Do Short Term Missions Trips Do More Harm Than Good?

Just wanted to share a few thoughts I've been struggling with lately and would love to know your opinions on the topic...

"Do short term missions trips do more harm than good?"

Speaking in particular to short term missions trips to orphanages. Many churches encourage short term missions trips and sell them on how they can be "life changing". And they are right - they can be. I've been to Uganda three times now, with the second one being a short term missions trip, and all three were "life changing" in a positive way for me, personally.

However, there is another group of people who would say that short term missions trips do more harm than good. When we first started looking into adopting from Uganda, I joined a few Uganda Adoption boards on facebook. For the most part, I found them very helpful and like any group, you just have to overlook the "drama" that can be brought up and try to glean a bit of wisdom from those who have traveled the path before.

There are many on these boards that speak about seeing first hand how short term missions trips hurt the children in a huge way. They say that it can actually make the children racist against their own color and it teaches them to see themselves as "inferior". They learn to view whites as "good, superior, wealthy people" who are there to give them gifts, love on them, and leave them as soon as they get attached. This then prevents them from understanding healthy attachment and they soon learn that they will be hurt time and time again by the white people who drop in on their lives for two weeks then leave.

In a way, I can understand this concept. When I went to Uganda my second trip, we visited an orphanage and loved on kids for about 1 1/2 weeks. We played with them, did Vacation Bible School together, developed friendships, and loved on them. It was all great until that last day. You could just sense it in the air. Everyone was so sad - both the kids and those there on the missions trip. We said our goodbyes and many tears were shed. We've been told the kids are very sad for several days after a team leaves, and I can only imagine what it does to their emotional being. And then they are expected to continue life as "usual" with their studies, chores, etc.

But on the other hand, I wonder if the kids would get loved on as much if people didn't take mission trips? Would the orphanages needs be met if teams didn't provide necessary donations such as clothing, medical supplies, diapers, vitamins, etc.  If the kids can experience fun and unconditional love on occasion for 1 1/2 weeks at a time, is that really doing that much harm?

And could it be that short term missions trips are more for the person going? You get that "I did something great" feeling and a pat on the back from friends and family for accomplishing a "good" thing. Or could have more "good" come from sending that $3,500 you would have spent on your trip to the country you would have gone to to work on family preservation efforts, investing in organizations that teach skills to community members so they can provide a sustainable income for their family, or even sending money to the orphanage to purchase goods in-country for their own needs, therefore supporting their own economy?

A few years ago, I read the book "When Helping Hurts" & I watched a documentary called "Restore: Doing Better at Doing Good". Both got me thinking about this topic. There's such a fine line between helping and hurting as I've expressed here. The bottom line is "What is God passionate about & how can we follow after it in a healthy way for the children that live in these orphanages?" It's something I'll continue to wrestle with and I welcome your thoughts on the subject.