 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:24,479 Speaker 1: personal aspect is not how we'd It's also just knowing 362 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: that she's not the only one like this is not 363 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: Renee is not the only person doing this, not in Uganda, 364 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: not globally, and there needs to be a new standard set. 365 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:41,000 Speaker 1: When Kelsey Nielsen graduated college, she received a copy of 366 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: Kisses from Katie and soon became one of the hundreds 367 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:48,480 Speaker 1: of young women who followed her footsteps to Ginger. She 368 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,120 Speaker 1: signed up to volunteer by chance at the same orphanage 369 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:56,359 Speaker 1: that Renee volunteered at. After a few months there, Kelsey 370 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,680 Speaker 1: founded an NGO called Abide Family Center to support vulnerable 371 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,520 Speaker 1: families and offer them an alternative to putting their kids 372 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: up for adoption. It was thrilling to be a twenty 373 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,520 Speaker 1: something CEO in a foreign country rubbing elbows with your 374 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,639 Speaker 1: celebrity role models. And I just remember being like so 375 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:18,720 Speaker 1: amazed at Katie and Renee and thinking like they're the 376 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,679 Speaker 1: pinnacle of like what I should be striving for of, 377 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:26,600 Speaker 1: Like they're so self sacrificial. They they just say yes 378 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:31,639 Speaker 1: to everything. To Kelsey, they were the real missionaries, giving 379 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: everything they had to the poor people of Ginger. They 380 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,480 Speaker 1: were making real sacrifices and changing lives. So when Renee 381 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,879 Speaker 1: asked for a favor, Kelsey jumped at the chance. I 382 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 1: sat there and washed. What was I watching? I don't 383 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:47,679 Speaker 1: know what I'm doing? Why am I Why am I 384 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,760 Speaker 1: going to the hospital watch a child? But I did 385 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:52,400 Speaker 1: it because I was like I wanted to be friends 386 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: with them like they were they were the cool girls, 387 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: and so being was like that's I wanted to be 388 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: your friends of them. But the more unmeshed Kelsey got 389 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,960 Speaker 1: in the Ginger world, the more she saw another side 390 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,679 Speaker 1: to their image. They set the tone to us what 391 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: would normalize? Like they basically set the tone of like 392 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: this is what is acceptable. So if you, like, if 393 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:18,600 Speaker 1: you had a kid die or you had um, you 394 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,200 Speaker 1: have just had like an overwhelming amount of like dizziness. 395 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,680 Speaker 1: It was like, Oh, you're doing it right, Like this 396 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,040 Speaker 1: is like this is where God you see God work. 397 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,359 Speaker 1: God works when like things are chaotic, probably when you 398 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: create the chaos. It was easy to see why Ginger 399 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: was an exhausting place to be martyrdom was once the 400 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: highest calling of Christian missionaries, and in a lot of 401 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 1: ways that culture still lingered. It was a place that 402 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,639 Speaker 1: demanded everything of a person. There were no lines between 403 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:50,480 Speaker 1: a personal and professional life, and it was almost taboo 404 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: to even think of taking time for yourself. Here's renee. 405 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,080 Speaker 1: For a while, especially when I first got to Ganda, 406 00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: it was kind of this like who could like one 407 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:01,560 Speaker 1: up each other, who was like the most tired and 408 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: life worked the hardest, you know, like like I haven't 409 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: had a day off and in like a month, or 410 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:09,240 Speaker 1: like oh well I haven't had you know, like I 411 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 1: haven't been on vacation in five years. You know, and 412 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 1: people don't I think need it, like subconsciously it's a 413 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 1: way to like tell that you're working hard. I mean 414 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:20,480 Speaker 1: I did it. I used to heavily judge people who 415 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: didn't work on the weekend. I was like, who do 416 00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:23,720 Speaker 1: you think you are? You know, working on the weekends? 