PEOPLE across Dunoon are being invited to help strengthen the growing connection between the town and communities in Tanzania by sending postcards to schoolchildren in Arusha.
The initiative is being organised through the Cowal Tanzania Project, which has developed links with schools and communities in Arusha through its volunteer work.
The group is now hoping to extend those connections beyond Dunoon Grammar School by inviting members of the wider community to write a postcard to a child in Tanzania.
When volunteers visit Tanzania, they take time away from their work on volunteer projects to visit local schools with which they have built relationships over the years.
Two schools in particular have become close to the hearts of the volunteers, with pupils and teachers welcoming them to take part in afternoon activities.
In previous years, pupils at Dunoon Grammar School have written letters to children in Arusha, with volunteers helping the Tanzanian pupils write replies.
The new postcard project aims to open that exchange up to the wider Dunoon community.
The organisers have contacted head teachers at the schools in Arusha, asking them to select pupils who would like to receive a postcard from Dunoon.
The response has already been enthusiastic, with one head teacher describing the idea as a ‘wonderful way to connect’ the school community with the people of Dunoon.
The initial plan is to select 30 children, with photographs, names and ages being gathered so that members of the public can write directly to a named child.
The postcards can be left anonymous, with the organisers adding the child’s name to ensure that everyone receives a card.
The project could eventually be expanded, with one of the schools having almost 2,000 pupils.
The organisers are now appealing to people in Dunoon to get involved and help create a personal connection between the two communities, with donations to be dropped into Dunoon Grammar School.
The postcard initiative comes as another example of the close ties being developed between Dunoon and Tanzania.
Every year, an elderly member of the Dunoon community, Evs McCowan, knits items which are transported to Arusha.
Evs and a group of friends have recently handed over four bags packed with knitted goods, including cot blankets, baby vests and hats, fingerless mittens, baby cardigans and beanie hats.
The organisers described the gesture as a ‘wonderful, heartwarming’ demonstration of the warmth and caring nature of the people of Dunoon.
The items will be taken to Tanzania by volunteers and distributed to those who need them.
The group hopes the knitting donations and postcard project will help the people of Dunoon feel increasingly connected to the communities they are supporting in Tanzania.
The first postcards are expected to be hand-delivered to the children when volunteers return to Arusha in January.
