How Writing a Letter in Another Language Can Strengthen Friendships
3 organizations that accept letter submissions
“You’ll never have the experience of writing love letters,” my mom tells me.
My dad lets out a laugh when she adds, “The amount of time waiting for a response, the mystery, the suspense, nowadays it’s just text.”
While I must admit texts are much more common, people still write letters.
When connecting with others in different countries or enclosed spaces, a letter comes in handy. A friend of mine sends letters to an inmate as the only way of communication.
So, letters exist and do serve a purpose.
But my mom’s right. I never needed to write a letter.
That was until a month ago. It was then I realized someone out there deserved to receive a letter. It could be an orphan, a foster youth, someone with a mental illness, or someone who just longed for human connection.
The person that came to my mind was a 10-year-old boy in Sri Lanka.
Now I could write any old letter, but I wanted him to read a letter that sounded like home. To do that, I wanted to go the extra mile and learn how to write in Tamil, his native language.
