Keira Knightley?
A good general rule is that any Made in China plastic stuff available at a dollar store is likely to belocally available and not totally unaffordable. When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, my family would send items to share with my neighbors. Here are some of the (flat) hits:
- Inflatable globe- maps can be hard to get, plus globes are fun!
- Anything that can decorate a room- pretty images, calandars, etc.
- Quality colored pens and pencils. Pens are available locally, but quality will be bad and supplies limited.
- Any kind of nice book with pictures-- think National Geographic
- Bracelets and small baubles. One thing to keep in mind is she likely be expected to share with siblings and neighbors, so a few versions of something easy to share will be appreciated.
- Balsa Wood gliders
- A good map of the country. Quality maps are hard to get.
- Nice notebooks- notebooks are locally available but quality may be poor.
Kool-aid can be iffy, because it requires a lot of sugar, which is expensive. Fruit leather isn’t a bad idea, but package it well as it could sit for months in rat-infested warehouses (mail took 3-6 months to reach me in Cameroon.) And remember that packaging can be valuable- try to use durable, reusable packaging if you can.
How about a few Fresnel lenses. - Flat plastic magnifier. Quite cheap. And while the girl you are supporting may not see it as anything more than an oddity, elders in her village may find it very useful for reading.
As an example.
Love the idea of an inflatable globe or beach ball too. And the credit card flashlight.
And hope this does not sound crass, but how about good band-aids? Anti-bacterial ointment can also be purchased in little squeeze packets.
You can get slap bracelets at the dollar store.
And while you’re in there, look around at some of the other stuff they have. Inexpensive toys, or small books are also flat and you can usually find that there.
I don’t know if these would be useful, but socks, shoelaces, or washcloths. Soap from hotels might be small enough. And if you look hard enough you might find a flat flashlight.
I already posted that!
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I’m admittedly not “up” on the latest fads among Rwandan teens, but light pretty fabrics made me happy as a teen (still do,) and might have practical/decorative use. Bright pretty scarves and the like, perhaps?
If you find out she’s learning English, Mad Libs books are a surprisingly entertaining way to learn grammar!
I live in a household with four girls and two adult women, so believe me when I say that one can never, ever be overstocked on hair elastics, barrettes, bobby pins, etc. Nor socks and undies. I swear that I spend most of my disposable income on these items.
Learn a few word of Kinyarwanda - the language.
For all kinds of info, the CIA Factbook has a nice, concise profile of each country.
Here is Rwanda
Please do NOT send seeds or anything else alive - foreign species can be disasters.
Re hair thingies - this is Africa - what kind of hair does the child have?
As for cosmetics - skin color will be important.
Sending cosmetics and hair bands appropriate for a white child to a black one would be another cultural disaster - Americans are already suspected of being ignorant of other cultures, you don’t need to send additional evidence.
At 16, is she likely to be considered an adult? Age appropriate in the US may not be age-appropiate elsewhere.
Lots to answer…
- That drinkable book looks fantastic.
- sven, I appreciate you checking in. Advice from someone who has been in the trenches, if you will, really helps. I’ll definitely be on the look out for that globe and some balsa gliders. I bet that’d be neat. I bought some notebooks today and I’ve found some cool bracelets on eBay.
- Fresnel lenses and the Metal Earth models will also be on my list of must finds. Excellent!
- I’m looking for some good samples tomorrow.
- The resale that I volunteer at has lots of fabric that I can choose from. Can’t wait until Tuesday to look.
- And learning a bit of the language is an awesome idea! I’ll start working on that.
As for my child, she’s a black young lady. From her bio, it seems she’s very young for her age. I mean, it lists her liking to run and kick a ball around for fun. I also will keep the cultural considerations in mind and try not to do anything that would embarrass her. Hope that helps on the details.
To everyone, thank you so much! This has been a wonderful load of suggestions and, I hope, I get to send her many goodies in the upcoming years. You guys are terrific.