On a steamy August night on the Honduran island of Utila, 10 Spanish backpackers volunteering with the Spanish fair trade organization Copade - short for Fundación Comercio para el Desarrollo (Trade Foundation for Development) - lounged in deck hammocks, reminiscing about the day’s snorkeling trip while imbibing on rum and Coca-Cola.
But the conversation quickly turned from details of multicolored fish and nurse shark sightings to more serious discussions on how they could continue helping the Honduran women they served with their technical business and communications skills over the past month.
The questions the group had are similar to those any group of short-term volunteers might ask at the tail end of their travels: Did we really have an impact? Did the locals appreciate our efforts? Will this trip mean anything to our professional lives, or was it just an exotic vacation?