Care Packages

This post is to say a GIANT thank you to everyone who spent the time, effort and money to send me a care package. Honestly, I’m not sure how I will ever convey the level of gratitude that I and the other trainees feel for them. Additionally, a thank you should go out to my parents for teaching me good sharing skills because the PCTs definitely benefit highly from my packages.  All five of the packages that were mailed to me were received on the same day (a product of the postal system here) the night before Thanksgiving. The oreos and pretzels sent by the lovely people of Travelers Insurance were immediately put up for grabs and just as immediately devoured. The nerf football also made Thanksgiving that much better as we were able to have a touch football game (in the pouring rain) and explain to our Rwandan  teachers the game of football and its significance on Thanksgiving. It is also the only football that anyone has in this country – where soccer is much more popular – so you cannot imagine how much the males of our group appreciate it! Another thanks to Mama K for the prepackaged pumpkin bread mix and canned pumpkin. It arrived literally just on time and we constructed our own oven just to cook it up for the celebration! The Rwandans loved it too which is rare for something so different from the norm!! My children – yes I call them mine they are my favorite Rwandans by far –  were overjoyed with more jump ropes to play with and there are now a dozen or so little boys with American flag colored friendship bracelets. My boss whose son has been in the hospital for quite a while was brought some of the chocolate and oreos, which I am told he appreciated. Care packages, as you can see, clearly bring an immense amount of comfort and excitement to myself and those around me. Anything from America is automatically considered epically cool and people are excited just to have access to it. But I have to say a big thank you last but not least for the food! It is beyond comforting! This week I have eaten a tuna fish sandwich! Goldfish! Salsa! And Kraft macaroni and cheese!! And I can safely say that they made my week and the week of everyone I shared with. Today after a long, rainy, and stressful day of AIDs training myself and several other trainees came back to the hub and cooked up a big pot of packaged mac and cheese from one of my packages and some brownies from someone else’s. You’ve literally never seen a bunch of happier people. It was borderline indecent. So if I haven’t expressed my gratitude enough let me do it again. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for the food and toys. Thank you for the thoughts. Thank you for the obvious support it shows for myself and the Peace Corps’ mission at large. Thank you for making my week. Thank you for the few pounds it has helped me gain back.  It’s an incredibly comforting thing to have concrete signs of home, and love, and support, land a million miles away and realize that someone took the time and effort thinking of you. It makes hard days here easier and good days better. Thank you! And don’t worry, I am paying forward.