Outreach:
Pen Pal Program
Group Letter | Pen Pal
Kenya Connect’s Pen Pal program complements studies of African cultures through social studies and language arts curricula. It also provides an important tool for educators to promote and integrate writing skills across various disciplines. Program participants discover cultural education as it was meant to be -- a live and inspiring learning experience -- not a book exercise. In the first person, students convey information about their own culture and absorb knowledge of a distant one, while also gaining mastery over the art of communication and exchange.
Group Letter
Instructions for teachers
We are currently working with 39 primary schools in the Machakos district of Kenya. This is home to the Kamba culture. If you are tying this project in with a unit on Kenya or Africa, please do not have your students write about what they have learned. Your students are serving as cultural ambassadors and should use this opportunity to teach children in Africa about Western culture or their own specific ethnic background. This is easily accomplished by writing about their personal family history.
Letter contents may include:
- Personal information: parent’s names and occupations, names and ages of brothers and sisters, pets, hobbies, what your home looks like and the land surrounding it, physical appearance.
- Cultural information: food, holidays celebrated and religions practiced, music and dance, ethnic background and other languages spoken (include some words or phrases).
- School information: teacher’s name, subjects studied, how many students in class, friends and their names.
- Photos & Artwork: We highly encourage attaching photos of the students and of your school. Drawing on the back and decorating the borders of the letter is also recommended. Artwork may also be attached.
- Gifts: Please note that no gifts may be sent along with the letters. If you and your students want to assist our enrolled schools, please see School Sponsorship.
Instructions for writing and sending letters through school or organization participation
First, contact Kenya Connect via email and write Partnership Request in the subject line. In the body of your letter, please include:
- Your Name/Contact Person
- Email Address and Phone Number of Contact Person
- Name and Address of School or Institution
- Number of Students Per Grade Who Will Be Participating
- And please let us know if you are planning on participating in the School Sponsorship Program
- “To My Friend in Kenya”
- Full Name of Student
- Name of School
- Age
- Grade and Gender
- Your name and mailing address (including your zip code!).
- Your age, gender and grade in school.
- The age and gender of the pen pal to whom you wish to correspond
Have your students use the printable form or have them create their own. Quite often teachers use this as part of a computer lab project. Please be sure that the heading of the letter contains the following information:
Teachers, you are more than welcome to write a letter as well. The teachers in Kenya love to correspond with teachers abroad.
Send completed letters along with school and contact to:
-
Kenya Connect
Pen Pal Club
P. O. Box 7487
Silver Spring, MD 20907
Kenya Connect will be responsible for postage to and from Africa and your school. However, we graciously ask for donations to help offset the operating costs of this program.
If sending letters from outside North America, please contact Kenya Connect for instructions.
Turn-Around Time
The academic year in Kenya begins in January and schools are closed the months of April, August and December. The best time to send letters during the U.S. academic year are September through the end of October and January through the end of February. During this time letters take an average of four weeks to get replies. It can sometimes take 3 – 4 weeks for letters to reach our project site, however. So if sending letters during November and March, responses can take 8 – 10 weeks due to session breaks in Kenya. If letters are received after the first week in May, we cannot guarantee that replies will be received by the end of the U.S. academic year. Despite the logistics mentioned, several of our participating schools exchange letters three times between September and May.
When replies to your student’s letters are sent, you will be informed about how to continue correspondence. You will also receive a profile and photos of your partner school.
Personal Pen Pal Letters
You don’t have to be a part of a school or organization in order to participate in Kenya Connect’s Pen Pal program. To start writing to your own personal pen pal, use the guidelines listed above for composing your letter. In your initial letter please be sure to include:
Please send your letter to the address listed above.
