“Connie, can we send you anything, like we did to China? What’s your mailing address?”

With my recent birthday, I had quite a few people ask me the above question. In fact, I had asked Angie (Center director, who is from the Philippines) this same question several months ago. I assumed packages could be received, much-needed supplies sent by those willing to do so and even mailing myself items that didn’t fit in my suitcase could be easily done.

Angie’s reply was not one of great hope.

“I’ve never tried it before,” she said. “We never have mail delivered in Laos unless it is through DHL. There is really no public mailing service unless for big corporations.”

Being an American, I am only familiar with FedEx or the US postal services’ Priority Mail service. I had to look it up.  DHL is the global leader in the logistics industry. It specializes in international shipping, courier services and transportation

I did a search about DHL distribution centers. There is a total of 11,700,000 DHL mailing offices in the world.Out of those, 3,755 are located in the US but only found in large cities. Chicago has 2. Houston has 103. 220 countries use DHL with the Netherlands being the top ranked one.

Obviously, with 11.7 million offices around the world and the US only having 3,755 of those, it’s not a very popular way to send things internationally in America. 

No wonder I never heard of it.

The Problem of Mailing 

As an optimistic person, right before I left America, I mailed myself an envelope of small paper items from my local post office.  That  was sent December 4, 2023, with addresses to the Center in both Laos and English, a Laos staff telephone number added for extra precautions and off it went for $14.24.

Today is January 20.

I have yet to see any signs of it.

Good thing it wasn’t an $80 box!

How to Solve Mailing Problems

Thus, sad to say, there doesn’t seem to be a solution to mailing things to me here unless using DHL, which appears to be non-existent  in small-town areas or even mid-sized cities in our 50 states.

So how do I get needed supplies that can’t be found here?

Have people hand-deliver in their suitcases.

If you recall, Angie asked me to bring American chocolates to the staff (I brought Hershey kisses) as well as vitamins for her.  I loaded up on student reward stickers and a few other things I thought might come in handy but I was just guessing.

Now I find myself in need of so many things!  But without the ability to have things mailed, I am left with waiting for willing visitors from the States to graciously make way in their suitcases  for what I want.

Lucky me!  Someone is coming at the end of the month. After a quick pleading email from my end, this  reply was given: “Sure, Connie!  Happy to help.  Have sent to me what’s needed  from Amazon and I’ll hand-deliver.”

$100 worth of Birthday Presents to Myself:  Hand-delivered Resources For my Teaching (and studying)

Here are my purchases above:

1. Children’s books for Laos Language Learning:  my personal use, for additional Laos language study.
2. Medical English Dialogues for English Language Learners: Angie informs me we’ve had classes with Laos medical professionals in the past, teaching at their hospital with the administrator’s approval, to improve their ability to communicate with foreigners and international NGOs who come to help in the medical field. We’ve had no targeted materials for medical vocabulary so this one should get us off to a good start.
3. Flash Cards for Kids: I’ve been needing these for my classes with beginners and know they will come in handy for future learners.
4. No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners: This is both for myself and also for future Buddhist Monk English classes. 67% of those in Laos are Buddhists. Beautiful temples, full of novice monks, are found in every nook and cranny of this city, as well as others. The Center sponsored an English course for temple monks 2 years ago. The expat community is large in Vientiane and foreign visitors often come to temples to wander about. It’s important for the monks to be able to communicate in simple ways and this is one way to help. I need the basics in Buddhism which will, in turn, allow me to prepare properly for whatever the temple community that hosts the classes feels it needs. 

I’m SO looking forward to having these arrive next week.

Be looking for more news from Laos in the next post, including innovative ideas of getting people to visit the Center, not to mention my newfound freedom!