I stumbled across an interesting debate today, on Rachel Held Evans’ Sunday Superlatives regarding the effectiveness and ethical interests of NGOs and ministries sending writers or successful bloggers to developing countries to report back and tell the stories of the organizations and the people they serve.
This practice already has a label: poverty tourism and a bevy of opinions in a hovering stormcloud.
Is it asking for trouble, exploitative or downright wrong for writers to experience a foreign culture, observe a work of assistance, training or sharing of the gospel to “the least of these” and to report from the field, telling the stories and providing a catalyst for a population to respond?
Alyssa Santos
