French Letter Exchange: Two And A Half Years Later
After more than two years in place, the French Letter Exchange Programme includes about 127 French speaking refugees and 123 non-refugee pen-pals from six different countries.
Coordinator of RESPECT in French since September 2004, Sandrine Cortet has done a great job in developing this programme and making possible the exchange between refugee and non-refugee pen-pals primarily between the ages of six and eighteen years old. She is constantly looking for French pen-pals willing to exchange simple letters about their own experiences with refugee children or teens and ensuring that the programme continues to grow.
So far the programme has 250 French-speaking pen-pals and this despite numerous difficulties. There are 25 refugees in Benin, 44 in Burundi, 8 in Cameroon, 18 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), 32 in Tanzania exchanging with pen-pals in France and Canada. To these numbers, we may soon add more than 40 pen-pals from Tanzania as soon as Sandrine finds French children/teenagers interested in exchanging with them.
Difficulties
This programme has faced and is still facing numerous difficulties such as long delivery time, insufficient funds for the postage, lack of facility in the concerned country due to the long journey to post the letters, local taxes sometimes applied to heavy or unconventional packages, etc.
Luckily, teachers and country coordinators are working in partnership with RESPECT International to overcome the difficulties encountered and ensure the continuity of all present exchanges.
The most significant example is in the DRC. Dieudonné Amisi Mutambala (ex-coordinator of RESPECT DRC and Burundi) who received the United Nations Online Volunteer of the Year award this year, has for more than two years ensured the exchanges between children from South Kivu and children from other countries and this despite of the lack of infrastructures in South Kivu.
Because of the distance between the main town and the different schools, he had first to recruit volunteers willing to go by whatever means (usually bicycle) to get the letters from the schools and bring them back to Uvira. Once done, he would travel to Bujumbura in Burundi, crossing borders and going through customs checks to post the letters at his own expenses.
Dieudonné had to leave his function with RESPECT International in July this year. However, he is still making sure that the ongoing exchanges between the South Kivu refugee children and their pen-pals continue. Sandrine thinks that coordinators like Dieudonné and the teachers participating in the programme are working hard and are really devoted to the children and this is the main reason why the exchanges are working well.
And this despite the fact that it has been difficult for her to make refugees understand that the Letter Exchange Programme is not a material or financial aid programme but a means to exchange with each other, to educate children regarding international issues and to make pen-pals aware of the existing differences and solidarity.
Balance for the year 2005-2006
The year 2005-2006 was overall a good year. RESPECT DRC was the only one that experienced some changes. Since Dieudonné left his function, new coordinators had to be appointed and it was also decided to register RESPECT DRC as a non-governmental organization (NGO). This is a long and costly process.
These two reasons have contributed to the reduction of the number of refugee pen-pals in the DRC this year. However, regarding the situation, Sandrine comments that "it is better to have some exchanges of quality instead of a lot of exchanges that are not always enriching for the children. In the case of the DRC, the letter exchanges often took so much time because there were too many letters to distribute and … some of the younger refugee pen-pals gave up."
For the participants a lot happened as well, thanks to Sandrine, the teachers participating in the programme and the country coordinators. Moreover, the programme has ceased to be a conventional letter exchange. Indeed, some teachers used it for their school projects and didn't hesitate to combine the letter exchange programme with other activities linked to the refugees and their issues. The pen-pals have promoted their culture and their region thanks to printed materials such as postcards, newspapers, etc.
Aims for 2006-2007
For the year 2006-2007, Sandrine would like to find about 30 to 60 teenagers or two classes with pupils aged between 15 to 18 years old to exchange with refugee teenagers in Tanzania, and other primary schools to exchange with a Congolese refugee school in Burundi. The latter already exchanges with two French schools but still has three to four classes without pen-pals. She also needs eight teenagers to exchange with a group of urban refugees in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
From the beginning, the programme has been enriching for both refugee and non refugee pen-pals and has also had an impact on their lives. According to Sandrine, "the Letter Exchange Programme brings to the children more than a simple opening on the world and makes them aware of the outside world. It also gives them some moments of joy and emotion when opening the letters, a recovered taste - if it was lost - for education.
"The only thinking that another child living far away and in a different country wants to share his friendship is an extraordinary discovery for both pen-pals. The programme was created from a very simple idea but it works well." May the year 2006-2007 be as varied and enriching as the past one.