Communicating with your Peace Corps Volunteer
While Overseas
August 19, 2013
Dear Friends & Families,
Dear Friends & Families,
Greetings from the Pacific Desk in Washington, D.C.! It is with great pleasure that we welcome your
family member to the 2013 Fiji training program. We receive many questions from Volunteers and
family members regarding travel plans, sending money, relaying messages, 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 Peace Corps' office in Suva, the capital of Fiji) The mail service in Fiji 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 Fiji to arrive in the United States via the Fiji postal system.
We suggest that in the first few letters sent, the Volunteer family member give an estimate of how long it takes to receive the letters and then try to establish a predictable pattern of how often the volunteer will write. (Also keep in mind that written correspondence sometimes wanes as the Volunteer’s service progresses). Try numbering your letters so that the Volunteer knows if one has been missed. Postcards should be sent 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. While the subject matter is good reading material, it can often misinterpreted or exaggerated on the home front. There is a Peace Corps medical Officer and Medical Assistant at the Peace Corps office in Fiji. In the event of a serious illness, the Volunteer is sent to Suva and is cared for by our medical staff. If Volunteers require medical care that is not available in Fiji they are medically evacuated to a nearby country (New Zealand, Australia) or the United States. Fortunately, these are rare circumstances.
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 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 Volunteer. This number is available 24 hours a day.
1. Written Communication. (Please see #3 for the mailing address to Peace Corps' office in Suva, the capital of Fiji) The mail service in Fiji 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 Fiji to arrive in the United States via the Fiji postal system.
We suggest that in the first few letters sent, the Volunteer family member give an estimate of how long it takes to receive the letters and then try to establish a predictable pattern of how often the volunteer will write. (Also keep in mind that written correspondence sometimes wanes as the Volunteer’s service progresses). Try numbering your letters so that the Volunteer knows if one has been missed. Postcards should be sent 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. While the subject matter is good reading material, it can often misinterpreted or exaggerated on the home front. There is a Peace Corps medical Officer and Medical Assistant at the Peace Corps office in Fiji. In the event of a serious illness, the Volunteer is sent to Suva and is cared for by our medical staff. If Volunteers require medical care that is not available in Fiji they are medically evacuated to a nearby country (New Zealand, Australia) or the United States. Fortunately, these are rare circumstances.
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 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 Volunteer. This number is available 24 hours a day.
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 Fiji is relatively good and service in and out of Fiji to the United States is mostly reliable—however, it may be pricey! During training, your family member may have scarce access to email, but some of the host training families may have phones in either their homes or at a nearby location. Your family member will communicate what that phone number may be.
During their service, access to email should be available—albeit not necessarily at all times. They will also be able to inform you of their telephone number once they arrive at their permanent sites in the country.
As Pacific Desk Officer, I maintain regular contact with the Peace Corps office in Fiji through phone calls and email. 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, email, or personal phone calls, 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 high incidence of theft and heavy customs taxes. 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:
Timothy Doak, PCT
Peace Corps/Fiji
Private Mail Bag
Suva, Fiji
SOUTH PACIFIC
We hope this information is helpful to you during the time your family member is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji. 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 the Pacific Desk in Washington, D.C.at fijidesk@peacecorps.gov if you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
Shelley Swendiman
Country Desk Officer
Fiji, Samoa, Tonga
