Experiment in International Relations, Part 2

     I had the bright idea that I should take photos of each writer together with the letter he'd written, so that the kids in Rhinelander could see what their correspondent looks like.  That did so not work.  Boys came and went, and letters piled up

and got shuffled around.  Anyway, I decided to feature here the two most accomplished letter writers at EDD, one for quantity and one for quality.  This is Moses, who was so enthusiastic about the project that he wrote to at least four kids, asking them such pertinent questions as what their favorite colors and classes were and what their opinion of Rwanda was.  Moses devoted so much to these letters that I hope beyond hope that he gets at least one response from Rhinelander!

This guy is Issa.  His English skills are phenomenonally good.  A young gentleman from Rhinelander named Hunter was the lucky recipient of Issa's letter.  Issa found he just couldn't stop writing.  Last count, there were four separate P.S.'s he added to the original letter.  I had visited the class in Rhinelander on the first really snowy day of the winter, and the kids were excited about the snowmen they had built that morning.  Issa could understand the concept "snowman," but struggled a little when I told him snowmen did not have feet.

     Winter, like in a typical Wisconsin winter, was a rather bewildering concept to most Africans.  They understood snow.  Who hasn't seen snow on TV and movies?  But the idea of how cold it is just isn't comprehensible.  I found that a surefire way to astound any African was to talk about ice fishing.  I would chatter away about driving one's car out onto a lake, drilling a hole, and fishing through the hole, sometimes actually catching a fish.  Most just laughed politely and thought I was kidding them. 

     Here's what Issa had to tell Hunter.  When I gave Hunter his letter from Issa, his eyes became like saucers and he read avidly.  Hunter's teacher Shari will be photoing the letters and sending them to Charles in Rwanda for delivery to the kids there.  Maybe some of these correspondences will have lasting power!

Issa's original letter to Hunter

And this is one of several P.S.'s Issa added.