04. The White Savior Industrial Complex - Rachel Pieh Jones

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Overview

Lauren and Rachel discuss what years of living in a different context teaches us about agency, story, and power. Rachel shares how her Djiboutian neighbors respond to short-term interactions with foreigners who assumed charitable roles, and the long-term rebuilding that was sometimes required after Western travelers disrupted social norms. Rachel shares how she has learned to be a good neighbor in spite of her race, gender, and socioeconomic status.

“Their motivation was probably good but their impact was really damaging.”

“It takes a new type of posture to come in with privilege and imagine a world where maybe your privilege is also the thing that is holding you back from understanding how to connect with people. Understanding how to live in a world where you are dependent on others and the beauty that comes from the dependency.”

“The sense of being neighbored well by Somali Muslims has been life-changing, transformative for my faith, for myself, for my relationships.”

Guest Bio

Rachel Pieh Jones writes about life at the crossroads of faith and culture for the New York Times, Christianity Today, Runners World, and more. Her work is influenced by living in the Horn of Africa, raising Third Culture Kids, and adventurous exploration of the natural world. She is the author of Pillars: How Muslim Friends Led Me Closer to Jesus and Stronger than Death: How Annalena Tonelli Defied Terror and Tuberculosis in the Horn of Africa.

Episode Highlights