417 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,199 Speaker 1: Like why are you been here? You know when you've 418 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:28,359 Speaker 1: got a town full of people who are trying to 419 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: save lives and who were just as ambitious and stressed out, Well, 420 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,800 Speaker 1: you've got a pressure cooker on your hands. It was 421 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:38,639 Speaker 1: a hard place to live in the sense that, like 422 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:43,119 Speaker 1: even Kelsey, one of her closest friends was Emily, whirl 423 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: was one of the Barbie Savior girls. Well, I used 424 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:49,440 Speaker 1: to hear Emily and Kelsey talk about each other terribly 425 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,119 Speaker 1: behind each other's backs in public settings, you know, and 426 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,439 Speaker 1: be like, I can't believe Emily is doing this with 427 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:57,440 Speaker 1: her kids, or I can't Kelsey is crazy, you know, 428 00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: which is another reason why I really didn't want to 429 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:01,719 Speaker 1: get it involved in the community and have a lot 430 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,639 Speaker 1: of friends, because I thought like, let's just mean, like 431 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 1: I don't want to be a part of that, and 432 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,399 Speaker 1: it's so easy to get sucked into. Even in my 433 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:13,639 Speaker 1: time in Ginger, I'd experienced similar things at coffee shops 434 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 1: and restaurants. Everyone was friendly and happy to chat, but 435 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,760 Speaker 1: then I'd hear them batting rumors around about each other, 436 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,720 Speaker 1: everything from extra marital affairs and drug addictions to child 437 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,080 Speaker 1: abuse and trafficking. When I saw that side of Ginger, 438 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:29,679 Speaker 1: I didn't feel so special that the box were spreading 439 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:31,960 Speaker 1: rumors about me. We're trying to get in our heads 440 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 1: with things like the Patricia video. Ginger had always been 441 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:40,119 Speaker 1: like this, here's Emily Warrel from Barbie Savior again. I 442 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:44,720 Speaker 1: think seeing how the community reacted left a really bad 443 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,359 Speaker 1: taste in my mouth, and I just was constantly asking 444 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:50,160 Speaker 1: myself every day, if this is how Christians are supposed 445 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,600 Speaker 1: to act and treat one another. This is not attractive 446 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,639 Speaker 1: at all, This is embarrassing, This is frankly disgusting. Why 447 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:02,520 Speaker 1: would I wouldn't be a part of this. When you 448 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 1: think about missionaries as martyrs, you think of them being 449 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: persecuted by nonbelievers, by kings in foreign lands, or by 450 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:14,200 Speaker 1: disease and disaster in jungles and deserts. Even these days, 451 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,320 Speaker 1: there's a mindset of persecution that still exists among them. 452 00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:20,119 Speaker 1: You see it all the time when white Christians in 453 00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 1: America say that they're under attack despite everything seemingly going 454 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:28,080 Speaker 1: their way. But when persecution against missionaries came to Ginger, 455 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:34,200 Speaker 1: it came from an unexpected place. It came from another missionary. 456 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:38,040 Speaker 1: Katie and I were never really friends. Myself and any 457 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:41,520 Speaker 1: of the less attractive white girls in Ginger weren't pretty 458 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:44,720 Speaker 1: or cool enough for you. I never worshiped you enough 459 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 1: to be in your inner circle, and I'm cool with that. 460 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: Your whole Christian celebrity persona is a total joke. Also, 461 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: all that defending Renee Bach, a literal murderer of children. 462 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: That is when I lost all respect for you. These 463 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:02,720 Speaker 1: are Kelsey Nielsen's word taken from a Facebook post, edited 464 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:07,040 Speaker 1: for clarity and read by a voice actor. Earlier that year, 465 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: Kelsey was sexually assaulted by a colleague in Uganda. It 466 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: led to the deterioration of her mental health, and, as 467 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,240 Speaker 1: she tells it, her NGO forcing her out of the organization. 468 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: After that, Kelsey saw Ginger in a completely different light. 469 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: She was fed up with the sketchy adoptions, the medical malpractice, 470 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: and all the other contradictions she saw. She knew she 471 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,680 Speaker 1: would be mocked and dismissed if she spoke out. She'd 472 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:36,400 Speaker 1: become a pariah in the missionary community, but she had 473 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:41,520 Speaker 1: nothing to lose anymore. Just like Jesus said, no profit 474 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:44,560 Speaker 1: is accepted in his hometown. I'm not doing this for 475 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: the likes or for attention. I'm doing it because it 476 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: needs to be said. And although many will say it 477 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:53,600 Speaker 1: where it is safe, I'm not interested in staying safe 478 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: about things that matter anymore. She put other NGOs on 479 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: blast two, demanding to see financial records asking how much 480 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 1: you Gandon staff were being paid and how much the 481 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 1: directors were spending on travel, house help, and rental properties. 