Post by Lara and Kevin
2 May 2014
Note—this is a REALLY long post and probably going to be
pretty boring to anyone who’s not packing a bag in the near future. You have
been warned!
For the benefit of anyone who may be joining Peace Corps,
moving to a developing country for an extended time, or is just curious, here
is the exhaustive list of what we packed to bring with us here, and our
comments on what was useful and what wasn’t, re-loaded just in time for the new
Salone volunteers to read. We organized
it into 3 categories: things we use a lot, thing we use infrequently or stopped
using for some reason, and things we never use.
Things We Use a Lot:
(1) Netbook (an Acer Aspire One with Windows Starter)
-- Before we left the US, we
debated about bringing a computer. Would it be worth the trouble? Would it die
immediately? We finally decided to bring
one, and it was totally worth every penny.
We bought the cheapest computer we could find with the longest battery
life. Because the Peace Corps requires us
to do something called a Volunteer Reporting File (VRF) 3 times per year, it
has made it completely worth it to have our own personal computer. Beyond our periodic reports, having a
computer also allows us internet access at our whim (we have a modem that
connects to the local cell tower—you can buy them here). We rely pretty heavily on the internet access
to update this blog, email family and friends, and stay in touch with project
partners such as Engineers Without Borders.
On another note, we volunteers tend to exchange music and movies like
crazy when we meet up, and now we have something like 120GB of movies on an
external hard-drive. Trust me, on nights
when you just want to chill in your house by yourself (which for us are most
nights), it’s really nice being able to watch a movie or a TV show.
(2) Solar Chargers that recharge AA and AAA Batteries
--One of these broke, but may be
salvageable with a soldering iron. These
chargers are totally awesome and we use the working one nearly every day. Once the sun goes down, the flash lights come
out and it’s so nice not having to buy the super low quality, Chinese batteries
that they sell here.
(3) USB Solar Chargers
--Two of these were, until
recently, on loan to other PCVs in country.
One came back to us, the other broke. We currently are using the Soladec
and the Goal Zero. Both work great (see review of electronics).
(9) LED Flashlights
--Any flashlight that was made in
China for America is better than the flashlights that were made in China for
Africa, so we highly recommend coming with at least one—we like AA and AAA
lights so we can replace the batteries easily.
(3) Headlamps
--We use them daily. Being able to cook or work outside with both
your hands has been wonderful. Our
headlamps have been the envy of most all our Salone friends and family. This is one thing that is really appreciated
as a gift, so perhaps keep that in mind if you want to bring a present for your
host family.
(2) Shortwave Radios
--Some days we can get BBC radio in
our small town—the stations change though, so for us it’s not a super reliable
source of news. Still, being able to
listen to the BBC all the way out in our town has been wonderful and I suggest
either bring a high quality radio with you, or buying a super low quality one
when you get here and get a super long antenna with it. Radios are definitely available in-country,
if you’re looking to save packing space.
(1) Digital Camera
--You have to be able to document
what you see here and digital is so nice.
I suggest a camera that takes AA batteries or if it’s a special type of
battery, bringing two or three extra batteries.
In some places in this country it is really difficult to get things
charged, so keep that in mind if your camera takes a special battery.
(1) iPod & iPod speaker
-- We’ve come to understand that music
is both a cure and a cause of home sickness.
It’s so great to have familiar tunes, but it can also make you really
miss home, so be aware. It’s been
wonderful to share our American music with the neighbors and being completely
surprised by some of the music we have that they already know. We also have an external speaker that we
listen to our iPod with, and it’s awesome for when we’re hanging out with
friends or working outside. The speakers are also great for watching movies or
TV with friends. You can buy portable
speakers in Sierra Leone, but most of the ones we’ve seen here are flimsy and
don’t last long—it may be worth it to bring one along with you.
(1) Surge protector
-- Hadn’t started to use this one
until last year, when we got a car battery and an inverter to start charging at
home. It’s really nice to be able to
turn my one outlet inverter into a 4 outlet power strip so I can charge most of
my electronics. This being said though,
you can buy really cheap surge protectors here in country for the 220V circuit,
but I’ve heard rumors that they don’t work as well and some electronics still
get fried. I’d say this could be a worthwhile thing to pack if you’re bringing
several electronics and you’re worried about burning them out.
