For Friends and Family

Hey guys!

Here is a form letter the PC provides for my family and friends. If you don't want to read the whole thing, here's the gist:

• If you don't here from me for a while, don't worry. I'm fine. Mail just takes a while and may have gotten lost. The PC will contact my parents if there is an emergency. 
• I won't have access to the internet during pre-service training (PST) - so no blog updates or emails until June 2014. Sorry!
• Writing letters to me would be great. As would packages. See my "Talk to me!!" page for details.

Below are a few links to get you started in your discovery:

The World Fact book – Malawi: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/mi.html

The Lonely Planet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/malawi

The Daily Times Newspaper: http://www.dailytimes.bppmw.com/

Friends of Malawi:  www.friendsofmalawi.org

All Africa News: http://allafrica.com/malawi/

Begin form letter:

1.  Irregular Communication.   (Please see the "Talk to me!!" page for the mailing address to Peace Corps' office in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi)  The mail service in Malawi is not as efficient as the US Postal Service; thus, it is important to be patient and understanding.  It can take 3-4 weeks for mail coming from Lilongwe to arrive in the United States via the Malawi postal system.  From a Volunteer's site, mail might take 1-2 months to reach the United States.  Sometimes mail is hand carried to the United States by a traveler and mailed through the US postal system (Volunteers should bring some US stamps for these opportunities).  This leg of the trip can take another several weeks as it is also dependent on the frequency of travelers to the US.  There is a truism that you may wish to embrace as uncomfortable as it is, “No news, is good news!”

On average, it takes approximately four weeks for letters mailed from the United States to reach Lilongwe, and may take an additional six weeks to reach the Volunteer’s site.  We suggest that in your first letters, you ask your Volunteer family member to give an estimate of how long it takes to receive your letters and then try to establish a predictable pattern of how often you will write to each other.  Also, try numbering your letters so that the Volunteer knows if they have missed one.  Postcards should be sent in envelopes – otherwise they may be found on the wall of the local post office!  By the end of their Pre-Service Training your loved one will be able to send you their specific site address. 

For the first eight weeks in country, your family member will be living in a village near the training site (about a two-hour drive north of Lilongwe) and participating in an intensive, immersion style training program where they will begin to learn language, cultural norms,  and technical skills necessary to be a safe and productive Peace Corps Volunteer.  During this time, they WILL NOT have access to email/Internet but can certainly receive and send letters.  Receiving mail during this intense period is most welcome and appreciated by all Trainees.  Once they are sworn-in as Volunteers, they will have access to the Peace Corps computers in the office and can reestablish email communication.  However, you must remember that some Peace Corps Volunteers in Malawi may not have daily access to email so you should have limited expectations about immediate replies to any emails you will be sending.

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 important, it is often misinterpreted on the home front. There are two extremely competent Peace Corps medical doctors and a medical assistant at the Peace Corps office in Lilongwe.  In the event of a serious illness, the Volunteer is sent to Lilongwe and cared for by our medical staff. If the Volunteer requires medical care that is not available in Malawi s/he will be medically evacuated to Pretoria, South Africa, or the United States. Fortunately, these are rare circumstances. 

If for some reason your normal communication pattern is broken and you do not hear from your family member for an unusually long period of time, you may want to contact [my parents (they're on Facebook)].  

2.      Telephone Calls.  The telephone system in Malawi is relatively good and service in and out of major towns and cities to the United States is fairly reliable.  However, in the interior of the country, where most of the Volunteers are located, there are fewer phones and service is more sporadic.  Your Volunteer family member, however, will be given money to purchase a cell phone at the end of Pre-Service Training for use while s/he is here in Malawi.  Your family member may choose to bring a better quality phone, but it should be a GSM phone. Cell service is quite good, reliable, and available in many parts of the country.  Some Volunteers may have to climb a small hill or walk a distance from their home, but this is a far cry from having to travel several hours or days to get to a working phone as was once the case.  Volunteers will mostly use text messaging in Malawi, and you should be able to send and receive messages with them. 

Please be aware that the Peace Corps staff in Lilongwe and Washington are not able to assist in arranging calls. Your family member will be able to inform you of their actual telephone numbers once they arrive in-country and at their site. The Malawi Desk is in regular communication with the Peace Corps office in Lilongwe. However, this communication is reserved for business and we cannot relay personal messages. All communication between family members and the Volunteer should be done via international mail, e-mail, or phone calls.