Students from T. I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School - Asokore (Ghana) Students from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School- Manhattan(USA)

Group 1

Dear Students in N.Y.

We are students in T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School. By the way, how are you. We hope you are fine and we are also fine as you are! This letter is written to you by three students in form 1A. Our names are Ahmed Bashir Faza, Abdul Razak Ahmed and Catherine Gamor Kafui. Our ages range from 16 to 18 years. We speak different languages but the most common among us is Akan(twi) and Hausa.

We are from different hometowns which are Tamala, Bawku and Keta. Our favorite subjects are General Knowledge of Art, Science and painting. Our favorite food is Banku and okro soup, which is prepared with corn dough, cassava by stiring it while on the fire. We also enjoy music very well, as you do but the musicians that we like best are Derba, Abrafos, and Nana Akyam Pong. Our hobbies are football and hidu-game. We will end here and we hope you will enjoy reading our letter as we wrote it joyfully to you. Yours ever students in Ghana!

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Group 2

Dear Students in NY

Hello,

we are students from Ghana, T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School, Asokore Ashanti. By the way, our names are Memuna Musah from Wenchi, Alifa Abubakar from Presea, Opuni K. Dora from Domeabra, and Yussif Abubakar from Wenchi. We are having the great pleasure to write this delighted letter to you. Ever since we started our education, all our dreams is to get to write somebody from your beautiful country! Our ages are 16,16,18, and 19. We speak twi, English and Hausa.

The subjects we like best are English, Business Management and Accounting because we are business students. Also, we are intrest in Abrafou, Daddy Lumba and Kojo Antwi music. The food we also like best is amperes (boiled yam and stew.) So we decided to write to knock at your kindness so that we can always communicate with each other! By the way, our stomachs are crying of fried rice so we have to leave you and go with much love and greetings to you all over at New York! Until then, bye…….!

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Group 3

Dear Students in NY

Greetings from T. I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School in Ghana. We are very glad to you write you this letter. Our names are Lukman Gariba, Ohemen Patrick, Mariam Ahmed and Mkrumah Mavis. We are 15 and 16 years old. We come from different parts of Ghana. They include Domeabra, Asokore and Asaman. We speak both Twi, the Akan language, and English. Twi in the most common language in Ghana and English is the language that we speak in our schools. The following are the subjects that we study in our school: Accounting, Costging, Business Management, Economics, Mathematics, English , Sciences, Social Studies and Agricultural studies. But, the ones we like the best are Accounting, Costing, Management, Economics and English. Some of the musicians we like in Ghana are Daddy Lumba, Nana Acheampong, Tic Tac, Obra, Reggie Rockstone, Lord Kenya. The ones we like the best are Daddy Lumba and Tic Tac.

Some common foods in Ghana are fufu, ampesi, rice,Tuo-zaafi, banku. We like fufu the best because it is the most tasty! It is prepared by first peeling cassava and plantain. Wash them and put them in a saucepan and put water in it before putting on the fire. Bring it to a simmer. Expose it o the weather until it is okay to be pounded. After pounding it is ready to be eaten with a light soup. It’s delicious! Well…..we hope to hear from you soon! Bye, from Ghana!

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Group 4

Hi, students in NY . It has been our greatest pleasure to write to you students in New York City. We are students of T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary school in Ghana, at Asokore in theAshanti Region in Ghana. Our names are Patrick Bukari, Bashiru Adam, Halimah Yeboah and Ibrahim Hessan. Our ages rand from 16 to 18 years old. We speak many different languages. They are English, Twi for the Ashantis, Huasa for the northerners, and Wala or Daagare for the upper regions. There are about 10 different regions in Ghana, and we all come form different regions. Patrick is from Kumassi. Halimah, Hassan and Bashiru are all from Techiman in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. As business students we offer Business Management, Costing, Accounting, Science, Economics, English, Mathematics and etc. But our favorite ones are accounting, English, mathematics, science and economics.

