A Year in the Life of a Mission Trip
We are well into preparations for Panama Mission 2007 in July 2007. I will be leaving in just two weeks and will spend the week before the team’s arrival getting things set up and the summer’s construction started. Over the course of 12 years of trips to Panama, of which six have been to Chiriqui, we have evolved a planning process that makes the final trip go smoothly. This is a good time to reflect on what it takes to plan and complete such a trip. Therefore, the following is a summary of the cycle of an annual mission trip to Panama.
Planning starts when we are in Panama during July the prior year, when we confirm our schedule with our hosts in order to reserve sleeping and kitchen facilities and avoid potential scheduling conflicts with other groups. After that, all is calm for a while.
July (of prior year - in this case 2006) is mostly spent with the team in mission. We return in last July exhausted, and spend the rest of the year (August, September, October, and November) doing whatever it is we do in the United States. Many of us keep in contact with friends, old and new, in Panama by e-mail and by telephone. Some years we have some form of gathering of the team in the Fall.
In late December, it is time to start looking at flights to Panama and talking with prospective team members. Also in late fall and winter, a PowerPoint presentation is prepared to use for church groups that would like to learn more about the Panama Mission efforts. Our presentation is either revised or completely redone each year.
In January, we typically reserve a block of tickets from the airline in order to assure cheaper rates and maximum flexibility. If we can lock in at least 10 people early, we have the ability to make last minute changes without penalty. We are usually invited to give a presentation to such groups as United Methodist Women or United Methodist Men.
February is usually quiet. We are available for more presentations, and typically get a short early write-up into "The Chapel Chimes," UUMC’s newsletter. The experiences of the Florida January medical team to Bongo are discussed among the medical personnel from Florida and North Carolina.
In March, the first of several "Bulletins" is sent to an e-mail list of several hundred people all over the country and in Panama who have expressed an interest in what we are doing or have participated in the past. These bulletins are used in place of numerous team meetings for information transfer. This initial bulletin announces the trip and dates, and invites people who are interested to apply. We also monitor airline fares, potential costs, gas prices, etc. to help estimate trip costs.
By April, things are gearing up in earnest. UMVIM (United Methodist Volunteers in Mission) is formally notified of our plans, travel dates, and anticipated team size. Application materials and information is provided in a second bulletin. Detailed information is provided in "The Chapel Chimes," a detailed budget (estimating costs for such things as food, gas, airline tickets, costs of medicines and construction supplies, etc.). This planing budget is prepared based on anticipated team size and similar detailed budgets and expense records since 2001, as well as communications with our hosts in Panama on current costs for key items and construction estimates. Some completed applications trickle in, and tickets are purchased. Revisions to the team website are initiated, and coordination with others gears up.
In May, there are several periods of frenzy. Applications are due, and medical licenses are collected and sent to Panama to be processed by the Ministry of Health. This step is required by the Panamanian government before our medical people can work in the clinic in Bongo. The planning budget is updated. Medicines are ordered. Another bulletin including a detailed "Orientation to Chiriqui" is sent to a slightly smaller e-mail list, and is then followed by still another bulletin, to a much smaller list. The latter bulletin provides a schedule of activities such as team meetings and commissioning, and flight schedules, along with a confirmed list of team members.
By June, the team leader and key people are in full gear, with the team leader approaching full-time mode as he prepares to travel to Panama at the end of the month to get things ready there. Final payments from team members are due in early June to pay for remaining ticket costs and to have money for supplies, food, travel, etc. in Panama. The team is registered with UMVIM (a process involving detailed individual contact information, obtaining insurance, providing waivers for VIM, and the like.) Details of the trip are documented and provided to team members, such as a listing of individual tasks to be accomplished before the team leaves and "housekeeping" tasks in Panama. Team T-shirts are designed and ordered (we design and print a unique team T-shirt each summer for team members and to use as gifts in Panama.) 
Arrangements are made to obtain free soccer equipment from Eurosport in Hillsborough to take with us. Information on packing and travel is provided. Local Panamanian support people are contacted and asked to participate in the mission trip. The team is commissioned and an orientation meeting is held to further explain details of the trip and expectations, and tickets, emergency contacts, and other information is handed out to the team and explained for new-comers. Finally, at the end of June, the team leader is off to Panama.
The first week of July is very busy for all. In Panama, we must gather the boxes of medicines stored there last year by Panama Mission 2006 and in January by the Florida team. Phones are re-connected , clinic supplies are purchased, cooks are given money and a schedule of when we will want our first meal in Volcan, the Volcan dorm is checked, the bus driver is briefed, construction supplies are ordered and locals who will help with the work in Jacú are hired. Some of the arrangements are tedious, as we look for the coolers with wheels for our lunches and the round coolers for drinking water. Some supplies have to be ordered in advance so that things will be ready when the team arrives at the construction site and the clinic on July 9. In Chapel Hill, people are busy as well. The many pounds of medicines that we bring each year must be consolidated and packed, along with soccer gear and any other team supplies during a 
"packing party" just before departure. The weather must be monitored to make sure that there are no problems such as tropical storms as the team travels through Miami. There is constant communication between Panama and Chapel Hill during the first week of July as detailed arrangements are made, and then changed, and perhaps changed again. The team will arrive in Panama July 7 in the late evening, and on Sunday, July 8 will leave by bus for Chiriqui Province to be ready to work early Monday morning, July 9.
The next message will come from a team member, hopefully before leaving for Panama, discussing anticipation and expectations before the trip.
Jan Sassaman
Panama Mission Team Leader
Chapel Hill, NC
June 14, 2007
Leave a comment
- Required fields are marked with *.
Posts: 1
Reply #1 on : Mon July 16, 2007, 00:52:26