Generation NGO: Edited by Alisha Nicole Apale and Valerie Stam

Between the Lines, 2011

The stories collected in Generation NGO should be read by anyone considering working or volunteering in the developing world. Penned by young professionals engaged in overseas development work, these first-hand experiences are told with honest and thoughtful reflection.

The writers describe their first, often naive, forays into the field where they are confronted with everything from middle-class prejudices in Ecuador to global apathy for refugees in Burma. By excavating their own assumptions, positions of privilege and "saving the world" complexes, the writers force their readers to do the same. These aren't tales of young westerners venturing into the global South to right wrongs. Rather, Generation NGO is about people moved to action by the ideal and challenged by the realities of political structures, culture and human nature.