I have a new best friend!

This evening when I got home I was going through my post - full of the usual bills etc. when I noticed one letter that wasn't a bill. It was my first letter from the little girl I sponsor in Burkino Faso, which is the poorest country in Africa. Although she didn't write herself, as sadly, she doesn't attend school, it was written by a local volunteer and translated into English for me. She is only 7 and her family are really poor subsistence farmers, this is the letter she sent me;

"Hello Curly K,

NK and family are writing this letter to send you some news from them. She is healthy as well as her family. NK and family thank you very much for what you are doing for their child NK who has become your best friend.

NK informs you that her parents are farmers and that they all live T, a small rural town 170km far from the capital Ouagadougou. They inform you that they live only from farming and breeding and also from fishing and gardening. They leave you on these lines and hope to hear from you soon."

It is one of the shortest letters I've ever received and written in far from perfect English but it is one of the best letters I've ever received! I'm so glad that little NK is healthy and doing well. I wish, for her sake, she was able to attend school but unfortunately there is only so much any aid agency can do to encourage children to attend school and apparently it is not unusual where NK lives for children not to attend school. I must write back to her very soon, I've been meaning to write since I began sponsoring her and have not yet got around to it.

Unfortunately, the charity I am sponsoring NK through do not allow you to send parcels but I do want to include a lot of bright and interesting pages in my letter, such as a coloured map of the world and a few things like that. Got some nice little stickers as well that I can include. Any ideas of anything else that can fit in a letter envelope are welcome!

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