482 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:13,000 Speaker 1: I'm only getting started. I'm threatening nothing other than exposing 483 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:17,560 Speaker 1: all the lies, exploitation, and corruption within the missionary community 484 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,320 Speaker 1: in Ginger. If I see the White Saviors of Ginger 485 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:24,520 Speaker 1: coming clean and admitting their harmful and ethical and criminal acts, 486 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 1: I'll work towards reconciliation, or i will at the very 487 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:32,840 Speaker 1: least stop posting about this. Kelsey admits that many of 488 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 1: these posts were written during a very dark moment in 489 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: her life, when her mental health was at a low point. 490 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:42,600 Speaker 1: Others in the community were quick to seize on Kelsey's 491 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 1: history of mental illness and dismiss her one diness with bipolar, 492 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 1: bipolar and PTSD, And so you have, Okay, we're not 493 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: going to trust anything this woman says, she's just crazy. 494 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:55,440 Speaker 1: So you have a lot of like stingle around mental health. 495 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: And I've even experienced that since working with the White Saviors, 496 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 1: since we've created this platform, had people just say like, 497 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:03,360 Speaker 1: Kelsey is not stable, you shouldn't be having her on 498 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:05,240 Speaker 1: your team. And it's hard. I mean, that's probably my 499 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:07,040 Speaker 1: one area and that's really hard because I think I 500 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:09,400 Speaker 1: still face a lot of self stigma and a lot 501 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,719 Speaker 1: of like inscree of like trusting my own mind and 502 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:15,959 Speaker 1: trusting so like trusting like what is passionate and driven 503 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,600 Speaker 1: and like ideas and what is my mania? But she 504 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:23,240 Speaker 1: didn't stop posting about it. Instead, she figured out how 505 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,800 Speaker 1: to turn her newfound perspective into a brand of its own. 506 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: So she linked up with Olivia, the Ugandan social worker 507 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,400 Speaker 1: that used to work in her NGO, and the two 508 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 1: of them created No White Saviors. What Barbie Savior had 509 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: failed to do, No White Saviors would. My biggest criticism 510 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 1: of Barbie Savior was that they were just criticizing this 511 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:47,440 Speaker 1: in a satirical way and nothing was actually being done. 512 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:50,000 Speaker 1: You could be like actually calling out this stuff directly 513 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:52,720 Speaker 1: and doing something about it with your platform. It's all 514 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: good and fun to make a joke about it, but 515 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: that ship is literally fasting people lives, and it's not 516 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: funny in a community full of contradictions and abuse and 517 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,240 Speaker 1: people who didn't take kindly to advice from outsiders, No 518 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: White Saviors was just as inevitable as Renee. The direction 519 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,280 Speaker 1: they took was distinctly more confrontational They went after the 520 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 1: international adoption industry, which they accused of tricking parents into 521 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,840 Speaker 1: selling their kids abroad, and they nearly canceled the British 522 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,320 Speaker 1: TV presenter named Stacy Dooley when she posted a selfie 523 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: with a child in a village without consent. They called 524 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: for boycotts of travel bloggers who posted, in their words, 525 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: poverty porn, and they organized a campaign for the survivors 526 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:37,920 Speaker 1: of a trafficking ring allegedly run by a German national 527 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: who ran a children's home in Uganda. A white spur mussels. 528 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,840 Speaker 1: It is something that has really had to break. We 529 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 1: are trying. We don't know when it will die out. 530 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:55,200 Speaker 1: Without work, we're just laying a foundation. Maybe at one 531 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:59,120 Speaker 1: point it will be a chief. A lot of people 532 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 1: in town didn't agree with No White Saviors tactics. Their 533 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:07,400 Speaker 1: brand of politics felt more like blackmail and extortion than advocacy. Still, 534 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:10,800 Speaker 1: it forced NGOs and Gina and elsewhere to reconsider the 535 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: way that they behaved online and on the ground. I 536 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,480 Speaker 1: heard from several NGEO directors in Uganda that they now 537 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:25,920 Speaker 1: asked themselves, what would No White Saviors say before Ginja. 