This week, in class, we explored pen pal relationships. The specific pen pal relationship that stood out to me began in 1997 between Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda. When Alifirenka, who lived in Pennsylvania, was asked to choose which foreign country she wanted her pen pal to be from, she chose Zimbabwe. While Alifirenka chose Zimbabwe simply because she liked the way the name of the country sounded, it wasn’t long before she became fascinated with how different life in Zimbabwe was compared to Pennsylvania. Ganda was also interested to learn all about life in Pennsylvania.
One thing that stuck out to me in the letters was how Alifirenka was easily able to send pictures of herself to Ganda. Ganda, on the other hand, was unable to easily send photos and had to save up his money so that he could get a picture taken to send to her. As they continued to send letters to each other,
“…Alifirenka began to learn more about the poverty that [Ganda] faced on a daily basis” and “her perceptions of her own world began to change.”
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2015/05/04/pen-pals-book-caitlin-martin
The correspondence between the two benefitted them both and what makes it all the more significant is that they are still friends today.
