What We Are About to Do Is Highly Problematic: The Unpaved Road from Service Trips to Educational Delegations

On my second Alternative Break Trip (ABT) with college students in 1995, I found myself in Honduras troweling cement on cinderblocks of the house “we” were “building” under the supervision of Honduran foremen. A Honduran boy of seven or eight came over to me and shook his finger, signaling that I was doing the troweling incorrectly. He showed me the correct way and then went to the sidelines, where Hondurans from the village were watching the “gringos” work. As I began my work again, I had the epiphany that so many of us have—and went to talk with Sister Marisol,1 the Honduran nun who was organizing the work project. I asked her, “Wouldn’t it be more helpful if we just sent you our group’s airfare funds? Then Hondurans, who know how to build houses, could build their own houses more quickly and efficiently.” Thus began my questioning of the value of such trips—a questioning that continues to this day. As you will see from what follows, despite serious concerns, I now believe these trips can be transformative for both the in-country community and the students, if they are sensitively conducted. I will lay out my critiques of these trips, the reasons I believe they are still valuable, and a set of best practices that I developed in partnership with Nicaraguan community members with whom I have worked since 1999. Where our students exit the process of a “trip” depends largely on the pedagogy one uses in constructing it.