Peeping Tom

Saturday night I was sitting in my living room having a long overdue chat with Megan online. I had another chat window with

David, trying to troubleshoot the church computer so that it would be ready to display song lyrics in the morning. As soon

as I got offline, David called me to ask if I could download a driver for the computer. As we were talking, I heard a

sneeze coming from just outside my living room window. I soon realized that my porch light was off and the hall light was

on - the perfect combination to clearly watch my every move. I told David that there is someone right outside my window

because I just heard a sneeze. I went and turned on the porch light.

I didn't know how to handle it - do I go wake up Candice, do I call the police, do I call the Peace Corps? To be honest, I

wasn't afraid at all. I feel pretty safe in this house - the doors have bolt locks and the windows are protected by coconut

wire. In my state of indecisivness, I went to my dark bedroom to see if I could see anything outside. Just then Shiwawa

(my favorite dog on the compound) started barking in a forceful directed way. Suddenly I saw the next door neighbor (Akata)

and her son. They were talking to another guy - telling him off in Samoan.

Akata saw me looking out the window and told me that a guy was standing outside my window staring in. Apparently Akata was

sleeping and Shiwawa came to wake her up. She ran over to her, got her attention and then ran back to where the guy was

barking at him. She did this multiple times to communicate that there was a problem. When she saw the guy, she noticed

that it was the same guy that got caught breaking into the next door house a couple of years ago and that he had mental

problems.

I called the Peace Corps duty officer, who happened to be the director, and asked her what to do. She said to file a report

with the police and then she would send the safety and security officer over. It was hard to communicate with the police,

so I had Akata explain to them what happened in Samoan. The PC director came over, and asked that the police come over just

to drive around to make it known that a police report had been filed.

Sunday morning the PC safety and security officer picked me up, took me to the office to fill out a report and then took me to the police station to file another report. I will keep you updated on the progress...