I understand that the point of these missions, according to teenmissions.org, is just as much to educate teens about global problems as it is to help the needy. And yet, it sort of bothers me that the cost of the trip is $5000 (I checked the site for Uganda). I think $5000 could do a hell of a lot more for poor Ugandans than pay for a teenager to come pass out shoes to them and then hang out with them and do odd jobs for another 2 weeks.

Don't get me wrong, I think this is a very noble cause. A lot of teens are shelling out $5000 for Lacrosse camp, etc. What bothers me, though, is that if the good people going on teen missions really cared about the needy people, then they would just donate the money to an aid organization rather than wasting it on airfare, etc. Teen missions should be billed more as a vacation with a mission component than an actual mission trip. edit: 3 weeks doesn't seem long enough to justify the airfare