Pen-Pal Program
2019 - 2020
It all started when…
The inspiration behind starting a pen-pal program came from an incredible book called “I Will Always Write Back”. This book gives a very interesting perspective about life for so many people in Zimbabwe and Zambia. The storyline develops through letters written by a teenage girl living in the U.S. and a teenage boy living in Zimbabwe. Over time, their relationship grows tremendously and the book is one that is impossible to put down!
After reading the book, I came up with the idea to start a pen-pal program between girls here in the U.S. and girls in the clubs in Africa.
What it means to be a Pen-Pal?
For me, I feel as though there are many big things that I have accomplished with The Seraphine Project. Fundraising, starting a website, and writing a blog are all big and important things, but what truly means the most to me are the individual relationships that I have gained with girls apart of the clubs. By being a pen-pal, girls have been able to become best friends with someone living halfway across the globe. If you ask me, who wouldn’t want to be apart of that!
The Process:
Prior to the second time I traveled to Africa, I had 25 girls living in the United States write pen-pal letters for me to deliver
When I was visiting in March of 2019, I passed out the letters and each of the girls in Girls Time Club wrote letters back
Throughout the next many months, girls were writing letters back and forth
The most successful way of delivery was to deliver the letters through travelers
We tried mailing letters, but they typically were lost in transport, so this method was not very reliable
While the process of delivery is complicated, the relationship made such a huge impact on girls