(3) Kindle, in a zipper case
--Here’s the deal with Kindles: we
love them and when the first one we brought broke, we had a couple more sent to
us. The Salone PCVs have over a thousand
book files that we’ve collectively passed around, so just about anything you’re
interested in reading could be available here. Unfortunately, this country is
wet for 6 months of the year and even in the 6 “dry” months, humidity is crazy
high, so the environment is not very nice to electronics of any kind. A quick survey of other volunteers found that
numerous others had Kindles that stopped working, but the convenience of having
a ton of books to read paired with the relatively low price of a Kindle means
that many of them have replaced their Kindles and continue to use them. So try to be preventative and bring good,
high quality zip-lock bags with some silicone gel packs, or some other way to
keep the water out.
(many) AA and AAA Rechargeable batteries
--As I said, made in China for
Africa is awful and you’re going to want a way to run your electronics. Having a whole lot of rechargeable batteries
and a way to recharge them (we have the solar charger and also a USB charger we
can plug into our computer) is useful, but not necessary.
(4-5) “Professional” outfits
-- When you first arrive in the
country, you’ll be expected to wear business casual attire (see the Style Guide
for reference) for several days of training with no chance of going out and
buying clothes, so a week’s worth of professional clothes are good to
have. You will be able to hand-wash
clothes though, so if you bring fewer outfits you may just be doing more
washing after training hours. One
recommendation: don’t bring any favorite outfits that you want to be able to
wear upon your return to the states. Hand-washing clothes stretches and wears
them quite a lot, and just about anything you bring will see more wear and tear
here than it would see in years back home.
(1) Jeans
-- Kevin wishes he had brought more
than one pair of jeans. During the rainy
season, jeans can take up to 3 or 4 days to dry, if you’re not willing to iron
them dry. It is never fun being forced to wear dress pants because your jeans
are still wet. Lara has a different
attitude—she’s happy she brought jeans, but she did fine with one pair until
she was able to find a second pair at a resale booth in country, plus since she
lost weight in training and was wearing a different size by the time she went
jeans shopping.
(10) Underwear
-- You’re going to want more than
this in my opinion. Sometimes you miss a
weekend opportunity to wash your clothes, so you need some back-ups. Also as I said with the jeans, sometimes
clothes take several days to dry in the rainy season. Lara brought 20 pairs and
that seems like a better number. Lara also brought like 6 bras and is very
happy with that choice. [Note—you can buy panties, boxers, briefs, and bras
here, but they’re thrift-store quality. If that’s a turn-off, bring your own.]
(10) Socks
-- This is a good amount of socks
for us (Lara and I wear the same socks—we’re so cute, right?). If you wear sneakers or dress shoes a lot of
the time, you may want more socks, but since we wear our Tevas and flip flops a
lot we don’t need too many. Also, socks
are pretty cheap here so you could buy more.
(2) Swimsuits
-- The beaches here are wonderful,
but be aware that your weight will likely fluctuate here. You will have to think about how your body
will react to loads of rice 2 or 3 times a day. I’ve heard that with women it’s
a coin flip of gaining or losing, but most men seem to lose weight here. We have one volunteer that has lost over 70
lbs. In summary: it’s not a bad idea to
bring swimwear, but you can also buy thrift store swimsuits in-country so don’t
sweat it too much. Also—don’t be afraid to bring bikinis! You won’t want to
wear it in your village, but you’re very
unlikely to have a beach in your village anyway. For Freetown beaches, a cute swimsuit or two
is great to have.
(15) Bandanas/handkerchief
-- Wonderful to have here when it
comes to keeping the dust off things (like your hair) and out of things (like
you’re lungs). They’re cheap here too,
though.
(3-4) Casual outfits
--One of my favorite things is a
pair of athletic shorts with pockets that are great to wear around the house on
a daily basis. We basically wear
t-shirts and shorts at home, and put skirts/pants/nicer things on to go out
into the community. See the Style Guide
for more info on this.
