I am, what some people call, a well traveled person. I am a native Midwesterner going to school in the major city of Boston: and some people consider this to be a cross cultural experience in and of itself. In addition, I have traveled to Central America several times and am used to being the shiny new toy amongst foreigners. But in my entire traveling career, I have never experienced such a vivacious loving culture like Samoa. Samoa is a country so rich in its rooted traditions and customs that, at first I could barely keep pace. It was difficult and frustrating in the beginning. I don’t mind telling you that I’m a 5’9’’ girl with long gangly legs. However, in Samoan culture a female needs to wear a lava lava (skirt wrap) well past their knees in order to be considered modest. You can only fathom my difficulty at trying to keep those gangly legs covered. This extra coverage in the heat of a Samoan day was frustrating as my lava lava would cling to my sweaty legs. I tried to close myself off from this country in the beginning. I was hot, tired from a long flight, and above all things I wanted my Starbucks. I know, how stupid? Here I am in the middle of a tropical paradise and all I could think about was the comforts of home. But even though I tried to lock my heart up to this beautiful country, it climbed its way in.
It wasn’t the tropical beaches, refreshing cold coconut milk, or even the breathtaking coral that I snorkeled amongst that pried open the walls of my heart. No. It was the people. Sitting in the back of our tour bus, tired as I was, the band boys of the Safua hotel brought my energy back. Bob Marley brought it back. We sat in the back of the bus dancing, laughing, and singing to good old Bob and yes, even Justin Beiber. There in the back of a hot sweaty bus was I able to get to know the band boys of Safua and their stories. Through the afternoon heat in my fale (open beach hut) I was also able to hear the story behind my homestay mother who opened her heart to me and told her life story. It wasn’t an easy life story to share: filled with an unplanned pregnancy, a self attempt at abortion, and fear for her life. She has fought, worked, and struggled for everything she has in life and loves her four little girls with every beat of her heart. I could see this in her eyes as she talked about how happy she was that her attempt at abortion failed. These were the people that fueled my energy and whose memories are I have locked away in my heart.
And tonight as I watched the slideshow of pictures my classmates put together my heart ached. It ached for Samoa; for the people I met and now miss. How did this happen? I had tried to close myself off to these people, but they climbed their way in anyway. And tonight I realized that the pain I was feeling was a good pain. Because it meant I did not close myself off. I opened my heart to the people and the land of Samoa. I opened myself to experience and to change, and I have been changed by Samoa. When my homestay mother was giving me one final parting gift, she said “You may forget Samoa, but we will never forget you. This gift is so you never forget Samoa.” But as I am writing this I can tell you I will never forget Samoa. I will never forget the incredible women I met and aspire to be like, the fun times in the back of the bus, or the handprint Samoa has made upon my heart. Who needs Starbucks anyway?
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