Two Events

10/20/08

Your impression of a place is sometimes shaped by little events. Here are two that happened to me.

While sitting in a waiting bus to the ferry at the Apia market, a man next to me eating a bowl of soup asked about my wife, Mary. I said she had returned home because of illness. Startled, I pressed on to learn who is this person. He turned out to be the bus driver. He went to describe the number of times Mary was alone and when we rode the bus together. He finished his soup, got in the driver’s seat, as the bus gathered more passengers for the trip to the ferry wharf 45 minutes away.

On the phone to the European Union, a man told about seeing Mary and I at a large conference last February. He knew that Mary had returned home. Although he lives and works in Apia, he has family in our village of Iva and often visits. I have no idea who he is.

These are not isolated events, just the most recent this past week. When they happen I begin to realize the impact Peace Corps must have on others, where even the inconsequential has consequences.