Perhaps naively she believes that those who are missionaries should be doing it from the heart, not for a big paycheck. MOST IMPORTANTLY - She believes that missionaries should live not too far above the standards of those they are trying to help...... But perhaps she is simply lost to the realities of the world.
Yes, of course, I do think that people who are working to help the poor or the less fortunate or whatever term you want to use ought not to be wasting money that was donated or raised for the purpose of helping.
At the same time, though, I have difficulty with the idea that if someone wants to do good that this somehow justifies the person not being paid a wage commensurate with their education, abilities and work.
In addition to my law degree I have a master's degree in social work. When I got out of school the salaries paid to starting MSWs was about half the salary paid to a beginning teacher (with a BA).
The justification for paying a salary that was almost poverty level for a family was the comparison of the social worker to their clients.
In a way, that seems almost perverse. To be able to "do good" and help the less fortunate, you not only have to have that training and desire but you have to agree that you somehow deserve to live at low wages way below that others with even lesser education. If you wanted to do nothing to help society and were utterly selfish ...it would be fine for you to make a large salary. But if you want to help others, somehow that also means you need to be personally poor and while it is fine for others to do nothing for others (and it is great for them to make a large salary) if you try to do something for others, well, then you are greedy if you want to make even an average salary. That just never made much sense to me.
