So the new group of MOZ 15ers are starting to get their invitations to Mozambique, including my friend Pat, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, and i remember how daunting packing felt, and then reading a few of the volunteers’ suggestions on what to bring that really helped, so here are mine and vonnie’s two cents on what you can probably leave behind and what you should absolutely, definitely bring!! First, here are two websites that I didn’t find until just a few weeks before leaving, but there are A LOT of companies that will let you sign up for their pro-deal for being a PC volunteer, which means discounts on a bunch of their stuff. Money is tight so take advantage, but get started now cuz it just takes a long long time to get approved and then shipping and whatnot so…
http://www.peacecorpswiki.org/Volunteer_discounts
http://coconuth8r.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/freebies-and-discounts-for-pc-volunteers/
you should also sign up for the bed bath and beyond mailing list and start getting coupons, and ask all your family and friends to donate theirs to you cuz you’ll save a TON of money with all those 20%off coupons! Also a lot of drug and office supply stores will be starting their back to school sales so hit those up! Also grab a Sunday paper here and there for coupons and sale notices.
Things I brought or got sent that I absolutely could not live without…
- Laptop, camera, hard drive (pre-loaded with all your favorite movies, e-books, music, tv shows, and if you can afford it, bring an extra one to steal stuff from other volunteers!) ipod (if you bring an ipod touch or iphone, load it up with multi player games cuz a round of scrabble, monopoly or trivial pursuit can get you through even the most ‘exciting’ sessions, and there are a LOT of really ‘exciting’ sessions!), and flash drives – just cuz you’re in the PC doesn’t mean you have to deprive yourself of ALL luxuries… trust me it’s hard enough as is without some music/movie/tv escape. (oh and don’t forget all the cords and chargers you need!
- REI chamois towels – they are super thin and pack small and dry ultra quickly!
- USB plug in speakers – recharging batteries is a HASSLE and a half, and most of you will bring laptops so you can just have em plugged in. I did bring a small battery powered speaker as well for travel, but I gave it away and don’t miss em!
- Lonely planet Mozambique
- Sharp knives and a peeler! Whether you like to cook or not, you’ll need a knife, and I bought the Henckels 4pc pairing knife set from BedBathBeyond for 20 bucks and they are GLORIOUS! Also you’ll prob be eating a lot of potatoes and having a good peeler will save your thumbs from carpel tunnel.
- Printed pictures – during training they’re great to show to your host fam, and then once you get to site you can use them to decorate your room! Printing pictures is kinda pricey and hard to find a place to do it outside of the bigger cities.
- Any and all on-the-go drink mix packets! Crystal light, propel, Gatorade, lipton – bring as many as you can! Also if you are a tea drinker, bring your favorite teas cuz the only one you can get here is ‘five roses’ Ceylon tea which is… ok… but gets old quick when you drink it with almost every meal during training cuz you don’t want to drink sodas with every meal… haha
- Duct tape and clear fishing line – can be used to fix or make anything!
- School supplies that I love – good quality pens (that you like using cuz you can get the sucky bic pens here too), scotch tape, markers, crayons, colored pencils, colored chalk (I also use this small plastic case thing to carry chalk cuz if you just put it in your bag or pocket it will rub off white on everything!) also I got self laminating sheets and dry erase markers sent and I laminated a poster size sheet to write tests and texts on and it’s AWESOME and you don’t waste lots of poster paper or get cramps in your arms from writing on the black board.
- TONS of ziplock bags in all the different sizes! Snack, sandwich, 3oz, gallon – I packed a lot of clothes and supplies in the larger ziplock bags and then when I got here I used those bags for other things!
- Spices that are easy to use – taco, garlic powder, course ground black pepper (pepper is really hard to find here!) parm cheese, Italian, pasta sauce, HOT SAUCE and anything that’s just add water!
- Warm clothes, sweat shirt, sweatpants! It is ridiculously HOT most of the time, but during the ‘winter’ here it does get pretty cold at night and your house will have NO insulation which means cold when you sleep… not fun! And a couple of days it gets really really cold and rainy during training! But also beware that you’ll be doing your own laundry a lot of the time, so don’t bring anything that you wouldn’t wanna have to handwash!
- My rain boots! (along with other rain gear like a waterproof jacket, rain pants and small umbrella) I got the cheapy ones from target that I would have never worn in the states, but they hands down were a lifesaver during training! They were warm and the mud in namaacha is OUT OF CONTROL! All your long pants will forever get ruined from it and if you wear flip flops, the mud tends to swallow them whole! Also the mud gets under your toenails and eww your feet just get gross looking… so yeah I know a lot of people don’t use them and don’t find them useful, but I loved em and I left them with my host family in namaacha cuz nowhere else in Mozambique will you ever need them!
- GAMES! We played games during every break, at the end of the day, on weekends! They were a great way to get to know other ppl in a “in-your-face-I’m-better-than-you” kinda way~ haha but really you’ll be invited to every gathering cuz they’ll wanna play your games! I brought cards(of course), uno, travel settlers (seriously the best game ever), and catchprase. Some other suggestions: skip-bo, phase 10, lotsa dice, travel scrabble, travel anything = )
- Nalgenes! You can do two different sizes or a widemouth and a skinny. But one thing that von had that I got super jealous of was her nalgene cover! It’s just a neoprene cover meant to keep it cold/hot (which is awesome if you have a fridge) but more than that, your nalgene will sweat when going from cold to warm and if it’s in your bag it’ll just get water on everything and ruin papers, books, electronics! No good!!
