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June 08, 2007

Care Packages

Jim Cottrill over at Missionary Blogs has asked me to write something in response to the question What Do Missionaries Like To Receive In The Post?

Three opening comments:

1. What follows is a personal view and not relevant to all missionaries in Africa. Also, it is not a plea to send me things. I am very content already. God is always good, whether or not there are DVDs in the drive or Marmite on the baguette (Habakkuk 3:17-18) Besides, I'm not there at the moment.
2. The postal system to Djibo is reliable but slow. From England a letter takes between one and three weeks but a package can take anything up to six months. From America the times are similar. Only once have I experienced a package not turning up at all, and that was way back in 2004 (Mum sent me a Tilley hat with Polo mints in it - if you see a customs official in Ouagadougou wearing a Tilley hat and sucking Polo mints, please give him my regards).
3. I get all my ministry resources here in Burkina Faso. Bibles, tracts, blank cassettes, etc, it's much easier for me to get them here. Which is why the following suggestions seem so epicurean!

Three things I can't get in Burkina:

1. Marmite: not Vegemite, not Promite, but Marmite, the original and best! My Brazilian housemates got hooked on this wonderful spread. Even my Fulani friends have given it a name: nebbam baleejam lamminaadam (the black salty butter). As Oswald Chambers used to say, start the day with a Marmite baguette and you'll be fine. Or was it Oscar Wilde?
2. Digestive biscuits: mmmmm. But they will need some bubble-wrap.
3. Contemporary fiction in English: I can get Dickens and Hemingway in the SIM and SIL mission libraries, but no contemporary fiction. If you read something new and good, I'd love to read it after you! I like the genre Quirky Literary Fiction, including The Life of Pi, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. In general, you can't go wrong with Booker Prize Winners (unless they happen to be Vernon God Little).

Three magazines that make me go 'Oooooooo, you ARE clever, how DID you know I liked that?'

1. Poetry London
2. Third Way
3. Vogue (actually, that one's for Charlie!)

Three things that make children in my neigbourhood jump for joy:

1. Edible necklaces
2. Little cars
3. Stickers with shiny bits (or, come to think of it, without shiny bits)

Three things I used to really like getting but no longer need:

1. Listening material: Internet access is now excellent in Ouagadougou, so it is easy for me to download listening material from the Radio 4 website. Book at Bedtime, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and Just a Minute can all be enjoyed via the Listen Again function (that said, if you have a cassette of a sermon or testimony or song that has really inspired you, do please send it).
2. Pringles: As of this year, one can buy Red Pepper with a Touch of Olive Extract flavour Pringles in Djibo. Mind-boggling but true.
3. Notebooks: I have enough now, thank you.

One thing I used to be able to get in Burkina Faso but can't any more:

1. DVDs: I used to buy new films from the street-sellers in Ouagadougou (who get their wares from Singapore). Great value-for-money and hilarious blurbs. But Charlie has persuaded me that Piracy is Theft and I'm not going to buy any more, however hilarious the blurbs. So DVDs will be very welcome - anything ordered on Amazon is quick to arrive in Africa (not sure why) and will bless lots of missionaries (and Peace Corps volunteers) because it will get handed round. Heist-thrillers-set-in-Las-Vegas are best, of course, followed closely by romantic-comedies-set-in-London.

One address to send your package to, come November:

Steve and Charlie Davies
BP112
Djibo
Soum
Burkina Faso

One anecdote to finish:

Ken Elliott, the Australian mission doctor in Djibo, once received a care package from a lady who had read about him in the Sydney Herald. It was addressed: Dr Ken Elliott, Just South of Timbuktu, Africa. The package arrived!

Posted by sahelsteve at June 8, 2007 06:20 PM