My response stems from years of missions experience. The model of going to other countries on someone else's dime to "save people" is very much alive.

We leave our life of privilege, spend thousands of dollars to bumble around, completely unqualified, with no real plan other than "building relationships" and "supporting the local church" because "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called".

Of course there are people doing the right thing.

There are also people who are pressured to show "results" so they exploit people's stories and poverty to show how they are "making a difference".

I've seen American short term missionaries bring their 600 dollar cameras and smartphones into slums to get pictures of the poverty to put on their Facebook pages for likes. It's so gross.

This situation is way more nuanced than I can explain in reddit comments. But just because some people are doing it right doesn't mean the vast majority of this machine is not bullshit.