The Indirect Effect

I would be lying to everyone and myself if I said I didn’t want to make a difference in other people’s lives. It was a big part of why I became a teacher to begin with. I wanted to have an impact on at least one child’s life. Of course I would love to say that every student I have had has been changed in a positive way by me, but that is just unrealistic. Joining the Peace Corps is another example of me wanting to make a difference in people’s lives. I know that my presence in Samoa is not going to change everyone in my village and what I do may or may not have a lasting effect, but I saw a small, indirect effect of something I do on a regular basis here.

Every day (or close to every day), I sit outside and read. When I first started doing this, my host father would laugh a little. This was just a strange behavior for Samoans. It is very rare that you will see one of them just sitting and reading a book for fun. I actually can’t think of a time that I have seen it. I, on the other hand, have been doing this nearly every day of my service and I think nothing of it.

I finally realized the impact of this small behavior on those observing me. While my host dad may laugh at me and my host mom may say that she wants to read like me, I actually saw someone’s behavior change. My host cousin who is regularly at my fale (house) has seen me read a lot. Sometimes she would read the titles of my books or read a few words on the page I happened to be on. When I got up to get some water, I came back and she was reading my book. When I asked her if she wanted to read, she said she did. Her English is good and she can read it so I got one of the books I had already read to give to her.

We spent an hour lying on the floor, reading. Does she understand what she’s reading? I have absolutely no idea. She was stopping me, however, to ask how to pronounce words or clarify the meaning of a few words. Even to see her reading for pleasure was something that brings absolute joy to my heart.

I didn’t set out reading every day because I thought it would change someone’s behavior. I did it because I like to read and I did it outside because I liked it better than just sitting and staring at the street with my family. To see that this small behavior of mine has had this indirect effect on one person in my village makes me so happy. It really does go to show that while I came here to make a difference, I may make small changes that I won’t even realize initially.