Pen Pals letters from Rosewood Elementary: Tucker's Jan 31st Report

January 31, 2005

Today marked the special day of exchanging pen friend letters from the Rosewood Elementary School students and the 8B pupils from Ferguson High School in Ratnapura. Ferguson High School is an all girls school situated in the center of the town with some approximately 4,000 students ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 13. Serendib Sri Lanka member Miss Champika was instrumental in organizing this effort.

The students of Rosewood Elementary, it will be recalled, raised money for the tsunami relief effort by holding a bake sale several weeks ago. The president of Serendib-USA when visiting Ferguson High School explained this effort to the students. The “Students Helping Students” initiative was well-received and praised by these young 12-13 year old girls. In addition, they were excited to be given correspondents in South Carolina with whom they would be able to have a cultural exchange and improve their English.

Altogether 56 students were matched with pen pals from Rosewood Elementary School, and it is expected that a continued exchange of digital diaries will become an integral part of the correspondence between these two schools. The computer and digital cameras at Serendib Sri Lanka headquarters will facilitate this exchange. It is also hoped that this program will be expanded to other classes in Ferguson High School, and indeed to other schools as well.

The farewell party and final meeting for Serendib Sri Lanka is scheduled for 4 p.m. today. Several concluding remarks will be made, and groundwork for the Serendib Sri Lanka mission in June will be discussed at some length.

Tucker

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