FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Sylvia Allen, the founder of a nonprofit organization that provides children in Uganda, Africa, with services and necessities, recently put into place a program that now connects Ugandan youngsters with children in Freehold Township.
The children are writing to each other as pen-pals.
Recently, Freehold Township postal worker Jennifer White brought a “special delivery” of hundreds of letters to students at the Joseph J. Catena School, Burlington Road, from pupils who attend the Mbirizi Advanced Primary and Day Care School in Uganda.
More than 1,000 children between the ages of 3 and 14 attend the Mbirizi school.
The Catena School is a sister school to the educational facility in Uganda, according to Allen, who is the founder and principal of Allen Consulting Inc., Holmdel.
Children in Africa were in turn the recipients of letters from students at the Catena School, which Allen picked up on Nov. 18 and took to Uganda. The goal of the program is to help promote international understanding among the students, she said.
Catena School student counselor Kim Fitzpatrick said the children gathered in an assembly to receive the prized letters from thousands of miles away.
“They were very excited,” Fitzpatrick said.
The counselor said the school has been supporting Allen’s initiative, Sylvia’s Children, since last year. The pupils learned about her efforts on behalf of the Ugandan youngsters during a Learning Service Fair that was held at the school.
“We had 17 local civic organizations and charities visit us to make the children familiar with the needs in their community and on a broader level,” Fitzpatrick explained. “We began supporting Sylvia’s Children with a Penny War, and the support just grew from there.”
She said that as a result of the Penny War fundraiser, which raised $4,000, the children were able to sponsor three of Sylvia’s Children with food, medical supplies, clothing and education for one year.
“These are the orphaned children who live at the [Mbirizi] school,” she said.
When asked what the Catena pupils wrote in their letters to the African children, Fitzpatrick said the youngsters answered queries that the Ugandan students had asked them.
“For instance, the second-graders in Africa asked our children what their favorite foods are, the third- and fourthgraders in Africa wanted to know what kind of sports our children enjoy and what their favorite soccer teams are,” Fitzpatrick said.
The fifth- and sixth-graders at the Ugandan school asked the Catena pupils what the school grounds here look like and if the children’s principal is nice, she said.
Fitzpatrick said that on the day the letters from Africa were delivered to the Catena School, the students also had a visit from Sister Isis Tribe, a group of African drummers and dancers who entertained the children.
She said the children are looking forward to learning more about their new penpals.
Sylvia’s Children began when Allen visited Uganda on a volunteer mission in 2003. She was invited by Geofrey Kawuma, head of the Mbirizi Advanced Primary and Day School, to become the adopted grandmother of the children she met there, hundreds of whom had been left orphaned by the AIDS pandemic.
Allen founded Sylvia’s Children, which has provided relief to the children in many ways. Her mission is to raise awareness and raise funds to improve the lives of the children by providing things they need on a daily basis, such as shelter, education, food and clothing. Her goal is to “save children, one child at a time.”
In an email from Allen, who was in Uganda with her adopted grandchildren sharing the letters from the Catena students, she wrote, “It is so wonderful to watch the children when they get a letter addressed just to them. We are establishing global relations at the most basic and longlasting level, as well as learning that our cultures are very similar, whether we live in Freehold, New Jersey, or Uganda, Africa.”