Our Program Overview
Our unique program material covers 20 topics and enables a structured letter exchange based on the information and vocabulary we provide. Through our program, children, youth, and adults alike learn to create positive social change by engaging in conscious critical thought and action that examines assumptions, reactions, and outcomes.
STEP ONE: CONNECT CHILDREN
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We match children and students aged 6-24 from various cultural backgrounds to exchange ideas and art, all while practicing English within our pen pal program. Add some sentence here to improve the overall look of this page.
STEP THREE: CONDUCT EDUCATIONAL AND LETTER EXCHANGE3
This stage includes the actual interaction and sharing between children through our channels in the pen pal program. It is at the core of the Ubuntu Mail mission and carries with it exponential opportunities for
growth and insight.
STEP FIVE: CREATE AWARENESS
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The exchanges made throughout the course of the pen pal program are assembled and exhibited for the purpose of informing others around the world of issues facing foreign cultures and inspire them to become involved.
STEP TWO: PROVIDE STRUCTURED FRAMEWORK
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For optimal learning and communication, we provide all participants with our program materials, including:
- Ubuntu Mail Book
- Book of Letter Templates
- 20 Infographics
- Dictionary
- Ubuntu Mail Bag and T-shirt
STEP FOUR: REVEAL A CHALLENGE
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Our program and its materials are designed in a specific way so as to encourage discussions revolving around cultural spheres, daily challenges in communities, and global issues (such as globalization and poverty). This gives weight to the voices of children who would
otherwise be silent and allows us to understand their lives more clearly.
STEP SIX: EMPOWER CHILDREN
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Our programs build awareness, attract volunteers, and encourage partnerships to strengthen the foundation of good will and understanding around the world.
Ubuntu Mail distributes the profits and the funds raised by donors under an overarching sustainable solution for the schools and/or community. This includes Social Intervention, Micro Gardening, Family Planning, Eco Solutions, Micro Financing, Education Programs and training.
This final step of empowerment is essential and based on forming healthy, strategic bonds amongst organizations of the world to fight prejudice and suffering.
Program Materials
To encourage success and excitement, we provide all participating schools with the following educational materials:
THE UBUNTU MAIL BOOK
The Ubuntu Mail book covers all necessary topics and suggests the best ways to present the program in the classroom.
It also provides Practical Guidelines with step-by-step instructions for conducting the exchanges.
INFOGRAPHICS
To motivate students and present the program in the best way possible, we created a set of 20 laminated infographics.
These colorful, double sided slides provide all the data, facts and statistics in an interactive way that helps to engage even the youngest students into the process of discussion.
LETTER TEMPLATES
A book of letter templates covering 10 rounds of communication at 3 diferent English levels.
The structure of the templates allows even our youngest participants to express themselves freely.
OXFORD DICTIONARY
OF CURRENT ENGLISH
The dictionary helps students increase their vocabulary and explore the language. Add some more text here.
UBUNTU MAIL BAG AND T-SHIRT
The program coordin’ator receives an Ubuntu Mail bag and t-shirt. Add some more text here to improve this part.
What It Costs to Participate
Ubuntu Mail is a social enterprise, and although it uses its profits to benefit children and communities in need, it also depends on the generosity of those who can afford to lend a hand. We foster social and environmental sustainability by implementing a fee-for-service, cross compensation model. Reinvesting profits and partnering with schools in the developed world allows us to bring life changing services to schools in challenged communities for free.
Pricing depends on the financial situation of each participating school.
For classrooms with a “financially sustainable background,” there is a
$40 monthly fee that includes all program instructions, communication
structure, classroom materials and merchandise. Individual participation costs only $15 a month and also includes all instructions, materials and merchandise.
Schools in developing countries or challenged circumstances are able to participate and receive all materials at no cost. They also stand to benefit from community projects funded by their partner schools they interact with in the developed world. And as we know, access to water, education and school supplies is something that we cannot put a price on.
Benefits of Getting Involved
Participating in Ubuntu Mail programs opens up a world of learning and possibilities for children in challenged and developed regions alike. This causes a ripple effect of hope and change, and therefore benefits the global community at large.
We cannot stress enough how impactful the pen pal program has been for these children – as opposed to passively learning about the world through social studies or traditional education, they are actively engaging in communication with children on the other side of the globe and taking action to help them. One of the most important things we hope they take away from these exchanges is that they become “self-directed agents of change” and realize that by putting the time and effort into understanding others and organizing affective ways to help them, they can send waves of impact and change the lives of others around the globe.
Benefits for children in the developed world
Our programs give children the opportunity to understand what their peers are experiencing on the other side of the world, first-hand. Here are just a few things kids say they’ve learned from working with Ubuntu Mail:
- Recognizing the vast amount of diversity around the world
- Gaining new appreciation for their opportunities at home
- Realizing that THEY have the power to make a difference in the world
- Organizing events and becoming self-directed agents of change
- Sympathizing with the struggles that others face in challenged communities
- Inspiring new ideas about sustainable globalization
- Building lifelong friendships
Benefits for children in developing regions
Beginning Ubuntu Mail’s pen pal program marks the start of a new chapter in these children’s lives. They are given the materials and structure to express themselves in a way that they never thought possible, with children in communities that were once completely out of their reach. Some of the many lifelong benefits include:
- Practicing and improving their English skills
- Providing a proactive, structured environment to express themselves
- Inspiring them to think positively about their future
- Involving them in the narrative of change in their community
- Providing them and their community with sustainable projects and initiatives
- Exposing them to other isolated communities with separate sets of challenges
- Building lifelong friendships
Ready to get involved?
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