I might not love all of these items enough for them to make it onto my favorite lists (These are a few of my favorite things, These are a few of our favorite things, My favorite items during PST), but that does not make them any less important.

I packed a lot. I do not regret being unable to carry everything well without assistance.

Below are lists of items that I use every day, when I travel or leave the house, items that are fun, and a few extra items I did not use but you might. These are items that Peace Corps did not provide to us. Those can be found here: What Peace Corps gives us.

I noted brands for a few items and if that company offers a pro deal/discount to PCVs. I recommend the bigger ticket items (electronics) be purchased in America. You can find almost anything you could want in Eswatini. It might be hard to find, or cost a lot, but you can find it. I suggest that most kitchenware be purchased here if you want more than Peace Corps provides. I could have saved money if I had done that.

Daily items

• Headlamp with rechargeable batteries (Black Diamond head lamp with Energizer batteries)
• Indoor/outdoor thermometer and clock (LL Bean)
• Outdoor sandals (Teva, gives PCVs a discount)
• Indoor flip flops (Eddie Bauer)
• Bike shorts or leggings (I always wear something under my skirts)
• Plastic silverware, plates, and dishes
• Water bottle
• Weekly pill holder
• Smart phone
• Pitcher for pouring water
• Clothes pins (not just for hanging wet clothes, but also for closing food bags and displaying photos)
• Food storage containers (bring a few to get you by until you amass a collection of yogurt and peanut butter containers)
• Sleeping bag in winter
• Fleece in winter
• Slippers in winter
• Fan in summer (I bought an oscillating fan here, and brought a small, rechargeable one from Goal Zero)

Preparing food

• Plastic cutting boards
• Pairing knife (definitely bring a good knife from the U.S.!)
• Non-stick skillet
• Plastic spatula/turner
• Kitchenaid plastic spatula for baking
• Refrigerator
• Stoven (like a toaster oven but with burners on top stove + oven = stoven)

When I leave the house for work or travel

You need to be able to carry all the things. Thanks GHSP for the hand-me-downs!

• Backpack
• Reusable shopping bag
• Big shopping bag to carry lots of purchases at one time (LL Bean)
• Clothes pouch (Eagle Creek, gives PCVs a discount)
• Tent (I had one I could bring for free, and it saves you a lot of money when going to Bushfire or Hlane; I don’t know if the PCVs who bought tents specifically for their service were happy with the purchase)

For fun

• Kindle (PC Eswatini gives us one)
• Flash drives/hard drive for media and saving work
• Computer

Just because I didn’t need these every day doesn’t mean you won’t

• Solar charger/solar powered lights (Some sites in Eswatini do not have electricity)
• Dress shoes (these were my first purchase after moving to town for my extension)