(4-5) Pairs of Shoes
-- Both of us brought a comfortable
pair of sneakers and a pair of hiking sandals, and we were happy that we had
them. Kevin’s favorite “shoes” are his
Tevas—he wears them almost daily. It is
completely professional to wear sandals that enclose your foot (so not slip-on)
for work. Flip-flops are super cheap
here, but we recommend bringing one pair so you can wear them to shower
immediately. In addition to those 2,
Kevin brought a pair of leather shoes that he occasionally wears, and Lara brought
her comfiest pair of flats and a pair of Mush flip-flops by Teva. Both new and used shoes are available here,
but Lara has a lot of trouble breaking a good pair of shoes in, and you will be
walking several miles on some days—you need shoes that will stand up to that
test. If you have specialty shoes you
rely on (for running, sports, etc), we recommend you bring them, knowing they
might get worn out completely while they’re here. We also think we would have enjoyed having
our Crocs here, but we left both of ours at home.
(2) Cloth Belts
-- Leather belts can get moldy in
rainy season, so it was recommended to us to bring cloth, and we think that was
a good move. Another note on these, your
weight will likely fluctuate and with the sliding cloth belts you don’t have to
poke new holes. Belts are available all
over the place though, so you probably only need one and if you decide you need
another you can buy it.
(1) Half-slip
--Lara was told to bring this to
wear with an outfit provided for us for our meeting with the president, but it
wasn’t necessary. Then a year later, Lara's school got uniforms for the female teachers that were kind of see-through. Now she wears it 4 days a week.
(1) Jacket
--We’re still on the fence about
whether this is a good thing to bring in your suitcase. The airport will be
cold, as well as the airplane. After that, you’re not likely to feel cold very
often. Still, some sites are in the mountains or near the coast and can get
cold at night, and when you’ve finally adjusted to the weather, you might find
70 degrees to be chilly. I’d say whether you bring long sleeved t-shirts,
jackets, or hoodies is up to you—know that you can buy all of those things
here, even up to think parkas, knit caps, and winter mittens (Why? We wish we
could tell you).
(1) Rain Jacket
--There’s only one Krio word for
any form of wet and it’s “soaked.” We now understand why. For us, rain jackets are a must, and rain
pants are nice to have too…but they’re hot so you may decide they’re not worth
it.
(6) Razor with extra blades
--You
can buy disposable razors and or even American razors with replacement blades
here, but they are either “made for Africa” cheap, or really expensive. We’re really happy that we brought our own
razors.
(4) Deodorant sticks
--Expensive here, and often only
available in the cities. So either you
can do what everyone else does and just go without, or pack enough for two
years. I brought 6 and it’s almost
lasted one year, and now I don’t mind splurging a little on the expensive
deodorant that’s available here.
(1) Diva Cup
--Here's Lara's spiel on the Diva Cup: This is one of those things you can live without
in Sierra Leone (pads and tampons can be bought locally or provided by our
medical unit), but I love the Diva Cup and plan to use it after my Peace Corps
service as well. It’s a great way to
reduce waste (one of our volunteers has a great story about kids getting into
her trash pile and discovering some things she was hoping would remain
buried. I don’t have that problem!), and
I can pack my one Diva Cup when I travel rather than packing a handful of
sanitary products. All I can say is that for me this was a great choice, but
some other volunteers beg to differ.
(2) Nail clippers & Nail Files
-- Can be bought here, but we were
happy we packed them. Fun fact: whether it’s the palm oil or the warm weather,
I’m not sure, but our nails grow way faster here than they did before we came.
(1) Pair hair-cutting scissors
-- We cut each others’ hair (cute,
right?), so a pair of good barbing scissors was important for us. Lara has also done haircuts for almost half
of Salone 3 and a few Salone 4’s as well.
Our first pair of scissors got lost, and we had to manage with a
horrible pair of locally-bought barbing scissors for a few months until
visitors came and brought us 2 pairs.
Several months later, one of those pairs is too dull to be worthwhile,
so we are so happy we got 2. Honestly,
there should be 4-5 pairs of good scissors floating around in your training
group, and then anyone who needs a haircut can beg (or bribe) another volunteer
to do it. There are 2 or 3 of us in our
group who are brave enough to do haircuts, and at least 1 person in Salone
4. Most Sierra Leonean barbers can only
do extra-short styles, so if you want your hair to be longer than ¼” long,
someone’s going to have to wield the scissors!
