I Will Always Write Back

Bibliography:
Alifirenka, C., Ganda, M., & Welch, L. (2015). I will always write back: How one letter changed two lives. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.


ISBN: 978-0316241311

Genre: Memoir

Plot Summary: When wealthy suburban teen, Caitlin Stoicsitz, takes a school opportunity to write to a boy 10,000 miles away, a relationship of strength, faith and compassion is born. Martin, a Zimbabwean, lives on the edge of destitution and has only ever heard magical stories of the United States. His correspondence with Caitlyn opens his eyes to a world he desperately wants to be a part of—he knows he can get an education there. Caitlyn, though, is horrified as she learns how desperate Martin and his family really are. With her babysitting money tucked into her letters to him, she hopes that somehow her few dollars will make a difference. As Martin’s need grows, Caitlin turns to her parents for help and with unparalleled determination, her mother works to send Martin’s family the money necessary to live and pay school fees. Because of the generosity of his “American family”, Martin is able to continue his education, always making top grades and always working towards his goal of attending a US college. His struggles seem endless, with hunger, disease and worry constantly chasing him. But the faith that Caitlin’s family puts in him and their efforts to help him achieve his dreams help fuel his passion to never, ever surrender his dreams.

Critical Evaluation: I Will Always Write Back is a memoir, a joint partnership combining six years of pen pal letters between Caitlin Stoicsitz Alifirenka and Martin Ganda. Through their letters and accompanying narrations, the readers are witness to not only authors’ growing friendship, but also to how each develops their own compassion and human understanding.

As each of the teens read each other’s letters, both are continually fascinated by their different ways of speaking, of writing. The expansion from childish, stilted letters to fluid expressions of friendship mirrors the growth and maturation of them both. Filtered in among the anecdotes of her friendship Martin, Caitlin includes stories of her own errors of teen judgement. Through these, she illustrates that even kids who are smart and well-intentioned make bad choices. But these particular stories also serve to highlight the painful fact that Martin can’t make a single mistake. If he lets down his guard or doesn’t give 110% effort, his family doesn’t eat, his bright future is destroyed.

In their narrations, both Caitlin and Martin fully detail their surroundings, making the disparity in their lifestyles that much more apparent. Before she realizes how desperate Martin’s lifestyle really is, she doesn’t hesitate to send him photographs of her two story house (a mansion like the governor would live in, according to Martin), the car she received for Christmas (Martin had never even ridden in one) and her vacations (a concept that never entered Martin’s mind). Martin, for his part, describes for the reader the dirt covering his mother’s feet, the concrete floor he slept on, the threadbare blanket he shared with two siblings. His hesitancy to share all this wait Caitlin, though, is poignant and heartbreaking, as he truly believes that his poverty will turn Caitlin away from him forever. As their friendship deepens and the two teens mature, his eventual honesty with her only heightens her respect for him and further encourages her to help him achieve his goals.

Reader’s Annotation: Caitlin had no idea of the changes about to rock her safe world when she wrote her first pen pal letter to Martin, a Zimbabwean boy 10,000 miles away. Through six years and countless letters, the two teenagers formed a bond that gave them both an education they never could have imagined.

Author Information: Martin Ganda is a US-based financier who specializes in African trade, consulting for companies setting up businesses in Africa. He is also president and co-founder of the Seeds of Change Fund, a ground-breaking charity dedicated to building libraries in Zimbabwe and providing scholarships to destitute African children. Ganda grew up in Zimbabwe, subsisting on one meal a day and not a pair of shoes to his name until he was 15. Through the unfailing efforts of his American pen pal and her family, Ganda secured a full scholarship to Villanova University where he graduated with a double-major in math and economics.¹

“Caitlin Alifirenka (Stoicsitz) was born in 1985 in Chestnuthill, Pennsylvania to Anne Neville and Richard Stoicsitz. Caitlin started corresponding with Martin Ganda, her Zimbabwean pen pal, in 1997 which led to a life long friendship. After graduating from North Penn High School in 2003, Caitlin attended Abington Memorial Hospital's Dixon School of Nursing and now works as an Emergency Room Registered Nurse. Caitlin lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband Dzmitry Alifirenka and their two young daughters, Mila and Dasha.” ²

“I Will Always Write Back” is Liz Welch's second book. Her first, The Kids Are All Right, won an ALEX Award in 2009. An ASME award winning journalist and a contributing writer at Inc. Magazine, Liz's work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Vogue, Real Simple, Glamour, O, The Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, and many others publications. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and daughter.”³

Curriculum ties: writing; geography; Africa; race relations; comparison of economic difficulties between US and Africa

Booktalks: pen pals; status symbol of brand names; social activism

Challenge issues: none

Reasoning: I Will Always Write You Back captured my imagination. It took hold of courage, philanthropy, friendship, writing, education and reminds readers that age, race location, status and economic stability are *not* reasons to lose courage. Instead, they are reasons to bring knowledge and opportunity to others.

References:

¹Ganda, M. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2015, from http://martinganda.blogspot.com/p/about.html

²Caitlin Alifirenka. (n.d.). Retrieved September 5, 2015, from http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8430981.Caitlin_Alifirenka

³Liz Welch. (n.d.). Retrieved September 5, 2015, from http://www.amazon.com/Liz-Welch/e/B002NS8EC8/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0