White Woman Calls Mission Trips ‘Useless Vacations, NOT Activism’

A TikTok video that criticized mission trips as white saviorism brought attention to a controversy surrounding short-term volunteering trips and religious involvement in humanitarian work.

The video, “Mission trips are useless vacations, NOT activism,” was posted by Kylie Brewer.

In her caption, Brewer wrote: “Donate that money to commükities that need itent and stop acting like you’re a great person just for going to Africa.”

In the video, Brewer called out a mission trip that combined music and photos of children.

“Song is so funny that you chose because it’s ‘willing and able,’ but then you’re showing a bunch of pictures of very healthy-looking, happy, smiling children,” Brewer said. “The only difference between them and you is the fact that they have melanin and are black, and you are white. So the fact that you’re like, ‘oh, hashtag mission trip, I love helping everyone!’ And all the comments are saying, ‘oh my god, you’re such a great person,’ really shows how much this practice is rooted in white saviorism.”

Brewer connected this practice to historic colonization.

“And again, I’ve made multiple videos about this, but this is modern-day colonization, when people used to go in, and they would kill people if they didn’t convert to Christianity,” Brewer said. “And so while that has changed, that method has changed, Withholding aid and saying, ‘hey, we’re not gonna come and give you whatever services or whatever things you need to be self sufficient on your own unless you accept Jesus.’ It’s f***ing disgusting.”

Brewer claims that community investment is more effective than volunteer trips.

“Again, I’ve talked about this before, but pouring resources into communities like that is what really helps, not you standing there holding a bunch of kids and taking photos,” Brewer said.

At the end of the video, Brewer said people usually build meaningful relationships on trips like that.

“I’m sure that you really did have a good time. You probably made some special connections, and that’s beautiful,” Brewer said. “But please leave religion out of it.”

@kylie.brewer

Donate that money to communities that need it… And stop acting like you’re a great person just for going to Africa 😭 #education #leftist #humanrights #sociology #antiracism

♬ original sound – Kylie Brewer