Travel med kit
-- We brought a lot of medicine
with us, and it was nice at the beginning of service when the medical unit was
pretty busy and we hadn’t quite figured out how to make requests and pick up
our meds. Now, just about everything we
need can be provided by the medical unit, or our doctors can advise us how to
buy it locally. In addition to our
prescriptions, like malaria prophylaxis and birth control, we can get just
about anything over-the-counter, as well as supplies like bug spray, band-aids,
sunscreen, and ear plugs (SO USEFUL for sleeping in the cities!).
(1) Small hanging mirror
-- You can buy them here, but you
don’t realize how vain you are until you are without a mirror for a week or
two. We’re glad we brought the travel
one to use while we were in transit.
(7) Toothbrushes
-- We have more toothbrushes than
we can use before our service is up, but we love having the ones we’re used to
rather than buying whatever’s available here.
(4) Bar soaps/shampoos
-- You can buy cheap brands almost
everywhere here, so unless you are brand specific, I would suggest only
bringing one of each for while you’re traveling.
(Lots of) Pens, Pencils, and other school supplies
-- Pens here are pretty rough, but
you can buy them. Pencils here are cheap so you can buy them here. We’re glad we brought some permanent markers
and calculators, though you can buy them here too. The Sharpie is wonderful to label everything
that is your own to prevent people from stealing from you. Protractors, compasses, and rulers are great
for loaning to students or giving to them as prizes, but we don’t personally
use them a lot.
(2) Dry-erase blank posters and dry-erase markers
-- Started using this in our house
to keep track of short term, in progress, and long term projects. It’s super nice to keep things organized. We didn’t go buy this though—my mom happened
to have them and gave them to us.
(1) pack sticky tac
-- We used this often until we noticed it pulled paint off the wall. It didn't take up much space, so we don't regret packing it.
(1) Can opener
-- Sierra Leoneans are baffled at
our safety can opener that removes the top cleanly and safely. The alternative is using a knife. We’re glad we brought this, because we cook a
lot and re-use our cans for all sorts of things. We had a friend come with a replacement after a year and a half here. That's how much we use this!
(1) Veggie Peeler
-- There is so much fruit and
different things here that you’re going to want to peel, we think its worth it
to bring one if you expect to cook a lot.
(2) Pocket knives and (2) Kitchen knives
-- We suggest you buy knives for
yourself in America and knives here in Sierra Leone so you can lend them to
neighbors and such. The alternative is
that you get your good knife back with a giant chunk taken out of the edge because
your neighbor cut through chicken bones with it. We like our American knives too much to relegate them to that kind of fate (and locally, knives cost a quarter or $0.50!)
(1) Stainless Steel Travel French Press
-- If you are a coffee lover, they
do sell ground coffee here (grown in Sierra Leone!) and it’s passable. We’ve had some good coffee sent to us in a
package and that has been so wonderful to remind us of home. If you are into coffee I highly suggest you
look into getting this (Bodum
Brand which can be bought on Amazon.com), or expect to make "cowboy" coffee with a cup and a bandana, which is also fine.
(1) Clothes line
-- Rope is very cheap here so
there’s no need to bring this.
(1) Knife Sharpening Kit
-- Should use it more, but still
use it often. This is also another great
present for host families because the alternative is sending it to a blacksmith
or using the closest rock.
(1) Multi-tool (basically an off-brand Leatherman)
-- Yet another thing you will find
yourself using often and another thing your host family will envy. If you can find a cheap version of this, they
would love it!
(1) Roll duct tape
-- They sell clear tape here, but
there’s nothing that compares to real duct tape. Trust me, you’ll want this. That being said, we had it sent in like 5 packages and now have more than we could ever get through. There are worse problems, I guess.
(2) Masterlocks
-- Peace Corps provided one for
each volunteer and you can buy locks in country so there’s no need to bring,
but that being said we are using every one that webrought with us to this
country. It’s advisable to lock everything here, and no one here knows how to open a Masterlock, so it's extra safe.
(2) Kraft cheese packets
-- The only cheese that Sierra
Leoneans know about is laughing cow (it doesn’t have to be refrigerated!). If you’re a fan of dairy and you can get some
powdered cheese or some easy cheese you will be so thankful that you brought
it.
(1) Outdoor Thermometer
-- It broke before we even got to
this country, but since one of our radios has a thermometer on it, it’s always
cool to see what the temperature is doing.
