Letters to Ghana

When I was a kid, my 5th grade teacher just returned from a year as an exchange teacher in England. She kept in touch with the classroom she had worked with, and we were all lucky enough to have pen pals that year that many of us kept up with over the next few years. My pen pal and I exchanged letters, but also mementos and cultural touchstones we felt interesting enough to send along with our letters. I remember that she sent me a folded up McDonald's french fry container because one had just opened near enough to her to finally try them. Their french fry container was significantly smaller than the ones sold in the US (a good lesson for 11-year-old me), and the fact that she was so excited about this novelty was fascinating to a kid growing up a few towns away from Ray Kroc's original McDonalds in Oak Brook, IL. She also sent me a souvenir from the then brand new EuroDisney outside of Paris after she visited with her family. She gave me something from FRANCE. I was awestruck. I returned the favor by sending a map of Six Flags: Great America and a mixtape I made using my boombox to record off of CDs and the radio (epic). These small exchanges are so memorable because they opened my eyes to another culture, and even though England is not very different from Chicago, it was different enough to encourage me to explore more about that country, its history, and its traditions. It led me to want to travel outside of the US, and encouraged me to explore literature, music, and films that I may not have considered before. How cool would it be for my own children, and my students, to have that opportunity with young peers in Ghana?

I had the pleasure of visiting a classroom of 1st-3rd year students who learned a bit about Ghana this week. Full disclosure - this is the school my own kids attend. Together, we looked at some images of what schools look like in Ghana (even though I do not yet know which community I will visit while in the hinterlands), and we generated some questions the students could think about asking as they wrote letters to students in Ghana. My intention is to bring these letters with me, and then work with students in Ghana to create responses. I also collected letters written by students in the 4th-6th year classes, and my high school students are writing letters as well. A theme they in common is the simplicity of the questions asked. Whether the writer is 7 or 17, they want to know about favorite foods, favorite games, favorite music. They want to know if the kids in Ghana play video games, and if soccer is really as popular as everyone says. They asked about what a typical school day may be like, and the older students offered descriptions of their school days. The curiosity displayed by students of all ages demonstrates the need for these types of relationships. Young people are naturally curious, and if we work to preserve that curiosity, rather than squelch it with rote, forced learning, we will wind up with more curious adults. My love for travel and learning about other cultures is still what drives me to read and explore more about the world. It's why I teach history, and work to show my students how looking back can clear the path forward. My hope is that the exchanges these students will have with young people in Ghana will expose them to how small this world really is, and get them to think about how we can come together as one to not only address the problems we all face (like climate injustice), but to celebrate our humanity as well.