Care Packages = Crack Packages

Care packages are a volunteer's version of a 4^th grader having Cool Ranch Doritos, Hot Pockets and a Coke for lunch while everyone else eats a cold bologna sandwich with a 3-day old apple. Whenever someone gets one, it’s a huge rush to see what they got and if they are nice enough to share a bit of American goodness. Just one whiff of a Frito Lays chip or a peanut M&M is enough to give us involuntary heart palpitations. 


We LOVE care packages. They are our crack. We can't get enough. It causes us to go a bit crazy (just ask my sister!).

Suddenly, everything we could get in America is a luxury item here. Sure, you can buy regular Dove soap at the store down the street but it’s so much more special when Mommy sends your favorite Dove Cucumber Melon soap that makes you feel all clean and American. Sure, you never cared about Parmesan cheese in the States because there were entire aisles dedicated to it, but here it costs a fifth of your monthly stipend so it becomes that much more desirable (supply and demand anyone?).

There is also a hierarchy of care package items listed below (with the first being the most popular):

·         Books and Magazines!!! US Weekly, Time, Spin, Rolling Stone, Vogue, The Economist - we take it all! (It can get very lonely and boring in village and having something interesting to read can make time pass by much more quickly)

·         Candy + junk food (because when you can’t stand eating more rice with fishy green sauce, Cheetos can be a real life saver!)

·         Chocolate (technically chocolate is “candy” but I just can’t consider Ferrero Rocher chocolate as “candy”)

·         Spices (including the Holy Grail – Parmesan cheese!)

·         Coffee/French presses (they don’t sell those here)

·         Letters/pictures (need I say more???)

·         Knick knacks from home (anything from a toy car from your nephew to a co-worker’s teddy bear)

·         Alcohol (very rare to receive but always appreciated!)

·         Beauty supplies (easily accessible here but terrible quality and expensive)

Anyway, here are some highlights of the care packages I have received in the past few months:

1.     COFFEE + FRENCH PRESS!!! My mornings have gotten that much brighter. When I took that first sip of organic, fair trade Cuban dark roast coffee, I nearly melted. Thank you Carmen for saving me from 2 years of Nescafe! 

2.      Laptop + External hard drive. I thought I wasn’t going to have electricity for the next two years so I didn’t bring a laptop with me to the Gambia. Turns out I got lucky and got placed at a site where I had it. And I got assigned to an office with only 2 computers for 5 people. Hmmm…okay, I guess I did need a laptop. But thanks to my Mom and brother, I got one! And they also sent an external hard drive with all my music that I couldn’t fit onto my iPod! Am I spoiled? Very much so. But you know…it works for me.

3.      Magazines + Chocolate + Lip gloss + Knick Knacks! I heart my sister so much. She has been so supportive and has been my sounding board for so many of my frustrations/homesickness issues/etc. And she sends me amazing things like magazines and lip gloss and includes little presents from my niece and nephew that make me all verklempt! Okay, I’ll stop here before I start crying! 

So thank you all for sending me these things! They are a little piece of home that make me feel not-so-disconnected when that’s exactly what I feel at times. Thank you for being so generous in sending these items. Thanks Ily, Mom, Carmen, Nancy and the rest of my familia! I love you all dearly!!!!

PS – I would happily post pictures of all the Doritos I have received but they were consumed within an hour of receipt. As well as all the chocolate. And Easter Peeps…