Dear Friends and Family,
Two weeks from now I will be getting on a plane
for Washington DC and four days after that I depart for Africa. I cannot explain to you how excited and
nervous I am to begin this journey. I literally cannot explain these feeling because
to be honest, I do not understand them nor do I understand the full extent of
the experience to come.
I
want to first start by thanking each and every one of you for being a part of
my life. In some way big or small you
have all added to the story and in part helped mold me into the man I am
today. I cannot thank you enough! The Peace Corps suggests that as a volunteer
you have a support system/network of people that will aid in your journey and
projects. I would be honored if you
would all be my support system. Accepting
this challenge not only pledges your words of encouragement when I experience
lows in my journey but also participation in my in country projects. I do not know what my projects might be and
I will not even attempt to try and guess.
As my prospective projects are ambiguous at this point, all that I ask
of you is that I will have your support.
I
have started a blog on behalf of my journey in the Peace Corps. With limited internet access this will be
your best way to follow my progression through the PC. I have already posted 2 entries detailing the
timeline and my reasons for joining the PC.
I hope you enjoy it and please understand I will have limited internet
access (once every one to two months). Please excuse the spelling mistakes and
grammatical errors because I will not have much time for editing and as most of
you know, I am dyslexic.
If
you feel so inclined to send me letters or packages please be aware of this
information. Letters take between 6 to 8
weeks to arrive and packages can take up to 3 months. Theft within the African postal service is a
big problem, so please take these precautions: Sequentially number all packages and envelopes. The most cost-effective way to send packages
is to use flat-rate boxes. Use a lot of
tape. If you can, please remove items
from their packaging. Trash is a problem.
Write address information on the outside in red ink, it is said to be
superstitious to West Africans to open a package with red writing. When listing the contents of the box on a
customs form, list the least valuable items first to deter a package handler’s
interest. You may also want to list an
item of religious content, another superstition. Please do not attempt to send any items in
the first 2 ½ month because at that time I will be in Senegal for training and
it will be hard to receive these items. After
my training is complete, please send any mailings to this address:
Justin Wellins, PCV
C/O Peace Corps/The
Gambia
P.O. Box 582
Banjul, The Gambia
West Africa
Feel free to email me at
anytime once I leave March 7th for Africa but please be patient because my
response time will be very slow. If you
have any more questions, words of advice, encouragement or a quick goodbye, I
will have unlimited internet for the next four weeks.
Thank you so very much for being a part of my life, I will miss you all and
I look forward to hearing from you all very soon.
Love,
Justin Wellins
