Most of the world was colonized by the European powers. And with the Conquistadors came the Roman Catholic missionaries. And both causes supported one another. In this way, the European powers and Roman Catholic missionaries were able to suppress, oppress, and convert thousands, millions, and finally the billion or so alive today. Catholicism first took over Europe first with the conversion of the first Christian, Roman Emperor, Constantine.
It was through capturing the populations of Europe first did Catholicism extend its reach to every corner of the planet. In this way, the Catholic religion acted much like a virus: most likely converting people by force or by baptism, overriding their free will, commanding them to live by the rule of the Church by threat of death or alienation, and using them to convert others. In this light, it seems very clear that Catholicism worked much like the bubonic plaque, wiping out much 2/3s of the European population; until an immunity was able to mutate and resist the virus. In terms of religion, the enlightenment was the mutation that was able to resist Catholicism. Yet, even in the 21st century the model of the missionary exists. And, it is fundamentally perverse and contradictory.
The Catholic church and other Christian churches that host missionary trips claim that they are helping the marginalized and impoverished; yet, it was Christianity and Colonialism that caused this situation in the first place. Young people are recruited to volunteer on these trips, and this kind of mentality is also pervasive in the rest of Western Civilization; and it still carries the connotations of the " White Savior Complex." It is great to visit cultures and civilizations that are much different than your own, share knowledge, and help the voiceless. If you are English speaker, and you are teaching English, that is helpful because English has become a universal language due to colonialism.
Yet, the model of the missionary is a broken one. Young, educated people are carefully handled, and they believe that peoples in the developing world need them, and can't survive without them. Going across the world to build a school, a library, install a toilet, help at an orphanage is still aligned with the missionary model. It's the belief and that thought, " I'm going to go there and help them; they need MY help because I am intrinsically better than them." This mentality is self-aggrandizing, oppressive, and narcissistic. The truly effective and self-less model to help others would be contributing a valuable skill set to local organizations that are doing the work day in and day out, and engage local communities in a fundamental way.
Break the system of the Catholic missionary that says," You are fortunate for whatever I give you." Instead, work with the organizations that help the people to empower themselves, and find their voices again! Your job of a volunteer or a consultant should not be to be pedantic or authoritarian. Your job is to help restore the dignity of the people that you are trying to help, by allowing them to see their over power and potential for self-determination. This is the most important part because colonization and its neocolonialism counter parts have systematically worked to undermine and oppress the populations of the world. The populations of the world must be reminded that they too have knowledge, ability, power, and potential. It is this acknowledgement that will bring world peace, dignity, and a balance of power.