One of the Association's projects has been to start a pen-pal relationship between several grade schools in Baracoa and a school in St. Augustine. In order that the pen-pals come to further understand the different ways in which they live, someone came up with the idea of the students sharing a disposable camera and then each getting a set of pictures. In the first phase, the students in St. Augustine (7th graders) purshased disposable cameras and sent them along with letters to the 7th grade students at one of the Baracoan schools. The Cuban students were to take the first 12 exposures, with instructions to take pictures of their family and friends. Then the American students would finish the film rolls back in St. Augustine. After this the the film will be developed and prints provided for both the St. Augustine and Baracoan pen-pals.
The differences in lifestyle between a 7th grader in Baracoa and a 7th grader across the Florida straits in St. Augustine are in some sense unimaginable. This pen-pal and picture exchange was designed to help illustrate those differences and commonalities, and foster a sense of mutual understanding.
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A group of the Friendship Association delegation was responsible for going into the classrooms and presenting the project to the students in four 7th grade classrooms of both schools. This worked out remarkably well. In all we distributed 119 cameras to the students. The children were insanely excited and we really look forward to seeing how this project comes out. One problem arose when it turned out that not all of the 7th graders received cameras. The Friendship Association is trying to raise money so that the remaining 51 Baracoan 7th grade students can receive cameras from the next delegation, later this spring. Perhaps we will also extend the project to future 7th graders.
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We were received very warmly by the headmaster and the students at this school. In particular it was fun when we entered each classroom. All of the children would stand at attention, and a designated student would come to the front of the room and lead the class in a short message of welcome. I know that my 7th grade class would never have been capable of such a courtesy! |
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