As entertainment is included in our education here in Ghana, our best and favorite music stars are plenty, some of them are Lord Kenya, Reggie Rockstone, Abrafos, Tick Tack , Tic Tac, and Deeba. There are many different good groups in Ghana. Some of them are fufu, ampesi with any stew, Tuo zaafi, Banku and okro stew, but our favorite is ampesi and kontonmire stew. It is prepared by boiling cocoyam and any favorite veggies. Grind your pepper and the vegetables, and then add salt to the stew. Next, add palm oil, which is a red oil. Then the food will be ready for you! This is all we have for you right now…..Good bye!

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Group 5

Dear Students in NY Greetings!

We are students from T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School, Asokore in the Ashanti Region. Our names are Aziz Adam, Leticia Agyemang, Ayishetu Adam and Adam Akjei. We are between the ages of 16 and 19. We come from Kumasi, Pankrono, Asokore and Agana Wiamoase, which are different town throughout Ghana. As you may know, Ghana has many different dialects but our official language is English. We can also speak other dialects like Twi, Ga and also Hausa. We have got this knowledge that you Americans study one subject, which in the one that you want to do in the future. Is this true? Our favorite subjects are English, Mathematics, Accounting and Economics respectively.

As you know there is the saying ‘All work and no plan make Jack a dull boy”. Let us talk to you about our music. In Ghana, we have many stars like Daddy Lumga, NN Acheampong, Reggi Osei Rockstone. But our favorite stars are Nana Acheampong. Formally our music was mainly highlife, but with the introduction of the western culture, we not have hip life. It is highlife and hip hop combined! Some of the hip life stars are Obafuo, Tic-Tac and Lord Kenya.

We have different types of foods like fufu, ampesi , and rice and stew. We will like to hear from you all and greetings to you and all your friends. Hope to hear from you soon! Good bye! Your incoming friends from Ghana…

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Group 6

Dear Students in NY Greetings!

We are students of T.I. Ahmadiyya School in Ghana at the Ashanti region. Our names are Edna, Sarah, Sadik, Elizabeth and Sheriff. Our ages range from 16 and 17. We speak different languages, but we all speak English. Our favourite subjects are English, maths and Accounting. Our favorite food is fufu and light soup. Fufu is prepared from cassava and plantain. You prepare it by cooking both the cassava and plantain for about 10 minutes. You will then pound the plantain and cassava. For the soup, you will blend tomatoes, pepper and garden eggs. You put in in a saucepan and boil it for some time. Then, you will put the meat, fish, etc chopped with some onions into the stew. Let it cook for somewhile, and then you can enjoy it! It's very delicious. Our favorite music is Tic-Tac, Obrafo and Lord Kenya. These are rap musicians from Ghana. We like the songs because there are some proverbs like “keep yourself clean and what your forefather did for us|”. We will end here….. Your incoming friends! Group 7 Dear students in New York Greetings from students of T.I. Ahmadiyyah Secondary School at Asokore in Ghana-West Africa.

Our names represent Jamal Mohammed, Adriana Frimpomaa, Abubuakar Kwabena, Farida Afriyie and Farouk Adam. We are all in the Business class with ages 16-17 respectively. Our hometowns are Cape Coast, Abrem, Mampong, Mpmponteng and Accra. The common languages we speak are English, the national language of Ghana, Twi and Hausa. We are most interested and enjoy our local music like highlife and hip-life. We also enjoy reggae and funky music. The food we are fond of all rice and stew, yam and beans stew as well as fried plantain. Our school offers business and arts. Our favorite subject is Accounting. In school, we have 25 teaching masters with the school population of 450 students. The school has nine blocks for the students and three department blocks for Science Lab, Visual arts and Home Economics.

We also have one block for the school library.\\As the school is a boarding, we have 10 blocks for the girls and boys who board at the school. There are different variety of trees and flowers in the school compound which make the environment very beautiful. We also have foot, volley and netball pitches, and a table tennis board. We have been competing with other schools in such games mentioned. Students, in NY, we have much things to emphasize on but we have to end here and as that, we will also like to hear from you and your school. Thank you! Your incoming friends in Ghana!