538 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:28,120 Speaker 1: My entire understanding of what it meant to be a 539 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:31,480 Speaker 1: missionary came from Sister Gracie, the nun I met in 540 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 1: South Sudan when I was still in college. She was 541 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,840 Speaker 1: a lifelong missionary, dedicated to the people she lived among, 542 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:43,000 Speaker 1: dedicated to serving their needs and uplifting them. She learned 543 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: the local language and broke bread with them every night. 544 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: She called South Sudan home. When I asked her if 545 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: she'd ever go back to India, she told me she 546 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:57,160 Speaker 1: wanted to be buried in South Sudan. The most humbling 547 00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: part was that she expected no credit for it, didn't 548 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:04,640 Speaker 1: even expect results. Sometimes she didn't even know whether anything 549 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:08,400 Speaker 1: she did mattered. But she wore the same torn and 550 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 1: frayed habit every single day and went to work because 551 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:15,360 Speaker 1: she knew she had to keep trying. Ginger seemed like 552 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:19,200 Speaker 1: the exact opposite. Every stone I turned over was another 553 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,719 Speaker 1: scandal waiting to explode. Every missionary I spoke to was 554 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,320 Speaker 1: more than happy to dish on their neighbors. People seemed 555 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,239 Speaker 1: more worried about keeping up an image of righteousness than 556 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:33,920 Speaker 1: actually being righteous. And the reason was simple, Doing the 557 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,440 Speaker 1: right thing wasn't easy. If it was, then we'd be 558 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:41,160 Speaker 1: living in a much different world, but painting that picture 559 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 1: a picture of doing the right thing that was much easier. 560 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,880 Speaker 1: They were role playing a life like Sister Grace's, and 561 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,319 Speaker 1: it felt like a punch to the gut. I had 562 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:54,800 Speaker 1: seen the toll it had taken on her, the decades 563 00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:58,799 Speaker 1: of trauma, the gnawing self doubt rushing into Battlefield's time 564 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:01,879 Speaker 1: and time again. I read the Ginger blogs. I saw 565 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,799 Speaker 1: the heroic images they painted. I saw the NGO fundraising campaigns, 566 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,840 Speaker 1: teary eyed and full of needy children. But then I 567 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,760 Speaker 1: would read the Uganian headlines and I saw the stomach 568 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: churning scandals that came to the surface. And then I 569 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: sat in restaurants with them, eating ramen and drinking coconut latte's, 570 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:28,120 Speaker 1: all paid for with earnest donations. That's what I've been 571 00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:32,080 Speaker 1: trying to get across this whole episode. Renee isn't an anomaly, 572 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 1: she isn't some ah historical monster. She's an embodiment of 573 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:40,760 Speaker 1: all the swirling forces around Ginger and missionary culture at large. 574 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:45,240 Speaker 1: Young people who tried to solve the world's problems without 575 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:48,880 Speaker 1: qualifications are oversight folks back home who put them on 576 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,960 Speaker 1: a pedestal for taking action no matter what the outcome, 577 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,680 Speaker 1: and the idea that serving God was the highest calling, 578 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,640 Speaker 1: even if it came at the expense of the people 579 00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:04,720 Speaker 1: you'd come to save. Even Jackie Kramlick, whose accused Renee 580 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,360 Speaker 1: of terrible things, I saw her that way. The analogy 581 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,680 Speaker 1: I use is kind of like a rabid dog and 582 00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:14,960 Speaker 1: a puppy mill that they're like, Oh, that dog was bad, 583 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:16,880 Speaker 1: good to see you took him out, But let's not 584 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:19,760 Speaker 1: talk about the evils of the puppy mill. That's the problem, 585 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 1: and that's why when people are like, oh, she's just 586 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,400 Speaker 1: so evil, blah blah blah, It's like there's a really 587 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 1: a really big, deep story here of how this comes 588 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,200 Speaker 1: to be and how someone could get into this position 589 00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:36,400 Speaker 1: that everyone needs to be very mindful of. But to 590 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:40,439 Speaker 1: claim that she's just like completely evil independent of all 591 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:46,000 Speaker 1: these underlying structures is really missing the point. But Gina's 592 00:36:46,040 --> 00:37:03,960 Speaker 1: reckoning was just about to arrive. Yeah. The Missionaries produced 593 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 1: an association with iHeartMedia. It's written and reported by Roger Gola, 594 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,880 Speaker 1: Helene mcgegandhi, and Malcolm Burnley. It's produced by Michelle Lands 595 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:15,319 Speaker 1: and Ryan Murdoch. Mark Lotto is our story editor, Our 596 00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:19,440 Speaker 1: executive producer is Mangis Thicketter. Our fact checker is Austin Thompson.