Postcrossing Blog

Back in May, we introduced you to “We Are One”, a project which brought Postcrossing closer to the children of Tuvalu. The project is now close to its end, and Emily sent us an update filled with really nice photos… we just had to share them with you!

She sums it up:

This project has been an amazing journey for me and the students. Not only were they excited to write on nicely printed postcards of Tuvalu (which is rare or never seen) and introduce it to the world, they were also thrilled to receive postcards, read the kind words from postcrossers and be amazed at the beautiful scenery pictures on a card. It is their fist time ever to learn how to read a map and name the seven continents!

My greatest satisfaction, as a teacher, is to see their thirst for knowledge, wanting to learn more about this world where most countries are too far away to them.

Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? But a picture is worth a thousand words, so here they are:

Happy children and postcards… guaranteed to make my heart melt!

Emily collected some feedback about the project from the children, and one of them wrote “It’s amazing and I hope that other schools around the world do a similar project”. We hope so too! :)

A huge thank you to Emily for setting up this year’s activity in Tuvalu – and to Taiwan ICDF (International Cooperation and Development Fund) as well, for sending her there and helping fund her postcard project!

I have a confession to make: I get a little teary-eyed when I see a child writing (or receiving) a postcard for the first time. You can almost see the switch going off in their heads when they realize that some sort of magic is going on behind the scenes… they have so many questions! How is this postcard getting across the world? What is the stamp for? How did it land on our mailbox? And when is the next one coming?! :)

So when I saw the pictures that Arlene (aka whodalalee) submitted to our Facebook page… well, you can image the smile on my face! Arlene tells the story of how she and and her friend Evelyn (aka eskae) organized a Postcrossing event in Okanagan Regional Library, as part of the local summer reading program:

My Postcrossing friend Evelyn Skae and I were talking one day about how nice it would be to spread the word about Postcrossing. We had seen schools and teachers doing Postcrossing, so we thought it would be a great idea to see if the local library would be interested in doing something. I went to the library and they were very happy to incorporate Postcrossing into the summer reading program…so Evelyn who works at a print shop made a huge poster, and brochures for the library:

She put a post into the forums asking Postcrossing fans to send postcards to the library. I donated 60 blank postcards to the library so children could answer the postcards. The library set up a wonderful display for one month to let people know about it.

At last, the day for our Postcrossing-summer reading program project came… we arrived half an hour before and waited for the kids to come. It was so wonderful for the children to be able to pick the postcards they wanted, then write the sender a card in return. We had one sender who sent 8 postcards to the library! The children were very enthusiastic and had a wonderful time, there was even a parent who wanted to write a card too. Overall, our project was very successful and so much fun.

I also took many of my favorite postcards to show the variety of postcards we receive and the wonderful stamps on them. It is so exciting to share our passion with others!

We have a few extra postcards that were not answered, so I will be going to another library to see if they would like to continue the project!

Well done Arlene and Evelyn, what an inspiring event! :)

What about you? Have you ever introduced a child to the wonders of mail? Do share!

Remember some years ago, when a class of students in Tuvalu sent postcards to raise awareness for the plight of their tiny country?

Well, they’re at it again! This year’s project is called “We are One”. Emily (aka emilytao), the volunteer who is helping the children on this project, explains the concept:

"Being one of the smallest and most remote nations in the world, it’s easy to miss out Tuvalu on the map. Through postcard exchanging, we wish to make this island country more known to the world; hence the idea of “We Are One Project” was born, which aims to connect Funafuti’s (the capital island) Primary School children with postcrossers from all over the world. Students will benefit from writing postcards in English, further motivating them to become better writers… or simply to have more enthusiasm in learning English!

Once we receive postcards, students will be assigned to do studies and research on different country’s unique culture or history. They will be amazed at the fact how big the world is; bigger than they had thought, beyond the skyline of coconut trees and the sea.

Through this project, we hope to help our children be more connected with the rest of the world, and understand that we are all part of it, for better or worse, WE ARE ONE WORLD. "

How wonderful is that? :) They’re planning to send around 400 postcards, and the first ones are already on their way! If you’re lucky, you might receive or send one to them!

Oh! And if you didn’t know where Tuvalu is, or want to learn more about this Polynesian island nation, don’t forget to check out their page on Wikipedia.

PS – We know that Tuvalu is a “rare” country, but Emily and the children won’t be able to engage in direct swaps for the duration of the project. So please respect their choice, and don’t contact them requesting for swaps.

Earlier in February this year, we asked you to send some postcards to a school in Guimarães (Portugal), whose students were working on a European Capital of Culture project. They’ve received an avalanche of cards from all over the world – so many that they decided to do several postcard-mosaics instead of a single one! :)

As you can see, the mosaics were displayed in several windows of the school, so that the postcards were easily accessible from both sides. The project was very well received – so much so that it is still being displayed, months after it’s conclusion date!

You can see the four mosaics below (click for bigger images):

Did you spot your postcard? :)

The students have also made thank-you postcards themselves, which they’ve sent back to some of the senders during their English classes.

A big congratulations to the students and teachers of the Escola Secundária Martins Sarmento, and a huge thank you (from them and us) to all the postcrossers who sent a card to this school!

Today we would like to share with you two easy ways to make the most of the power of a postcard in brighting someone’s day. In particular, of those who might need it the most.

Post Pals Post Pals is a website ran by a group of volunteers that allows anyone to send postcards/letters/parcels to very sick children. Sending a cheerful post is a very simple and easy way to give this children something to look forward to when they are often isolated and suffering.

The founder of Post Pals is Vikki George who is herself bed-bound for the last seven years due to suffer from ME. Instead of loosing her hope, she spends her time helping sick children through her Post Pals.

Here’s a video that explains it further.

We find this to be a great cause and a good example of how a simple postcard can make a big difference.

Children welfare stamps organisation Kinderpostzegels

Kinderpostzegels is organization based (but not specific to) the Netherlands with the same goal of helping children, but through the use of stamps. Here’s what Lilian Visscher from Kinderpostzegels shared about it with us:

Stichting Kinderpostzegels Nederland (Kinderpostzegels) is a children’s charity with the slogan: 'for children, by children’. The annual Children’s Welfare Stamps Campaign, with 200.000 children selling stamps and postcards to 2 million people is a striking example of this, forming the organisation’s showpiece. In this campaign, children help other children. Kinderpostzegels uses the proceeds to support projects focusing primarily on children. Kinderpostzegels believes it is important to involve children as much as possible in the projects.

Kinderpostzegels believes that all children are entitled to develop their individual talents and abilities. They are one of the most vulnerable groups in society and sometimes need extra help and protection.

Kinderpostzegels is an independent organisation, which means it is not tied to governments or economic or political movements.Kinderpostzegels raises and allocates funds for the benefit of children in the Netherlands as well as outside this country.

The postcrossers from Holland can help children who need extra help and protection, by sending their postcards with a children’s welfare stamp. There are two ways: they can order stamps online from our website or they can make up their postcard with children’s welfare stamp online on www.postmijnkaart.nl.

This means that whenever you are sending (for example) a Postcrossing postcard, you can be helping children just by using their stamps. Neat, uh?

So, two easy ways to help children through postcards. Do you know others? Share them in the comments so that others know about them too!