Penpal Project

JOURNEY Pen Pal program provides an important tool for educators to promote writing skills across disciplines.   In the first person, students convey information about their culture and absorb knowledge of a distant one, while also gaining mastery over the art of communication.

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.

Instructions for writing and sending letters through school or organization

First, contact JOURNEY via email and write Partnership Request in the subject line. In the body of your letter, please include:

  • Your Name/Contact Person
  • Email Address of Contact Person
  • Name and Address of School or Institution
  • Number of Students Per Grade Who Will Be Participating

Have your students use letter 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:

  • “To My Friend in Kenya”
  • Full Name of Student Writing
  • Name of School
  • Age
  • Grade and Gender

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:

JOURNEY: The Ed Colina Foundation
Kathy Nienaber
IHM School5876 Veterans Way
Burlington, KY 41005

JOURNEY will be responsible for postage to and from Africa and your school. However, we ask for donations to help offset the operating costs of this program.

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 JOURNEY 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:

  • 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
  • Gifts: Please note that no gifts may be sent with your letter.

Please send your letter to the address above.