Plus your family is always going to ask you how the weather is here and
with this you can give an accurate answer!
(Highest we saw: 118F; Lowest: 62F; Temp where we start to feel “cold”
after getting used to being here: 74F)
(3) Games: Playing cards, Uno, and Bananagrams
-- We probably did not bring enough of
these. You find yourself with a lot of
down time here so you’ll want something to do, and since therea re 2 of us, games are great.
You may also befriend some people in town that are way better at these
games than you and it makes you super competitive and gets you out of the
house. For those of you who are familiar
with strategy games like Settlers of Catan or Agricola, we are really
disappointed we didn’t bring ours-- but not having it meant we invented our own board game here! (It's called Pave the Way and there's a post about it somewhere on this blog)
(2) Pillows
-- If there is one thing we can tell
you, it’s that you are going to want your own American pillow. You can thank us when you get here, after you've seen the alternative option.
(4) Sets of travel eating utensils
-- We use them a lot, but I don’t
think you’d have to bring it. You can
buy utensils for very cheap here. The nice thing about these, though, is that no one else has bamboo cutlery, so we know they're ours.
(6) Carabiners
-- This is one thing that you don’t
think you use a lot until you’ve found a use for them all and you are suddenly
out of them. You are able to buy them
here, but sometimes it’s not the easiest thing to find.
(2) Pairs sunglasses
-- You can buy knock offs here (like
my awesome pair of Rey Bails), so you can decide if you want cheap sunglasses or nicer ones. Lara's happy with cheap ones. Kevin preferred his good ones.
(1) Battery operated Christmas lights
-- Stopped working after several months of daily use. Still glad we brought them. They were festive!
(2) Quick-drying bath towels
-- You can buy bath towels here but
it’s nice to have new quality ones, and you'll probably want one before you venture out to the markets for the first time.
(2) "Got Science?" stickers [gifts from our dear
friend and fellow mega-nerd Diane]
-- Nobody here understands it or
reads it except for Americans. Fun for
us though!
(10) Water flavoring packets
--
Sometimes you don’t want just water and you need to stay hydrated. You
can buy some flavors here, but they’re not always that good. This is one thing we request from anyone
sending us a care package—we drink a lot of flavored water.
(1) Tripod for digital camera
-- Love this thing. We use it at big gatherings with volunteers, as well as for self-portraits.
(several) Sets ear plugs
-- You need them. Sierra Leoneans have two levels of volume:
really loud, and off. Peace Corps can provide
you with some but you have to ask for them.
I suggest you get a cheap pair that will get you through the first week
or two before you get more from the Medical Officer.
(1) Set Full-size sheets
-- The only ones I’ve seen were
either thrift store sheets or these flannel sheets. It’s nice having some clean sheets of our
own. Kevin's mom brought a second set when she visited and we love having more than one. They can be bought here, though, so one is probably plenty to pack.
(2) Journals [One has several favorite
recipes written in it]
--
Great place to write things that you don’t want to publish on a blog (like illnesses that you don't want your mom to read about),
but don’t ever want to forget.
Things We Don’t Use a
Lot, or We Stopped Using:
Many of our toiletries:
--We don’t use much beyond shampoo,
soap, chapstick, and occasionally lotion.
That being said, it’s pretty tough to predict what will be really nice
to have and what you won’t use.
(2) Packs "Shaving Cream Sheets"
--The humidity here kinda killed
these but they were pretty cool to have for a few weeks.
(1) Engineering Statics book
-- Don't tend to use this but we like having textbooks in the land without Google.
(1) 6th Grade Math Book
-- Was helpful in the beginning
when we had no idea what we were going to teach, but now that we're in the groove of
things, we don't use this book.
(80) Honey Sticks for the kids
--Flavored honey in a straw! These
things are awesome. These became less
for the kids, but rather for us. The
kids just don’t appreciate them like we do.
(a ton) Trinket toys from Kevin's Mom
-- Great to hand out to little kids
when they do something for you.
(1) Camp shower
-- Used it until it seemed
like it was going to break and have stopped using it. It’s pretty nice though to have a warm shower
as opposed to a bucket bath, but we don't mind the bucket either.
(2) Water Bladders
-- Use them when we go on long bike
trips, which we've done 2 or 3 times.
