Krissa can best be reached by mail at the following address:

Krissa Nichols, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 114
Maradi, Niger
West Africa

The following is advice on mailing letters and packages from the friends and family mailing list:

Hello FFPCVN,
We have experienced a high success rate of mail being delivered to our daughter and without being opened.   These tips were all passed to us by other Peace Corp families & friends.   We always send everything: airmail in very generic envelopes with the post office meter stamps.   Designer type envelopes and our pretty US stamps have been seen on bulletin boards as collector items between here and your PCV's village---therefore, never delivered.   We never use the cute little decorative rubber stamps either.  
We use three types of mailing:

Letter - if you put anything in the envelope with the letter, it falls into the small package category.
Printed Matter -we have an ongoing pile that gets mailed once a week and usually consists of items that if it makes it great--if not, that is okay too.   Magazines, jokes off the computer (she uses the reverse side of these for stationery back to us), art work from nieces, stickers for the village children, local newspaper clippings, notes about her Peace Corp World Wise class. But no letters to her............a letter puts it into a different postal category and the price goes up.   This is always a 9 X 12 envelope that seems to have the best delivery time.   Small Package- we use padded envelopes in all sizes but they must weigh less than 4 pounds to qualify for the small package rate and cannot have a letter in it. ( We mailed 2 identical pkgs, but one had a letter and it cost an additional $9.00).   She was disappointed at first that every pkg. didn't have a letter, but quickly adjusted when she found out why and now we have our own sneaky ways of saying "we love you".   You will impress yourselves with what you are able to get into a padded envelope and keep it under 4 lbs..
Random thoughts--   We have taken advantage of people visiting Niger to send anything of any real value, like replacement tape players and cameras.
Rather than sending 9 pkgs. of cheese sauce in one envelope, we send three in several envelopes-------you have no guarantees that any package will arrive.   Do not get discouraged if a package does not arrive-----Tiff rec'd a package about six weeks ago that we mailed in October 1998.   Several of the PCV's told us that melted chocolate is not an issue----they want chocolate any way they can get it, just put it in a plastic bag.   M & M's are perfect for shipping.   After Swear In, their address will change when they go to post; but their mail will be forwarded to their village----just keep using their PCT address until you receive their post address.
Our care packages have changed in nature over the past year as well.   During training, we sent a lot of taste treats for her to share with her host family and music tapes that she didn't have room to take with her.   As she headed for post, we started sending other things.   I have made a list that is probably longer than you would like to read---------but I would be interested in some new ideas from the other families too.

Hopefully, some of the others will share their tips for success in the postal world.  

Care package items:
Velveeta box cheese ships VERY well, M&M's, Power Bars, Cliff Bars, US postage stamps, cheese sauces, cheese sauce envelopes out of the Kraft Mac & Cheese dinners (they have plenty of macaroni), backpacker food meals, always Kool-Aid, Crystal Lite, licorice, gum, lifesavers, skittles,beef jerky, pepperoni sticks, Pop Tarts, film, blank cassettes, newly released music, purse size Kleenex pkgs. (sand gets into the larger boxes), dried fruit, lunch/snack size fruit cups, Jello instant pudding, parmesan cheese,pistachios, all types of granola bars, trail mix, Ding Dongs, Animal cookies,Oreos in the collector tins (the tins come in handy),thermometer that registers above 120 degrees,syrup, paper, pens, instant oatmeal, fast food restaurant toys, cake mixes.   We have sent some of the following for the villagers:   children's watercolor paint kits, glitter, chalk and erasers for the school, hats, t-shirts, postcards of America are a big hit, anything that reflects the American flag or anything Red/White and Blue.   Stickers --- and it is amazing how many of these you can get just by asking businesses because the Nigerians don't care what they say---they just like stickers from America.