Please if you send anything outside of a letter, include a list of anything in it, just so I can make sure all items
are getting to me, and not to anyone in the 3 countries that come before me opening my mail. Thanks!
My address currently is:
Jeffrey Locke, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 3194
Lome, Togo
West Africa
(Please be aware that I will change this over time, as I will be moving a couple of times during my time here.)
If you are mailing a care package (Thank You!) here is pertinent information from past volunteers:
Here's a summary of helpful hints for you if you want to send anything my way...
The USPS has a little green sticker for customs or a larger multiple copy white form. USE THE GREEN ONE!! For
the list of contents, just write educational materials, or religious materials, or personal items with a couple of dollars
as the value - regardless of what is really in there (yes, this is ok to do).
Specifically itemized things temps any of the number of various postal workers worldwide who handle it in transit to
Africa to "borrow" the package. If the package is 5 pounds or less and has the green sticker I hardly get charged anything
at all to receive it. Heavier envelopes or boxes get more taxes.
Even if it's under 5lbs, I get higher taxes if you use the white form - and this does absolutely nothing to assure that
I'll receive the package any quicker. If anything of value needs to be sent, there is some kind of registered mail
available, but if you don't keep the tracking number they can't do anything when I tell my director that the package is missing.
Here is a list of care package things that would work with a manilla envelope (right now thats probably the best best
until I figure out the tax system over there when I receive packages, if anything changes I will update this immediately.)
-anything from Trader Joe's
-Peanut Butter or sourdough pretzel nuggets
-Parmesan cheese (the really processed kind that can be without a fridge and can be put into a small ziplock plastic
bag)
-Any fast food ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, soy sauce, taco bell hot sauce little packets
-Dried raisins
-toss an empty ziploc bag in with a letter
-for those with food dehydrators, dried broccoli or mushrooms are great
-Ikea or other furniture pages
-Altoids
-mixed or copied CDs
-anything to remind me of home (posters, photos) for my wall
-seasoning packets, ie taco mix, chili, italian seasoning, ranch dressing powder, Thai food (or any other bagged random
spice from a bulk section of Wegmans)
-Any recipes you have that involve bananas
-NY Times Sunday Magazine/Entertainment magazines/Time/The Economist
-Chai tea instant or teabags
*Sounds like a lot of stuff, its all copied from previous PCVs, and I really appreciate any gesture sent to me, from a
letter to any of these items. Truly, thank you.
