Humanitarian XP offers unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. When you immerse yourself in a new culture and serve along with other youth that are your same age, it can lead to real change. At HXP, we are big believers that your trip will be whatever you make it, and that your experience has everything to do with your attitude. The Builders that come home with the most rewarding, life-changing stories are those who decided to be “all in” during their trip.
These trips are only made possible when all of our “Dealbreakers” are followed. Although HXP trips have many elements, our number one priority is Builder safety. All of these rules are for your benefit and safety because WE LOVE YOU! We would never enforce any arbitrary rules—these are all in place for a specific reason. We expect you to trust us so we can trust you.
For further explanation about our rules, keep reading. For an extensive list of what could get you removed from a trip, review the Builder Agreement.
The Rule of Three
Builders must stay in a group of three or more during the entirety of the trip (except while using the restroom or showering). When you follow the Rule of Three, you avoid breaking any of the other Dealbreakers. Hopefully, with two other people acting as your “shoulder angel,” you will have a greater conscience and make smart, safe decisions throughout your trip. Not only does this help keep Builders safe, it also gives you more opportunities to bond with other members of your group and shuffle people around so you get to know new people every day.
If going 10 or 17 days without any alone time seems a little daunting, you might be right (after all, you know yourself best). At the end of the day, even if it’s challenging for you, this rule will ensure a safer, more fun, and overall better trip experience. Talk to your Trip Leader before and address your concerns so they can help you during your trip.
Kissing
At Humanitarian XP we want our trips to have equally balanced spiritual, cultural, and philanthropic touch points. We’ve found that when Builders are overly focused on romantic relationships with other Builders or locals, they miss out on experiencing other important aspects of the trip. One of the biggest things you miss out on is developing equally strong relationships with all the members of your group.
There’s so much to learn from each trip and each other, and our Program Managers have thoughtfully planned out every moment of your HXP expedition. We are extremely serious about making sure Builders can fully experience their HXP trips, so if you kiss either another Builder or a local, you will be sent home and you and your parents will cover the cost of travel home. In addition to messing up the cohesiveness of a group, this rule protects you from safety issues like sexual abuse and makes sure that we maintain friendly relationships with the local people we work with during trips.
Sneaking Off
HXP program managers are very thorough when choosing cities that are safe for our Builders. However, even in a safe area, there is still risk of harm if you venture off on your own. It is extremely important that our Builders stay with the group at all times. Trip Leaders and Parent Builders are trained and committed to keeping Youth Builders safe, but this is very difficult if a participant sneaks off. If you are alone, or even with other Builders, and not with the rest of the group, you put yourself at risk. Even if you have experience traveling abroad or exploring big cities on your own, please avoid doing this on your HXP trip!
Health Code
HumanitarianXP is unapologetically committed to giving Builders opportunities to see and feel who they are in the light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of this, we enforce a health code based on regulations set by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition to this, we want the focus of trips to be on service and group bonding, so we keep trips’ focuses this way.
If substance abuse is something that you struggle with, please still join us! We want you on our trips. Make a commitment to use this trip as an opportunity for a clean start.
This year, we are requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for all HXP participants. To view the vaccine agreement you’ll make upon registration and learn more about why we made this decision, click here.
Secret Phones
The Digital Detox is an essential, unique part of the HXP experience. For Builders to experience and participate fully in an HXP trip, phones cannot be involved. When the trip is over, you will get their phones back and we encourage continue to connect with their group after returning home. If you try to bring an additional phone or technological device on your trip, you will be sent home. We want each Builder to be all in during their trip, and this is a critical part of the Humanitarian XP “secret sauce” that makes our experiences great.