(2) Pleasure-reading books [The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and The
Dirty Life by
Kristin Kimball]
-- Read and passed onto other PCVs. Not sure where they are now but we’re hoping
to get them back before we leave just to see where they’ve been.
(1) Bradt travel guide for Sierra Leone
-- Surprisingly useful sometimes,
surprisingly unreliable other times. We lost our first one and got the new edition. We like this book when we plan to go anywhere we haven't been before. It's not always accurate, but some information is better than none.
(1) Audubon Guide to African Wildlife
-- Unfortunately this book is for
all of Africa and therefore when you want to find the breed of specific bird or
lizard that’s in country, it’s pretty difficult and sometimes isn’t there. But it has pointed us in the right direct a
number of times and we were able to find the exact breed online later.
(1) Night Sky Atlas
-- Super fun to have here because
the nights here are so dark. This is one
hobby I surprisingly really got into while being here. Also, we’re pretty far from Ohio so the whole
sky shifted when we showed up and it’s been nice being able to pull out the
atlas and identify constellations.
(1) Blue laser pointer [to point out stars, and also because laser pointers are
neat]
-- If you really want to freak out
a Sierra Leonean, bring a laser pointer that they can see into the night
sky. It’s pretty freaking cool.
(1) Rubix Cube
-- Still unsolved by Kevin (and untouched by Lara)
(5) Large bubble envelopes
-- Nice to have so you don’t have
to buy them here. Shipping out of this
country is super crazy expensive though.
The best thing we’ve found is that you send your mail with the next
American that is shipping out for America and have them stuff it in their
luggage and mail it once they get back.
(2) Small microfiber towels
-- Great to have around the house
for cleaning. Towels are cheap here, though.
(1) Photo album with family/wedding/friend photos to show our host family and
others
in-country
-- I highly suggest you bring more
than just pictures of you and your family.
Pictures of your house, car, pets, job, winter, and other random things
that Sierra Leoneans want to know about you in your daily life in America.
(2) Baseball hats
-- Its nice to have. Super sunny here and you don’t always want to
wear sunglasses.
(1) 70L Osprey backpack [Kevin's]
-- Anytime we travel to Bo or
Freetown, we bring this bag with another smaller backpack put inside it. We then fill them to the brim with grocery
store items to bring back to our site or things that we got in a package.
(2) Airport bags to put packs in
-- Lara decided to put her pack in
a rolling suitcase, so we thought about leaving one of these at home. We did end up brining both and good thing we
did because mine got eaten in the Philadelphia baggage claim. The Airporter LZ was a huge disappointment
from Osprey and I would suggest you find an alternative option to protect your
baggage.
(1) 55L Osprey backpack [Lara's]
-- Use it less than mine because
it’s smaller, but still nice to have. If
we know it’s going to be a heavy load that we need to pick up, we bring both
Lara’s and my own.
(1) Rolling suitcase for Lara
-- Worked wonderfully for traveling
here and from our host family to site, then again when we traveled home. Nice for airports, but inconvenient on unpaved roads. Still glad we brought it.
(1) Mesh laundry bag
-- Pretty nice to have something
that lets the air in and keeps the bugs out.
(1) 24L carry-on backpack
-- Has become our market bag and is
wonderfully theft-proof.
(1) Small carry-on duffle bag
-- Ripped on the way to the
country. I will probably give it to
somebody here.
(3-5) "Space Bags" [you can squeeze the air out of them and pack
things more closely]
-- Great for making those pillows
that you ABSOLUTELY NEED TO BRING small enough to fit into your luggage.
Things We’ve Never
Used:
(1) iPod
– Lara left hers on the plane in
Freetown, so some lucky plane passenger presumably owns it now.
(1) Computer lock
(1) One-piece swimsuit
– Lara just prefers her two-piece.
(1) 35mm Camera
(10) US Forever stamps [to send letters home with people going to the states]
--We just don’t send a lot of
letters, and those who have carried letters home for us were kind enough to pay
the postage for us.
(1-2) Harmonicas
--Lara has always wanted to learn
to play, but it’s just not been a priority here.
(1) Sketch book
--Lara has made exactly one sketch
since she arrived. Still, she’s glad she brought it and it didn’t take up a
whole lot of space.
