"The · darkest · thing · about · Africa · has · always · been · our · ignorance · of · it"

Greetings from The Gambia Desk in Washington, D.C. It is with great pleasure that Peace Corps welcomes your family member to The Gambia training program. We receive many requests from Volunteers and family members alike regarding travel plans, sending money, relaying messages and mail, etc. As we are unable to involve ourselves in the personal arrangements of Volunteers, we would like to offer you advice and assistance in advance by providing answers to the most frequently asked questions.

1. Communication. Most Peace Corps Volunteers in The Gambia have their own email accounts with a local internet service provider, but they are not in a position to use the accounts for regular communications. Phone line connections can be erratic, and Volunteers’ sites can be some distance away from the nearest internet café or computer that is hooked up to the internet. You will probably grow to see the occasional email as a treat, but will mostly rely on “snail mail” for regular communications.

With mail, “patience” is the watchword. The mail service in The Gambia is not as efficient as the U.S. Postal Service. It can take approximately three to four weeks for mail coming from a Volunteer’s post in The Gambia to arrive in the United States via the local postal system. Sometimes mail is hand carried to the States by a traveler and then mailed through the US postal system. This leg of the trip can take another several weeks as it is also dependent on the frequency of travelers to the U.S.

The following suggestions may be helpful:

• Write the addresses on the envelope in red ink -- superstition may keep people from messing with it then
• Determine, in your first letters, an estimate of how long it takes for transit and establish a predictable pattern of how often you will write to each other.
• Number your letters so that the Volunteer knows if he/she has missed one.
• Send postcards in envelopes, as they tend to get lost or stolen.
• Write "Airmail" and "Par Avion" on all envelopes

Volunteers often enjoy telling their "war stories” when they write home. Letters might describe recent illnesses, lack of good food, isolation, etc. While the subject matter is good reading material, it is often misinterpreted on the home front. Furthermore, with the delay in mail, it is likely that a current problem described, has been resolved or forgotten by the time the letter is received. The Peace Corps Staff in Banjul is available and equipped to assist Volunteers with any need expressed or in an emergency. Please do not assume that if your family member has been ill that he or she has been unattended. There is an American Certified Nurse Practitioner on duty 24 hours a day at the Peace Corps office in Banjul. Through regular contact, including frequent site visits, she monitors the health of the Volunteers. In the event of a serious illness, the Volunteer is flown to Dakar, Senegal, where there is an American physician on the Peace Corps staff. If the Volunteer requires medical care that is not available in The Gambia or Dakar, he/she will be medically evacuated to the United States. Fortunately, these are rare circumstances.

2. Telephone Calls. As stated above, phone service into and out of The Gambia can be erratic. It cannot be relied upon for regular communication. The Volunteer will probably need to make arrangements for a phone call ahead of time—some coordination may be required between you and the PCV.

The Gambia Desk in Washington cannot relay personal messages over the telephone. All non-emergency communication between family members and the Volunteer is expected to be arranged between the Volunteer and their family and friends.

You must be ready to accept a significant change in the frequency and reliability of communications with friends and relatives, and everything you can do to prepare yourself AND your families and friends for this reality will help you greatly in the coming weeks and months.

3. Sending packages. Families and Volunteers like to send and receive “care packages” through the mail. Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all involved due to high incidence of theft and heavy customs taxes, as well as the time period it may take for packages to arrive. You may want to try to send inexpensive items through the mail, but there is no guarantee that these items will arrive. We do not recommend, however, that costly items be sent through the mail.

The use of padded envelopes is recommended, if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed more heavily. Custom fees for the Volunteer can be quite expensive. For lightweight but important items (e.g. airline tickets), DHL (an express mail service) operates in The Gambia. If you choose to send items through DHL, you must address the package to: Peace Corps, c/o Country Director, Karaiba Avenue, Banjul, The Gambia, West Africa. Place the envelope intended for the Volunteer inside the DHL envelope and write the name of the Volunteer on the inside envelope. The Peace Corps and its Staff assume no liability for any lost or stolen mail, including items sent through DHL. Please call a DHL office nearest you for more information. Their toll free number is 1-800-CALL-DHL or visit the www.dhl.com website. Federal Express (FedEx) also has service to The Gambia.

The diplomatic pouch is available to Volunteers for work and health-related items only. Approval for its use must be authorized in advance by the Country Director. This process must be initiated by the Volunteer in-country. Family members in the States cannot call The Gambia Desk and request permission to have items sent through the pouch. Use of the diplomatic pouch is a privilege granted to the Peace Corps by the Department of State. Because it is expensive and time-consuming, not every request initiated by the Volunteer can be approved. You should also be aware that the diplomatic pouch often takes as much or more time than the international mail (4-6 weeks).

Sending airplane tickets and/or cash through regular mail is not recommended. Certain airlines will allow you to buy a pre-paid ticket in the States; they will telex their Banjul office to have the ticket ready. Unfortunately, this system is not always reliable. Currently, there is no direct service airline service from the US to Banjul. Options include a direct flight from JFK to Dakar, Senegal, with a connection on a local airline to Banjul, or a flight from JFK to Brussels, Belgium, with a connection on Sabena, the Belgian airline, to Banjul. (Brussels is currently the only European city with regular, direct service into Banjul. You can connect from various European cities to Brussels and continue from there.) You could also send tickets via DHL or FedEx as mentioned previously. However, Peace Corps will assume no liability in the event of a lost/stolen airline ticket.

Sending cash or checks is very risky and is discouraged. If your Volunteer family member requests money from you, it is his/her responsibility to arrange for its receipt. A method in which many Volunteers have found for receiving or sending important items is by pre-arranging contact between their family and a traveling friend to hand-carry the mail or small gift.

We hope this information is helpful to you during the time your family member is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia. We understand how frustrating communication difficulties can be when your family member is overseas, and we appreciate you using this information as a guide.