23 July 2008

My address and phone number

*This mailing info was updated in March 2011*

All mail should be sent to:
David T. Duckworth
06 BP 10539
Ouagadougou 06
Burkina Faso

Instructions from the first time I wrote about mail
You may use the U.S. postal service to send letters or small packages - preferably small enough to fit in a padded envelope rather than a box, to minimize taxes and customs fees on my end. Mark all packages with "Airmail / Par Avion". There is the possibility that things you send through the mail will be lost, so don't send anything too valuable. In particular, don't send me postcards without enclosing them in an envelope unless you'd really like your postcard to adorn some post office along the way that I'll never see.

Finally, my phone number. My number is with Airtel(was Zain, was CelTel): 75.90.71.83. Sending texts to this number may or may not work. Remember, to dial out of country, in the states, you must either dial 011 or the "+" sign (on your cell phone, hit "*" twice...at least that works here. You can find it, I have faith), then the country code of the country you are calling. Burkina's code is 226. So, to break that down, you should dial either

01122675907183 or
+22675907183


if you are dialing direct. Which you shouldn't be doing. What you SHOULD be doing is either using a VOIP like Skype or an online calling card from a place like http://www.pingo.com/ (I really don't recommend using a store-bought calling card, they tack on a lot of fees). So when you use those, you'll need to follow whatever their directions are for calling another country. Again, I have faith in you. Also, you should notice in the comments below that Pingo kindly left you a coupon code to help you save a bit of money.

Another online site, http://www.speedypin.com/, is used by at least one volunteer's family. Instructions from that volunteer's dad:
Go to the site and enter your origination country and destination. The site will list your options. You should select Super Star. You may choose segments of $2, $5, $10, or $20. There is a service charge of $1 for purchases that total under $20 (so for example, you can buy 4 $5 segments to avoid the charge). $5 should get you about 35 minutes of talk time. The downside to using smaller segments is that if you want to talk longer, you must redial - there is no back-to-back use on a single call. There is a posted $0.79 semimonthly service charge, but it appears to be only within "opened" segments - the volunteer's family has never lost any value to time deterioration. Once you've ordered once, the site is easy to navigate for reorders of additional time: just select [Your Account], choose the time to purchase, acknowledge your personal info, re-enter your charge info and select "Yes".

If you are really uninterested in anything else, I still have an email address, too! This username at gmail dot com. Write, call, text, email, but do something! I miss you folks!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey,luv!Enjoyed the update, but didn't get a reply for my e-mail.Let me know when the package arrives. How many of my letters have you received? Pat is home...popped out his knee at camp. He goes back to State this Saturday;boo,hoo!
Still have not received the letter you wrote me.Did it get mailed?
All us ducks miss you!
momma duck

Anonymous said...

Hey bro! Sorry it has taken me so long to post/email/talk to you but as you know I've been out of town. I'm going to try to call you this weekend so we can catch up. Btw, I only received one of the texts but that will be a moot point once we get to talk. I hope you haven't been missing me too much because I still hate you as much as ever :-)

Donna Llewellyn said...

Hi David. We miss you in CETL. I had to sign your ASR for you - didn't think GT would appreciate a few month delay for the post :) Sounds like you are having a wonderful experience - stay healthy and keep writing your blog!

Anonymous said...

thanks for using pingo to stay connected while serving in the peace corps.

For any other readers, enter in coupon "forum" for 15% off to give pingo a try.

thanks for blogging about pingo

Pingo Marketing Team

Leah Riley said...

I am so sending you something! Don't know what though. I have a lot of spices.