Dear Pen Pal:

How are you doing? I have just heard from my teacher Ms King some sad but good news. The good news to me is that you can go back to Liberia and the good news is that you will stay together with your friends and schoolmates. But the bad news is that you have to move away from your home. And after you move to Liberia and there is no one in the camp, the Ghana government will pull everything down. I also heard that some people got arrested for holding signs on the side of the road. Were you one of the people that got arrested?

I have a question for you. Is it hard packing up things to move away from your home? I feel so sorry for you. I can’t believe this is happening. You are probably sad but I am sad too. I will be here praying for you all the time. And I really hope when you get to Liberia that it all turns out well. When my teacher told me this I couldn’t believe it was happening. I thought Ghana would let you stay longer and start building in Liberia before you move back to there.

I know this will be the last letter I send you, so I really want this to be special. I will always think of you and your kids at your school. I think your school is the greatest thing that happened in your camp. I also hope that there will be no wars ever again in Liberia. Because if there are no wars I know your country Liberia will turn out amazing. I think when you get to Liberia you should name your town Newtown for two reasons. The first reason is because that is my town’s name and we could both live in towns that have the same name. The second reason to name your new town Liberia Newtown is because it is a new town. Do you get it?

Ok before I say goodbye to you for the last time I was wondering if you could send me a picture of your family or yourself. That would mean a lot to me because I could always remember that I had a Pen Pal in a really important place in the world, in a refugee camp and in Liberia. Thank you for being a great Pen Pal. I hope everything goes well with what happens in Liberia and in your New Town.

From,

Helene Sorensen