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Group 8

Dear Students in New York,

Greetings from your students in T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School, Asokore, Ashanti. We are Osman, Danila, Lucy and Evelyn. Our ages are from 16 to 17. We are from different areas of Ghana, but we are all Ghanaians. Since we are from different dialects, we are not speaking the same language. But, the most common dialect in Ghana is Twi, but we speak only English in school. We also speak Hausa. We are all in the same school and we are all offering business. For business students, we are having 4 electives and 4 core subjects. We are more interested in the electives, especially Accounting.

Our favorite core subjects are mathematics and science. In Ghana here, we have different types of music. We have the high-life, hip hop and so on. But we the students are more interested in the hip hop and the rap music! We think you many know some Ghanaian musicians? Some are Reggie Rockstone, Abrafos, Daddy Lumba and so on. Some times, we are interested in American musicians, like Sisqo, 2pac, Maze, Puff Daddy and so on. We will like to end here with much pleasure. Your loving students in Ghana! BYE!

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Group 9

Dear Students in NY

We are very happy for writing you this letter. How are you all? We hope by the grace of God you are fine. We are students of AMASS in Ghana, Asokore. We are three girls and one boy in our group. Our names are David Bour, Nafisah Swamana, Gyamfi Charity and Sakina Ntiamoah. Our ages are between 15-17. We all come form the same region which is Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. We all speak different all speak different languages. Such are English and Twi.

We are all taking business in our school. It consists of nine subjects and they are economics, business maths, accounting, business management, English, maths, social studies, intergrated science, physical education and Religious and Moral Education. The music we like best is hip-hop, such as Sisqo. And the food we like best is rice and veggie stew. We will tip here with much greetings to you all. Good bye, and we hope to here from you soon! Your lovely students in Ghana!

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Group 10

Hello students in NY Greetings! We are students form T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School Asokore-Ashanti, Ghana. The reason why we are writing you this letter is to tell you a bit about ourselves. Firstly, our names are as follows. Philip Okyere, Frimpong, Latif Jamal, Cynthia Adu Gyamfi, Richard Dwumah and Okyere Oppong Vivian. With ages 15 to 17. You may see that our ages are not all the same. Some in our class are even 18 or 19. The reason is that some people in Ghana may stay at home after their JSS level before they will continue to Senior Secondary School, some due to financial problems. Every student needs to pay school fees, and sometimes there parents are unable to afford it. In Ghana, there are many different languages, but in our community our mother language is Twi and English

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Group 10

In the name of Allah, most gracious ever merciful Hello students in New York ! Greetings! We are students from T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior Secondary School, Asokore-Ashanti, Ghana. The reason why we are writing is to introduce ourselves to you. Our names are Philip Okyere, Frimpong Latif Jamal, Cynthia Adu Gymafi, Richard Dwumah and Okyere Oppong Vivian. We are ages 16,16\7,16,16,15 respectively. You may see that our ages are not the same as you are. Some in our school are even 18 or 19 years old. The reason is that some students in Ghana may stay home after their Junior Secondary School level before they will continue the Senior Secondary School level. This may be due to financial difficulties among their parents. Moreover, we are all from Kumasi and attending school at Asokore but we all come from the Ashanti region of Ghana.

Futhermore in Ghana, there are many different languages, but in our community our mother language is “Twi” and English is our second language. Since we are business students our favourite subject is accounting. And also, in our community our best food is fufu and soup. Fufu is a very delicious food and in ghana, all the communities like it attached to their food. To prepare fufu, you need ingredients like cassava, plantain, or cocoyam and you will cook them together and after that you will pound them together in a wooden mortar with a cooden pistile. You will then add a prepared soup with the fufu, and eat it with your hands in a bowl. Finally, our traditional dance in our community is Adowa andKete. And some of the musicians in Ghana are Lord Keny, Daddy Lumba, Rockstone andtic tac. Some play hip-life and others also rap like Sisco and other musicans in America. We are very grateful to write you this letter and all the same we want to make friends with you. So after you receive this, try and reply us! Thanks… Your incoming friends in Ghana!

