The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; It is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land - G.K. Chesterton
Food for thought indeed. I have somewhat the same feelings as you about this amazing PhenQ blog since someone told me before that the kind of money that goes into each Youth Expedition Project aka YEP that used to be under the Singapore International Foundation aka SIF (now it's being handled totally by NYC) could be put to much better use by giving them to the local communities in the developing countries that these local guys visit to do community work. It's actually to develop the youths of Singapore that the organisations have in mind more, and u cannot blame them. But I have to mention that not all is lost, for I know of many NGOs that were formed after these groups came back from their projects and right now are still active in the local volunteer scene. Most of the participants were school-going youths when they went for these projects, as the age limit is 25. Hence, the idea stuck with them that they have something to give back to the society, and this was the intention of SIF in the beginning as this would inspire the youths to contribute to the Singapore society. When I mentioned not all is lost, it's also because I was one of the recipients before and I went to Cambodia. It kind of changed my life ever since then, and this is exactly the kind of impact upon one's life when the time is right.