I remember these words very well. Early in training, as the rest of Group 80 and myself were still adjusting to the heat and a new country, a panel of volunteers sat before us to impart their sage advice and pearls of wisdom.

I don’t actually remember what the session was supposed to be about, and I only remember the one piece of advice: take care of your feet.

Shane, a group 78 VBD volunteer, with his foot wrapped thickly in white bandages, but still wearing the ubiquitous white-bottom/red-top rubber flip-flops, emphatically beseeched us: take care of your feet.

While I take some solace in that I am not the first group 80 volunteer to fail in this seemingly simple task (a month or so ago, another volunteer banged up his foot when he fell off his bike while trying to simultaneously carry a box on his shoulder), I do admit that the moment that the first pangs of pain hit my feet as I jumped into Togitogigia Waterfalls, I could hear Shane’s words echoing in my back of my mind: take care of your feet.

(My fateful jump.)

Last weekend, I was visiting another volunteer, Erica, on the south side, and we took a visit to Togitogiga Waterfalls in O Le Pūpu-Pu’e National Park. As I was preparing myself to jump into the pool created by the waterfalls, I was so concerned about not cracking my skull that I failed to give proper consideration to my feet. The water was significantly shallower than I expected, and I hit the rocks with both feet. Immediately, sharp pain overtook my toes and the upper part of both feet. I sat on some nearby rocks and wiggled my toes: nothing broken, at least.

(The discoloration doesn't show in pictures, but you can see how much fatter my right foot is than the left. As I write this, although my foot is less sore, every joint of every toe on my right foot is black and blue.)

Within a few moments, my left foot felt basically fine, but pain persisted in the right foot. By the time we got back to the house, I was hopping around, unable to put any weight on my right foot. The next day, I went back to Apia, by this point swelling and bruising had commenced, and I could no longer move my toes at all. From what I can tell, the impact seems to have causing deep bruising, and I think I’ve sprained every toe on my right foot. But through a combination of Ibuprofen and Excedrin and can now walk without drawing too much attention to myself. (Although, I’m pretty sure this is significantly impeding the healing process.)

I also never realized just how important toe movement is to walking – particularly as the only pair of shoes I own are worn-out rubber flip-flops.