THROWBACK: Where were your pen-pal letters flying to as a student back then?

In the olden days, when writing letters and posting them at the post office was the only way to communicate with friends and loved ones, students engaged in active writing to pen pals letters both at home country penpals and abroad in countries such as Japan, Cina, and the US. The pen-friend letters we wrote served as a means of practicing how to write friendly letters for many of us.

For those who received letters from friends in other schools and other countries, the post boy was your best friend who carried the good news to you at assembly every Friday after school.

Writing such letters, decorating the envelopes, going to post them, receiving replies, and reading them brought us so much satisfaction.

Where were your pen-pal letters flying to as a student back then?

For me, most of my letters went to the US, Japan, and South Korea. You were also teased if your letter did not get to its destination and got returned to you. Eiiii..if you experience these, you are in trouble.

The cheers that greeted the mention of your name when you were called forward to receive your letter or letters were not only inspiring but also accorded you some level of respect among your peers at both Junior High and secondary school.

The more you start receiving letters and parcels such as Bibles, Bible tracts, games from Captain Planet, and audio cassettes from preachers and well-known evangelists, the more friends you got, and the more others came to you for advice and the addresses of the sources of these goodies so they could also start receiving letters.

For those who were into pen pal letters, we always looked forward to buying newspapers for kids and the PnP because, in these newspapers, we would find the postal addresses of students who wanted pen pals. Through letter writing, we made several friends, some of whom have become lifelong friends to this date.

In those days, at the newsstand, it was not uncommon to find booklets containing the pen pal addresses of young people in Japan, the US, China, and other places. These pen pal address books were very difficult to get, and those of us who had them always boasted of how many friends and letters we received.

Where were your pen-pal letters flying to as a student back then and did you ever receive a picture of your penfriend?

If you received pictures from your pen pal, it came with another unexplainable feeling of excitement. The writing pads we used in those days were not ordinary foolscap sheets. Not at all. They were very beautiful and colourfully designed pads for writing letters to friends, which added to the beauty of the experience.

I remember vividly around 1994-1996 how, on a weekly basis, I received not less than five letters on Fridays at the University of Ghana Staff Basic School in Legon. Soon, many classmates started joining in the fun.

Sometimes, when a pen pal you wrote to replied to your letter, nearly everyone in school and at home wanted to read along with you. You had to first select a few close associates to be the first to read the letter with you, then others could read later. It was always fun having friend gathering around you to have a look at the content of the reply you got from your penpal.

In recent times, things have changed. Children learn about writing letters to friends in school and never write such letters to others in real life; neither do they receive any of these letters from friends.

Everything has changed, and computers and mobile phones have played their own significant roles in eroding the enviable pen pal letter experience.

It was always with pride that we walked to the staff common room to seek permission to visit the post office to post letters to our pen pals. Today’s kids do not even know post offices and have no basic experience of buying a postage stamp, affixing it to the top right corner of the envelope, and then patiently writing out the recipient’s address.

With the advent of social media and websites, the benefits of writing letters to communicate with friends have dwindled and are currently non-existent.

Well, the writing of letters and articles for newspapers like The Morror helped me to take my writing to the next level. Gradually, I developed the skills into writing for magazines before I exited Junior High School. The long and short of the history of writing letters to our lovely penpals turn me into not only a prolific writer and an author but also a blogger.

You see, we did not start playing with words and sentences today.

Where were your letters flying to? and to what extent did those penpal letters help you develop your writing skills? Share your penpal experiences with us.

READ: 2024 BECE: Study These Topics Under Career Technology

Source: Wisdom Hammond | Team Lead -Ghana Education News