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Group 11

Dear Students in NY,

We are very happy to write you this grateful letter. How are you? We hope you are fine as we are. We send all our greeting to you in New York. We are learning perfectly as you do there. Thank you very much for your acceptance. We will like to introduce ourselves to you. Our names are Seidu, 18, Ramatu, 17, Ebenezer, 17, and Opore 16.

We come from different parts of the country. Seidu is from Burkina Faso, which is a country in West Africa. Ramatu is from the North of Ghana and Ebenezer and Opare are from Asore. We all speak different languages, but we all speak Twi. Other languages we speak are Mosi, Gonji and English. Our favorite subjects are Home economic and visual art. Our favorite music is Deeba and Obrafos. The local food that we eat in our country is rice ball. It is prepared by cooking the rice. After you finish cooking it, you put the rice intro a ball. You eat with soup. It is very delicious! Our hobby is playing football! We end here with much greeting to you and all your friends! Hope to hear from you soon! Bye!

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Group 12

Dear students in NY Greetings!

We are students from T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School. Our names are Sylvester, Opoku, Joyce Habiba and Godred. We are ages 15 to 17 years. We all speak Twi and Ga, along with English. Our favourite subjects are English, Mathematics, Science and Arts. We like all kinds of music, but most of all “Thong song” by Siszo. We also like Celine Dion, gospel music and Tic-Tac.

In our country, We have many different foods that we eat. Our favourite ones are fufu and banku. Our hobbies are listening to music, reading, playing football and watching films. We are ending here with much greetings and we are excited to receive your letters from NY! Your friends from AMASS

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Group 13

Dear students in New York,

We are students from T.I. Ahmadiyya Scondary School. Our names are Baba Seidu, thomas, Henry, Sakina and Linda. We are 16 and 17 years old. We are all Ghanaians but c ome from different towns and cities. Sakina and Linda are from Accra, and the boys come from Kumasi in the Ashanti regioin of Ghana. We speak Twi and English. Our favorite subject is picture making since we are all from the visual arts and home economics department. Our favorite food is yams and green leaf stew, which in our language we call bayere and nkontomire. You can attach a salty smoked fish called “koobi”, which you call talapia to the stew. It is very tasty! Our hobbies are swimming, dancing, and football! Our favorite musicians are Kojo, antwi, Obragos, Tic Tac, Akyeame and Reggie Rockstone. We are very much excited to receive your letters from New York! And we hope you students in New York will be very happy to receive our letter from Ghana. With much greetings from the five of us, we say Cheerio!

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Group 14

Dear students in New York,

We are students from Ghana and our names are elvis, Gideon, Rita and Yakubu. Our ages are from 16 to 19 years old. As well, our home towns are scattered throughout Ghana. We speak one language, but we come from different towns. We can all speak Twi, as well as English. We have 46 languages in Ghana, but we use 9 different ones in School. However, we can only speak English when we are in the classroom. Our subject we like the best is english, Maths and Visual Art. Our favourite musci is Deeba, Lord Keny, Lumba and Kojo Antwi. Our favorite food is banku and okro soup. Our best hobbies are ludu, table tennis, and football. We wish you all a happy day, and learn hard as we are doing here. We are looking forward to hearing from you soon! Bye!

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Group 15

Dear Students in NY,

Greetings from students in T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School. Our names are Zainabu, Rosemand, Angelina and Adiyiah. We are 16 and 17 years old. The location of our hometowns are in the Ashanti region of Ghana. There names are Kumasi, Jaben, Asoskere and Kumawu.

In Ghana, we have 49 languages, but we have 9 in school. All the students speak Twi and English. And our favourite subjects we like in school is English, Maths and Social Studies. The reason why we like these subjects is because our teachers teach us well. We have many kinds of music in Ghana, but our favourite is Deeba and Lory Kenya. We have many kinds of food, but we like fufu and banku the best! We are looking forward to hearing from you soon! Bye from Ghana.

