Asakiyume mita

The situation transforms the object, or rather gives it a specific contextual meaning.

In Chinese custom, a clock is a clock, but giving someone a clock is an ill-wish, roughly equivalent to "your days are numbered".

NGO activity as, in some regards, a continuation of colonialism

Absolutely, especially the NGOs that allow a huge and visible difference in the treatment and lifestyles of their foreign and local staff. In my experience, the taxonomy of NGO people is:

(i) Well-meaning but ignorant (some educable, some not)
(ii) Careerists (not always bad to deal with professionally)
(iii) Ideologues who have failed to impose their ideology at home and are now trying to impose it on those unable to resist.
(iv) Bullies in search of easy prey
(v) Sexual perverts in search of easy prey
(vi) Honest adrenaline junkies (mostly in emergency response NGOs - also not bad to deal with)
(vii) Social deficients, whose inability to work with other people is (a) covered by the fact that their "clients" have no choice and (b) can be dismissed as cultural misunderstanding.