Half way to our goal!

As of this morning, we are just shy of 300 letters.  We need to get AT LEAST 300 more letters written in order to get one letter to each student at Amazima.  If you know of anyone who is interested or might be interested yourself, shoot me and email!  picturesforpeace2012@gmail.com

Here is a list of the schools currently involved:

West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science-Grand Rapids
KEC Oakleigh-Grand Rapids
Challenger Elementary-Kentwood
Grand Rapids Montessori High School- Grand Rapids

We are hopeful to add one student at a time...one family at a time...one class room at a time...or one school at a time, until we meet our goal of getting at least one letter into the hands of each and every student at Amazima, in Uganda.  This project seems to be offering quite a bit more than I had even anticipated when Pictures for Peace began.  Take a look at a letter written by one of the teachers at KEC Oakleigh, Mrs. Jennifer Walker:

Creating Global Connections

By: Jennifer Walker

KEC Oakleigh students have partnered with a local non-profit organization, Pictures for Peace, to embark on a letter writing campaign to Amazima School in Masese, Uganda. This is our second year writing to Amazima. KEC students are paired with Amazima students by the director of Pictures for Peace. This list is then emailed to the school.

 Amazima is a program with over six-hundred students. The area is poverty stricken and lacks access to many resources. The school feeds and houses some of the orphaned students as well as providing education. The majority of these students had never received mail until our students wrote to them. Pictures for Peace, in cooperation with KEC and multiple other schools, sent letters and cards last school year. We were able to send at least one piece of mail to all 600+ students! Pictures were posted on the Amazima website of the children opening the mail we had sent! Our students were elated that they had put those smiles on other children’s faces.

Two great lessons came out of our first letter writing campaign. First, our students felt a sense of community with the students in Masese. Secondly, they were made aware early on that Amazima lacked the resources to send mail back. They wrote these children with no expectations of reciprocation. So when Pictures for Peace director, Brynn Beukema, contacted KEC asking if the students would like to participate this year, the answer was a big “YES”. They are very excited to be writing to Amazima again. Staff is also looking forward to reiterating those lessons about community and reciprocity, especially during the holiday season.

If your classroom is interested in writing letters, please contact Pictures for Peace for a list of Amazima students.

Brynn Beukema

Picturesforpeace2012@gmail.com

Pictures4peace.blogspot.com    


And here is a letter from one of the teachers at WMAES, Mrs. Carla Fortuna:

Young Fives

Letters to Uganda

The Young 5’s class has just finished writing letters to children who live in Uganda.

Several classes at WMAES are partnering with the organization, Pictures for Peace (Amazima), and the Young 5’s class was excited to be a part of this fun project. The students’ letters and pictures will travel to Uganda between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and our students will have the joy of giving to others in a special way. This is a great way to introduce the idea of compassion, our next Character Education trait! The students are happy taking the time to make someone else feel special, even though they have never met the person they are writing. What caring citizens we have in the Young 5’s class!

(left) Vanessa Guzman-Espino showcases a letter she wrote for the project. (right) A child in Uganda who happily opened their letter last year when we participated in the project.