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eetong,

i appreciate your willingness to face -- and your asking that we face -- a 'take' on this issue of volunteering, 'giving back,' and so forth that may feel 'a little discouraging.'  I wonder, in fact, whether undergoing that feeling of discouragement may somehow be an important pause, a way to take a time out from 'good intentions' in order to look into our own positioning, motivation, and capacity.  I like and recommend this piece by Teju Cole, also a call to exaine ourselves but also to look (again) at what those 'others' in places other than our own are doing to work toward justice in their contexts:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/2/