Help a Brother Out

This post will serve as a forever-and-always kind of thing that I'll link to under my mailing address on the sidebar to your left. It not only includes some instructions regarding what to do if you're planning on sending me something in the mail, but also my "wish list" of things I like/need should you feel like gettin' your Father Damien on and charitably sending me a care package. Not to get all Save the Children on you, but the better equipped I am, the better I can help the kids I teach and the community I'm living in. For less than a cup of coffee a day, you can give the precious gift of health and education to these wonderful children. Become a sponsor today! But, seriously, by sending me even some of the simplest things on my wish list, you'll be helping my community out tremendously. And, since I have this here blog, I'll be able to report exactly how the things you send have helped me and the people I live and work with. See? Making a difference is interactive and fun!

Don't worry, though, there's no pressure to send a care package. Even if I just get a nice handwritten letter or some photos from people, I'll still be ten kinds of excited:

So, yay! You can help me make it through this journey and make a positive impact on the lives of several Burkinabé. Can you say "win-win"? Now, on to the practical stuff:

Mailing Tips, Info, and Guidelines

• If you're sending me a letter by airmail, it should cost about 84¢, and will get to me in 2-3 weeks. Letters are fantastic things to receive—I really can't stress this enough. The Peace Corps is tremendously inspiring and fulfilling, but life as a Volunteer is often quite lonely. There is a lot of downtime, and combined with the heat, occasional lack of food, language barriers, and remoteness, things can get pretty dreary. Holding a handwritten letter in my hands makes me feel more connected to home.
• If you're sending me a care package, you must write "Airmail/Par Avion" on it. If you don't, they might ship it over on a boat (for realz) and I might never receive it! It doesn't matter if you send it priority or non-priority (just go with whatever's cheapest), it will take between 3-4 weeks to get to me as long as you send it airmail. Be sure to use sturdy boxes and plenty of tape because three weeks is a long time to get thrown around in the postal system across multiple continents and climatic conditions.
• If what you're sending is small enough to fit in a padded envelope rather than a box, please go with the padded envelope. It will cut down on taxes and customs fees on my end. Also, if you send me a postcard, please put it in an envelope, or else it will end up adorning the wall of a post office in some far off land.
• If you are sending something to me that is valuable, you can use DHL, which ships to Burkina Faso. You can use my standard shipping address, and, if they ask you for it, the Peace Corps Burkina Faso Headquarters phone number is 226 50 36 92 00. Note: standard airmail is the best way to send stuff to me, and DHL should only be used for sending something that has significant monetary value.
• These are my favorite tips, because they're so deliciously absurd. So, getting through customs: to decrease the chance of packages getting opened and pilfered, there are a few techniques that, while seemingly ludicrous, actually work: 1) don't actually explain what's in the package on the customs form—rather than listing "chocolate, clothing, DVDs" (for example), write "educational materials" or "hygiene products" or "religious materials"; 2) address things to me as if I am a man of the cloth. Seriously. Father Michael Falletti, PCT. I'm not making this up. 3) Try to use some red ink somewhere on the package—maybe not on the address because it could be hard to read (especially if it gets baked in the sun, as red ink tends to fade), but maybe use it to write "Airmail/Par Avion" or to underline a few things. I believe the red ink has some sort of religious connotation (kind of baffling to me, since green is the color of Islam, and Burkina Faso has a large Muslim population, but what do I know?) and will deter theft. Scrumptious!
  

My Wish List

• Energy bars (doesn't matter what brand or flavor)
• Pop-Tarts (again, doesn't matter what flavor)
• Candy I love: Reese's Pieces, Twizzlers, M&Ms with almonds (it would probably be wise not to send any chocolate bars or anything that doesn't have a hard candy shell, as they will melt easily in the tremendous heat.)
• Ketchup packets
• Wax-coated cheese (for all you New Englanders, Cabot makes some very nice waxed cheddar!)
• Peanut butter
• Junk food: Doritos, Cheetos, or just plain tortilla chips
• Any mint-flavored gum
• Hot sauce/various spice packets (surprise me!)
• Salsa
• Pretzels (of any variety)
• Shout Stain Remover
• Purell antibacterial stuff
• Baby wipes
  
• Honey-roasted cashews (hard to find, for sure. However, I like cashews in general and you're welcome to send me cashews in any flavor.)
• AA and AAA Batteries
• Anti-Perspirant/Deodorant (bring on the chemicals: make sure it isn't just deodorant)
• Travel-sized bottles of shampoo (any brand)
• DVDs (check out my Flickr page and you'll get an idea of the kind of films I like. As a general rule of thumb, any horror/exploitation film from the '70s or '80s is a winner in my book. Note: I will try my hardest to mail back any DVDs I receive from people once I return to the United States. However, whatever you send me could easily get damaged, stolen, or lost, so it's best to send me something you can part with.)
• Cheap toys I can use during down time with people in my community (sport stuff is probably the best, e.g. soccer balls, hackey sacks, frisbees, wiffle balls/bats.)
• Magazines like The Economist and The New Yorker (it doesn't matter if they're older editions—I'm sure I haven't read them.)

This list will likely change with some additions/subtractions over time, so keep checking back! And, of course, my mailing address is in the sidebar to your left. So, get those stamps and boxes ready. Send out the black bird, send out the dove ...