- Febreze – sometimes you’ll be short on water and can’t do laundry or you forgot to wash something, and you’re just sick and tired of smelling your stinky self? Cover it up with some febreeze!
- A good quality 220v extension cord! Very few volunteers live sans electricity here and most of you will have electronics, so if you can get your hands on one there you should def bring it! I had my mom send me one cuz you’ll either end up paying a lot of money for an OK one or get a cheap one that’ll melt after 15min of use… not fun.
- Some other misc things – don’t bring orbits or anyother stick style gum. They melt and stick together… instead bring mints and chiclet style gum like eclipse. Swiss army knife and flashlight – definite musts! The fake q-tips here SUCK so if you’re a q-tipper, bring real q-tips! Lysol or wet wipes come in handy since running water and soap is hard to come by so they can clean up minor messes. Good toothpaste, deodorant,
- If you’ve read my blog, or anyone’s for that matter, you’ll know that rats getting into your stuff is pretty common. Von’s mom sent us sticky glue filled rat traps and they work like MAGIC. They’re small and light and we’ve already caught 4!
Things I still don’t have that would be awesome…
- for english teachers, you should def bring a simple grammar book cuz if you’re like me, even though we speak it, teaching it is different and who knew there was a name for every grammar tense!
- For science teachers, von came as a bio teacher and is now teaching bio, physics, and english, and she really wished she had brought basic text books. Even though they’re heavy I think it’s a good idea to bring at least one and then you can always trade with other volunteers once you know for sure what you’ll be teaching! The science courses here are bio, chem, physics and math and there’s a good amount of bio and chem books already floating around, so it might be better to bring a physics and/or math book. If you’re dead set on teaching a particular subject, unfortunately chances are you won’t be teaching it so just keep an open mind and be prepared to be flexible, and to teach english!! Haha
- Thermarest! If you’re planning on traveling at all while you’re here, which you absolutely should, you’ll want a small but comfy sleeping bag type thing cuz cement/mud floors are cool but super uncomfortable! We’ve used some of our friends’ thermarest and they are AWESOME! You should try to find the space to fit one it! A travel pillow and blanket are also key~!
Things you don’t really need to bring….
- a million day supply of meds… just bring the truly basics, (pepto, advil, vitamins) and REALLY, REALLY, REALLY only a 10 week supply, cuz once you become a PCV they provide a pretty good spread of meds. And even in training if you get seriously sick, the doctors will take care of ya, they won’t leave ya hanging!
- If you’re not crazy sensitive to the sun, you really don’t need to bring a hefty supply of sunblock. During training you’re honestly not outside that much and namaacha’s pretty overcast and chilly and you’re more covered up anyway.
- Lotion… I brought this GIANT bottle of it and haven’t touched it and once you swear in this too is provided for… I’d say bring a thing of Vaseline instead cuz if you wear sandals a lot your feet may dry out and crack so Vaseline would be better than just lotion.
- Bug stuff – you’ll be sleeping with a mosq net and namaacha just didn’t really have that many mosquitoes.
- I really really really wanted to buy a UV water purifier cuz they just seemed really cool, but I’m glad I didn’t bring one cuz they’re pricey and you’re pretty set with the filters they give you.
Host family GIFTS
- This was a tricky one for almost all volunteers and since you don’t know who your host family will be, you kinda have to buy stuff for all ages and types of people. I don’t know why but I just assumed I would have a house full of little kids so I brought like hair and makeup stuff for little girls and hot-wheels cars for boys and I didn’t have any kids in my family… so those ended up being prizes during model school and given away to neighbors, but I also brought a set of pairing knives (the same ones I brought for myself) to give to my host mom, and luckily I just had one super awesome host brother who was 17 and I had brought a $10 usb 2gig mp3 player from target that I loaded up with his favorite music and gave to him on his birthday which passed during training! They were both huge hits! Von says American candy is good like skittles but avoid ‘hot’ candy… why that was an option to begin with I’ll never know… (she’s looking over my shoulder and demands that I write that hot tamales, red hots, and any type of Mexican candy that is coated in chile are strictly prohibited… thanks von) but she does say that different plant seeds were a huge hit and her family planted them the next day! Also I know a lot of people brought jerseys, t-shirts and hats of their favorite sports teams from back from and host fams ate that up! Really they will like anything that comes from you so don’t stress is too much cuz it’s the thought that counts! Oh one last thing, you could bring a picture frame, then during one of your trips to Maputo get a picture of you and your host fam printed and then give them that framed picture! I think a lot of people do that too!
Ok so there it is. It’s kinda monstrous I’m sorry, but really don’t panic, take a deep breath and get packin! Definitely give yourself an extra packing day than what you’re planning to allow some wiggle room for procrastination and panic attacks! It will take a long time and lotsa brain power so gear up! Also you can start buying stuff and just keep all receipts and don’t take tags off and if you find something for a better price or realize you really won’t be needing it just return it!
Von and I are available for personal shopping consults so email us (esther.gweon@gmail.com , voncontreras@gmail.com) with any and all questions! This was just stuff that we really loved or didn’t so if you want more input on the packing list they send you we can do that as well~
