Cole: smithnb21@gmail.com
Caroline: annecaro525@gmail.com
In addition to keeping in touch online, we would also LOVE for you to send us letters and/or packages! It is my goal to post a care package wish list after we have been there a little while and know more about what we will need/want.
Below you will see a "Letter to Families" given to us from the Peace Corps. It includes our address (which may change after training...we will update if necessary.) and information about how to reach us in case of any emergency.
Communicating With Your Peace Corps Volunteer
While Overseas
December 2014Dear Families,
Greetings from the Pacific Desk in Washington, D.C.! It is with great pleasure that we welcome
your family member to the Vanuatu training program. We receive many questions from
Volunteers and family members regarding travel plans, sending money, relaying messages and
mail, etc. As we are unable to involve ourselves in the personal arrangements of Volunteers,
we would like to offer you advice and assistance in advance by providing specific examples of
situations and how we suggest handling them.
1. Written Communication. (Please see #3 for the mailing address to the Peace Corps office
in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu) The mail service in Vanuatu is not as efficient as the U.S.
Postal Service; thus, it is important to be patient. It can take 4 to 6 weeks for mail coming from
Vanuatu to arrive in the United States via the Vanuatu postal system.
If you would like to correspond via regular mail, we suggest that you monitor how long it takes
the first few pieces of mail to arrive in, or from, Vanuatu so that you can have realistic
expectations of the time necessary to send or receive letters. If you are concerned about letters
being lost, you can number your letters so that the Volunteer knows if one has been missed.
We recommend that you send postcards in envelopes--otherwise they may be found on the wall
of the local post office!
Volunteers often enjoy telling their “war” stories when they write home. This is one of the
exciting and adventurous elements of serving as a Volunteer. Anecdotes in letters might
describe recent illnesses, lack of good food, isolation, transportation challenges, etc. We
wholeheartedly encourage the communication, but want to share our observation that events
described by a volunteer can become misinterpreted (and intensified) by concerned readers
back home. Should you hear things that cause concern, please feel free to contact the Country
Desk at the number provided in the final paragraph of this letter. Family members should be
aware that at the Peace Corps office in Vanuatu there are two Peace Corps medical officers
who are available to provide medical care for all Volunteers. In the event of a serious illness,
the Volunteer is sent to Port Vila and is cared for by our medical staff. If Volunteers require
medical care that is not available in Vanuatu, they are medically evacuated to a nearby country
(Australia, New Zealand, Thailand) or the United States.
If for some reason your normal communication pattern is broken and you do not hear from your
family member for an abnormal amount of time, you may want to contact the Counseling and
Outreach Unit (COU) at Peace Corps Washington at 1-855-855-1961, then press 2; or
directly at 202-692-1470. Also, in the case of an emergency at home (death in the family,
sudden illness, etc.), please do not hesitate to call COU immediately so that we can inform the
Trainee or Volunteer. Use the above number at all times. After business hours, tell the operator
your name, telephone number, and the nature of the emergency, and the Duty Officer will return
your call.
2. Telephone Calls. The telephone service in Vanuatu can be inconsistent at times, as well as
pricey. During training, your family member may have scarce access to email, but all trainees
will be provided with cell phones upon arrival and your family member will communicate that
phone number to you.
During their service, access to internet – at most sites – will not be available, but Volunteers will
have access while in Port Vila or most provincial centers.
The Pacific Desk maintains regular contact with the Peace Corps office in Vanuatu through
phone calls and e-mail. However, these communications are reserved for business only and
cannot be used to relay personal messages. All communication between family members and
the Volunteer should be done via international mail, e-mail, or personal phone call, unless there
is an emergency and you cannot reach your family member.
3. Sending packages. Family and friends like to send care packages through the mail.
Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all involved due to the
incidence of theft, heavy customs taxes, and delays in forwarding mail from the office to the
volunteer’s site. You may want to try to send inexpensive items through the mail, but there is no
guarantee that these items will arrive. We do not recommend, however, that costly items be
sent through the mail. You may use the following address to send letters and/or packages to
your family member until he/she has informed you of a different address:
[Trainee’s Name]
Peace Corps/Vanuatu
PMB 9097
Port Vila
Republic of Vanuatu
It is recommended that packages be sent in padded envelopes if possible, as boxes tend to
be taxed and opened more frequently. Any parcel that is valued at more than 100 USD will
incur a customs fee.
We hope this information is helpful to you during the time your family member is serving as a
Peace Corps Volunteer in Vanuatu. We understand how frustrating it is to communicate with
your family member overseas and we appreciate your using this information as a guideline.
Please feel free to contact us at the Pacific Desk in Washington, D.C. if you have any further
questions. Our phone numbers are 1-855-855-1961, press 1 for the staff directory, then ext.
2502; or directly at 202-692-2502; and the email address is VanuatuDesk@peacecorps.gov.
Sincerely,
Sasha Cooper-Morrison
Desk Officer (Micronesia, Palau and Vanuatu)
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