“How do you pronounce the last country?” I asked. She usually had to call on me to participate. Honestly, I was not all that interested in school, but there was something almost magnetic about this crazy‑sounding place: Zimbabwe. It was late September, and the leaves on the trees were beginning to turn from vibrant green to rusty red and mustard yellow. Usually, I spent that period passing notes with Lauren, my best friend, or staring out the window daydreaming about boys. She asked each student in my seventh‑grade English class to pick one place for a pen pal program our school was starting that year. It was also the last country in a long list that Mrs. It was exotic, and difficult to pronounce. But something about the way the name looked up on the blackboard intrigued me.
"He was actually dealing with real-life problems and poverty and my friends here were upset if they couldn't get the new Spice Girls CD," Alifirenka told Here & Now's Robin Young.Īlifirenka and her family ended up becoming deeply embroiled in the lives of Martin and his family.Ĭaitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda, along with Liz Welch, have just released a new book, " I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives." Robin Young speaks to Alifirenka about their story. (Courtesy of Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda)Īs Alifirenka began to learn more about the poverty that Martin faced on a daily basis, her perceptions of her own world began to change. Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda greet each other for the first time in person with a big hug over the barrier wall. But as she began to correspond with Martin Ganda, who lived in Zimbabwe with his family, she had no idea the extent to which that correspondence would change both of their lives. When Pennsylvania schoolgirl Caitlin Alifirenka was offered a pen pal in a foreign country, she chose Zimbabwe because she liked the sound of it.
(Courtesy of Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda) Facebook Email Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda met as pen pals in 1997 and are still best friends today.
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