Last week, I had been thinking of a favorite penpal that I had lost touch with over a year ago. Imagine my surprise when yesterday I got an e-mail from him! It was confusing, though, because he was inviting me to join some dating site, and the last I had heard, he was married and had just recently had a baby. So of course, I wrote to find out what was going on.
As it turns out, he was as surprised as I was, because he got that same e-mail himself, sent to his other e-mail address. He said that when he clicked on the link, it scooped up all the people in his address book and sent them that e-mail. From his report, it definitely sounds like he picked up a virus or some other sort of bad thing. Not good for him, but at least it got us back in communication again!
My penpal lives in Ghana, in West Africa. (I have several friends from Ghana, as well as from Nigeria and Kenya.) This guy would write long, chatty e-mails, telling stories and just blessing me with his sweet spirit every time he wrote. I had missed his correspondence a great deal, and hope we can re-establish a regular schedule again.
Another of my very favorite penpals lives in Kenya. Last year at this time, when all the violence erupted there after their elections, he had to run for his life to avoid being hurt or killed. He was a professor at a university in an area controlled by one of the groups, and he himself is a member of the opposing tribe. (I really hate using the word “tribe” — but this conflict was based on the ethnic group of the opposing candidates, so it was indeed tribal warfare.)
Fortunately, he was able to hide out with relatives in another part of the country, away from the violence, and has since gotten a better position at another university. During all this, our communications were understandably interrupted, and have been very sparse for all of last year. But now that things are settling down for him, I’m hoping that they will resume a more regular pace, also.
So it looks like so far, this year has been one of renewal. I do hope that trend continues!
Tags: africa, penpals, relationships
