Pen Pals

by Charlene

Do you remember having pen pals in elementary school? I do, and ours were from Thompson, Manitoba. Although it seemed a world away at the time it was hardly a cultural exchange. Last year we had an MCC worker in two of Lusaka’s community schools and he arranged a pen pal exchange with an elementary school in Winnipeg. Stefan is back in Canada now so I went back to visit his former students and deliver the final package of letters.

Some Grade 4 students in their doorway

I had met the teacher in the morning and then found out that the Grade 4 class doesn’t arrive until the afternoon as the Grade 3 students use the classroom in the morning. I returned in the afternoon and entered the class and all the students were sitting diligently. When asked where the teacher was, they responded that she had gone home in the morning because she wasn’t feeling well so they were just sitting and waiting to be taught. I took that to mean that it would be a good time for me to share the letters from Winnipeg. I started by saying “I have a friend named Stefan…” at that point I was interrupted by cheering and applause and they were very excited. I think they thought I was going to announce that he is coming back but they were also very happy to receive the letters.

Rebecca with her letter from Winnipeg

In true Winnipeg fashion, many of the letters described Winnipeg weather and talked of all the different seasons and several had drawn pictures of hockey rinks. I had fun “interpreting” the letters for them, it’s difficult to explain the concept of temperatures that go below zero to kids who have never seen an ice cube or a refrigerator. As soon as the bell rang for break the children proudly took their letters with them to their outside breaks so they could show the students in the other grades.

A drawing of an ice hockey rink

I asked them what message they would like to send to Stefan and they said “Send stee-kahs” (stickers) when I restated the questions to say not what you would ASK FOR but what message would you like to send, a girl named Rebecca said to tell him that “the children of Chimwemwe Trust school love him and miss him very much and want him to come back very soon.” All the students agreed and it was very sweet, after that I pulled out a nice pile of stickers that had been sent from the Winnipeg teacher and it really made the kid’s day.

Everyone wants their picture taken