On page 307 of Mountains Beyond Mountains, the author wrote, “All too often international aid organizations weaken the societies they are supposed to help.

Before you begin, be sure to review the instructions for this assignment.
On page 307 of Mountains Beyond Mountains, the author wrote, “All too often international aid organizations weaken the societies they are supposed to help. Often they rely almost entirely on professionals from the world’s wealthy countries, and they fail to make their projects indigenous. This all but guarantees that their projects with neither grow nor last.”
Here is your prompt: In your own words, what do you think Kidder is trying to say here? Where do you see parallels in the tourism industry? (Be specific.) What can you do as a tourist (or professional in the tourism industry) to support sustainable cross-cultural tourism practices?
—ALTERNATIVE OPTION for students without access to the Epilogue—
Toward the end of Chapter 25, Kidder wrote, “It’s so easy, at least for me, to mistake a person’s material resources for his interior ones.” In Chapter 26, Kidder summarized part of Farmer’s philosophy: “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that’s wrong with the world.”
Here is your prompt: Judging by the two insights provided above, how do you understand the author’s shift in consciousness that seemed to occur during his travels with Farmer? Do you think Kidder could have developed these new perspectives without the benefit of travel? What does this tell you about how cross-cultural travel does (or does not) impact society at large?