@therealtwig
It is depressing until you realize that change takes time and until you come to terms with the fact that, for all your great ideas and best intentions, you're lucky if you make a tiny dent of an improvement in the lives of people in whatever time you spend there. I think this feeling is typical when you go into a region for the first time without quite knowing what to expect.
When I was in Guatemala, I eventually accepted that I was probably going to benefit more from the experience than the people I was working with. At that point, you just decide to forge ahead and do your thing without great expectations, and learn to be happy with whatever you achieve.
Money is an enabler, but money without education serves for little. I've seen friends risk their lives to cross over through the Mexican desert to the US, work hard there, return home, spend their earnings on building a house or buying a pick-up truck (the dream) and then repeat the whole process. This, rather than try to set up a little shop, buy a few cows, or do something with the money that would give them a comfortable income in return for all that risk.
Another thing you learn out there is that there's much more to life than poverty or riches. People in these countries often have a happiness and joy of life, despite all their troubles, that is very rare in the developed world. No matter how poor, they welcome you into their homes and share what little they have in a way we would probably never do with a total stranger, let alone one from the other side of the world. My big concern is that just dropping money on people can have the same ruining effect that winning the lottery has on westerners.
On another occasion, a backpacking trip to Morocco, we ran into a large group of children inside a poor kasbah who crowded around us, jumping up and down, asking for pages out of my daughter's copy book and some crayons. When you see the delight in their eyes at receiving a single sheet of paper and a crayon each, you begin to wonder if these people are not actually richer than us in some way because of their ability to fully enjoy what little they have. Again, it makes you worry that you could be causing more harm than good by interfering drastically.
Progress has to be gradual, because people need time to assimilate and adjust. We're used to waving our magic wallets and having things happen just like that, and so it can be depressing at first when it doesn't work out that way.
