Tuesday, February 21, 2012

A Letter to Family & Friends


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

No comments:

Post a Comment