Why debrief? A Dr. Morgan explanation

Our two-month intercultural studies internship ends with four days of “debriefing” and re-entry preparation. Nascer do Sol is a cluster of cottages nestled among the sand dunes on the Indian Ocean coast in Mozambique. At this location, the coastline runs east-west rather than north-south, so we watch both the sunrise and the sunset over water. The view is stunning. The sound of the ocean is relaxing.

People often ask why we put so much emphasis on the debrief time. Is it a vacation? These students have worked hard the past 8 weeks, and have lived much of it in conditions most Americans have only seen in fundraising ads from World Vision. And they’ve done it without complaint. So, a mini-vacation would be appropriate and well-deserved. We do try to choose a nice place, with recreational opportunities (watching Minnesotans experience salt water and ocean breakers for the first time can be rather humorous), where the students can be “American” again after weeks of living in and adapting to other cultures

But the debrief is much more important than that. The students have read a book called Re-entry and written out thoughtful answers to a number of questions in preparation for this time. They spend about five hours each day in meetings; remembering, reflecting, processing, explaining, praying, and, where necessary, reconciling. Multiple research studies have shown that lasting change from short term mission trips is almost nonexistent. Despite what they may say right at the end of the trip, within days or weeks, participants are back into normal life routines, habits and values. Education should be about positive change, and Christian education should be about change that conforms us to the image of Jesus (see Romans 8:29). So we invest a lot in this internship to produce transformation that will last. The debrief is an important and necessary part of that transformation process. I won’t bore you with all that takes place, but one thing the students do is write a letter to themselves, putting on paper the changes they have decided they want to make as a result of what they learned on this internship. No one else reads this letter. We will mail it to them in six months, so they can evaluate how they are doing on the changes they said they wanted to make. Fifteen ICS internships and hundreds of students later, consistent feedback tells us the debrief time is critical to the learning process. And, the view is stunning J.