An Interview With Alex P. Columbus
Hundreds of children and young people attending refugee schools in Sierra Leone have made contact with students in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA through the RESPECT International letter exchange programme. The e-Zine interviewed Alex P Columbus, the national co-coordinator for Sierra Leone, about the programme’s success and what the exchanges mean to the children who take part in them.
RESPECT Sierra Leone is hosted by an organisation called Peace Pals Network. Alex P Columbus has co-ordinated the letter exchange programme since 2003. After studying engineering, he started working with Peace Pals, which aims to help children and young people affected by the civil war. The conflict lasted for eight years and resulted in the displacement of almost half of the country’s population. (Source: BBC Online Special Report)
RESPECT e-Zine: How may children and young people have taken part in the RESPECT letter exchange programme?
Alex P Columbus: The letter exchange started sometime in 2003, and involves about 200 to 300 children and young people roughly.
RESPECT: Which countries have the children and young people received letters from?
APC: They have been receiving letters from Australia; London, UK; Winnipeg, Canada and Colorado, USA.
RESPECT e-Zine: What do the children hope to achieve by sending the letters? What do they want to tell the other children about?
APC: They want to achieve school-to-school and individual friendship internationally, share ideas and assist refugee students where necessary… They want to tell the other students about their experiences during the war and about their country, and also share their culture.
RESPECT e-Zine: How do the children react to the letters they have received? Have they been surprised by what the other children have to say?
APC: They were extremely happy about the letters they received because for the past ten years, it seemed like those students were in darkness because of the war.
RESPECT e-Zine: In your view, what impact does the letter exchange programme have on the young people you work with? What do you think they have learned through taking part in the exchanges?
APC: The letter exchange will create a positive impact on the children. They have learned a lot of things from their friends internationally.
RESPECT e-Zine: How would you like to see this programme develop in the future?
APC: I would like this programme to develop into exchange visits [in order] to share ideas, cultures, learn about other countries and so on.