Back in the States, interest in my Peace Corps service was not very high. People had two questions : How was Nepal? It was really hard, I said. Then they asked, Did you make a difference? I didn't know how to answer so I would tell them a story. See, there was this boy in my math class named Shiva Raj Joshi. He was the smartest kid in the seventh grade but he couldn't see the blackboard. He needed glasses. Nobody in the entire village had ever worn glasses. I wore glasses. So one day Shiva Raj's father came to see me at school and asked was it really true that if he took Shiva Raj to Mahendranagar to buy these things like I had on my face that the boy would be able to copy his lessons down better? And I said that it was true, and that he should go, and that his son's education depended on it. So they went and Shiva got glasses. His classmates wanted to make fun of him for it, but the ridicule fell flat. Since I wore glasses myself, and since I was American, which was considered cool, Shiva wore the glasses with pride.

That's it? my American friends said. That's the only difference you made? Was make a kid feel better about glasses? In two years, was that all I had done?

I don't know. I went to Nepal with big expectations. And I was humbled. I taught math. I taught English. It was something. But I didn't change people lives. I didn't save anyone. So as for making a difference, as for making someone's life much better than it would have been otherwise, I would have to say no, I didn't. But maybe I am not the best person to judge. The Nepali school staff wanted me there. While I was there, I had their support and respect. When I left, they wanted another Peace Corps volunteer to replace me. I had a very beautiful and moving farewell ceremony when I left. In that moment, when my students smeared me with tika powder and showered me with flowers, and followed me crying down the path to Melchora, I didn't doubt that I had accomplished something.