NGOs frequently create showcase projects with questionable sustainability and perfunctory linkages to local health services."
This reminds me of the chapter we read in Shady Practices about NGOs and their need to bring back "success stories" to publicly promote donation and public support. This also then shows a systemic side to the NGOs in terms of how they present themselves.
Their destination choices are most often a product of personal history or chance encounters rather than an analysis of where needs are greatest. The choice of focus—primary care, surgery , screening, or health education—is also a product of perceived need or of personal capabilities rather than any kind of systematic assessment
I think that the notion that there is no actual research as to where help is needed and these "good Christians" are really just going wherever their preconceived notions lead them to highlights a larger systemic issue as to how privileged white individuals view the developing world as whole.
The developing world has become a playground for the redemption of privileged souls looking to atone for global injustices by escaping the vacuity of modernity and globalisation.
I think that this is a really good way to begin the book into a theme we've been discussing all semester. Although harsh, it makes a strong statement as to how those involved in voluntourism are using their "work" to escape their own modern world and feel as though this is somehow making them a global citizen.