French Letter Exchange
The best way of helping young people develop an understanding of distant countries and cultures is to somehow find a way of bringing these cultures directly into the classroom.
It is with overcoming this geographical hurdle in mind RESPECT International has been developing a letter exchange programme between students in France, and French speaking refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Sandrine Cortet, who coordinates the exchange of letters between French speaking students in refugee and non-refugee schools, decided to post advertisements on teacher forums and websites after hearing hundreds of French speaking refugees were looking for pen pals.
Sandrine was extremely encouraged by the response to the adverts, with teachers not just in France but also Quebec, Brazil, and Russia expressing an interest.
The scheme is not intended as a fund raising tool for refugees, but is simply aimed at encouraging a broader understanding of global issues and the challenges that many young people in war torn countries face.
Sandrine, who is based in New Jersey but who has been instrumental in developing the scheme with her French language skills, says that the children discuss a whole range of issues in their correspondence. This can range from the nature of the war in the DRC and what exactly a refugee is, to the students' general likes and dislikes such as what they enjoy eating or their hobbies at home.
Dieudonne Amisi Mutambala is based at Uvira in South Kivu Province, DRC, and manages the refugee school side of the programme. He coordinates RESPECT's rapidly expanding presence in DRC and previously worked on "Irish International Pen Friends."
Dieudonne believes that the collective nature of the Respect scheme allows an easier exchange system than the Irish scheme, especially for younger children.
But he points out that although the scheme has been evolving since 2002, they still face a number of challenges, not least the cost and logistics involved in coordinating the activities in DRC.
One way of easing the financial burden of refugee participants has been for French schools to enclose International Reply Coupons, which allow the recipient to claim back some of the value of the coupons as postage. Dieudonne has found it useful to create certain guidelines, such as limits on letter size and weight, to ensure that he is not charged extra for receiving parcels which do not fit in the local post office pigeon holes.
Dieudonne also notes that another early concern was the fact that it was clear from the style and content of some of the early letters that the ideas expressed were not necessarily those of the children, but had originated with the teachers. Some of the teachers explained that they were concerned that the letters being produced might not be legible enough for the recipients so they felt they should assist with the writing.
But Dieudonne believes that the letter programme is all the better for it being undertaken solely by the refugee children as it is then a purer "cultural vision" where children from very different backgrounds can speak unfiltered and directly to each other, while at the same time having the opportunity to practice their writing skills.
Sandrine feels that it is important for expectations to be managed for both refugees and non-refugee students. She says that although the project is useful in opening the eyes of non-refugee students, they try hard not to shock them or make them feel guilty about the sometimes harrowing situation in DRC.
At the same time it is essential that refugee children and encouraged to believe that the exchange scheme will solve all their problems.
However, the impact on both sets of students lives should not in anyway be under-estimated. Refugee children get an opportunity to share their culture and thoughts with students they'd otherwise have no way of interacting with.
And in a world of e-mails ad cell-phones, non refugee students have the increasingly rare chance to read a hand-written letter which can open their eyes and minds to a whole new world.