Letter Exchange: A Practicum Student's Experience
My name is Suzanne St. Yves and I am taking an amazing university course, entitled Creative Tools for Social Change, as part of my undergraduate degree at Menno Simmons College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
I had to select a social justice organization with which to do a 16-hour practicum to fulfill the course requirements and I chose RESPECT International. Next year, I hope to travel to Northern Uganda as part of a longer practicum to assist another peace and justice organization. This shorter practicum is helping me to prepare for that one.
One of the things I will be doing is making a brief presentation to approximately 40 middle-year students about Northern Uganda so that they will begin to understand the children with whom they will be doing a letter exchange. Northern Uganda has been in a civil war for over 20 years. Children have suffered greatly, being abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army and recruited as child soldiers, human shields, or used as sexual slaves.
The letters RESPECT International received from the children of Northern Uganda may appear, at first glance, like any other pen pal exchange. Many are colourful — hand-drawn hearts and flowers decorate the pages.
The words seem like they could come from any teenager:
- "I like playing netball and volleyball."
- "I have three sisters and two brothers."
- "I am nine years old and I want you to be my friend."
A closer examination, however, reveals the horrors that some of these children have experienced. Several contain drawings with huts on fire. One notation reads: "This is our hut. The rebels burn it from the village." Another depicts a rebel leading girls tied to a rope away from the village. Yet, another shows the rebels torching vehicles.
Almost all of the letters state how much the children would like to hear from other young people so that they could make a new friend. The Global Letter Exchange programme has as its goals the opportunity to raise awareness of what is happening in our world and to build bridges between young people around the world.
Writing a letter is a simple act, but one simple act is all it takes to make a difference and to change a life.