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Group 16

Dear Students in New York,

We are students from Ahmadiyya Secondary School. Our names are Halima, Ayimawu, and Bright. How is your personal condition of health. Ours is fine, by the grace of the almighty God. We are in S.S.S. 1A, and we are students of Home Economics and Visual Art. We are the ages of 16-18 yeaers old. Our various home town are Kumasi in the Ashanti region, Volta region of Ho, Tamale in the northern region. In Ashanti, we speak Twi and English. Our favourite subjects are English, Science , Maths and Art and our favourite music is Pholomena by Tic Tac. Our favourite food is fufu. Our hobbies are netball, basketball and football. This is our greeting to you all…and we are excited to receive your letters. Thank you!

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Group 17

Dear Students! Hello.

We are the students of T.I. AMASS Asokore and our namesare Ahmed Bashir, Baba, Asirifi Evens, Mavis Quaye and Khadija A. Karim. Our ages are from 15 to 19 years, and we are all from Ghana. But we come from different hometowns, like Tamale, Koforidua, Cape Coast and Togo. We can speak about five languages, such as English, Twi, Hausa, French and Ewe. Our favourite subjects are English, Maths, History to name a few. Our favourite foods are fuf, gari and beans, rice and banku. Banku is a delicious food prepared by using corn and fufu is prepared by using yam, casava and plantain.

The music we like best is Tupac, Puff Daddy, Notorious B.I.B., Mase, Will Smith, Brandy, Monica and Celine Dion. The hobbies we like best are football, volleyball, swimming, reading story books, listening to music and table tennis. Our advise to you is that, study hard so that you can become good leaders in the near by future, we will like to end here with our letter, because there is a master in the class ready for classes to begin. We want to know more about you in your letter! Good bye!

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Group 18

Dear Students in NY,

Hello. We are students of T.I. AMASS in Asokore. Our names are Esther, Benedictor, Nimatu and Deniel. Our ages are 17 to 18 respectively. We are from Ghana, West Africa but our hometowns are Konom, Tafo, Wa and Paga. We all speak English, but different languages, such as Akan, Walar and Kasena. The Akan language is spoken by the Ashanti in the southernpart of Ghana.

However, our favourite subjects are English, French and Science. Anyway, we eat different kinds of foods, but what we like best is banku, and fufu. Fufu is pounded in a mortar and pestle. Also, our favourite music is Celine Dion and we like reading as a hobby. Eventually, we are very excited to introduce ourselves to you over in NY. We are waiting for you to introduce yourselves to us. We would be glad to hear from you! Till we hear from you, good bye and have a nice day! Your students from Ghana!

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Group 19

Dear Students of New York!

We are students from T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School Asokore. Our names are Reina Opoku, Rita Mensha, Kesseh Jibriel and Abdul Mohammed. Our ages range from 16 to 19 years old. We are from different hometowns, those being Jaben, Effiduase, Tamale and Sunyani. We speak different languages. They are Twi, Ga, Ewe, Wale, Fante, and Hausa.

Our favourite subjects are Maths, English, History, Science, Economics. We have different foods in Ghana but our favourite ones are fufu, yam, ampesi, and Tuo zaffi. We like all kinds of music, but our favrourite is Gospell and highlife. Our hobbies are swimming, writing leters, and reading story books. We are very excited to write you about ourselves, and we hope to hear from you soon! Bye!

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Group 20

Dear Students in NY W

e are from T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School, Asokore in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Our names are Maxwell, Adam, Hakeem, and Mavis respectively. We are 17 to 18 years old. We hail from different parts of Ghana, but we are all Ghanaians. The main languages we speak are Asante Twi, Fante, and Ewe. We also speak English. Our favourite subjects are science, economics, english and history. Our favourite foods are rice and beans, cabbage stew and banku and okro soup. The music we like best is highlife, along with funk and reggae. We sould like to take this utmost opportunity to describe our school so you know how our school is.

The name of our school is T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School in Asokore of Ghana. It was founded by Ahmadiyya Muslim Missionaries in 1980. Our school is a big school with many imposing structures. The school has ten buildings painted with yellow which serves as boarding houses. Our school is a mixed school with a large population of about 500 stduents. There are 25 teachers, along with a headmaster and assistant headmistress. Due to good academic work, our school is one of the best in Ghana, along with sports activities. There is discipline, good mood, law-abiding, hospitality and patriotism. Also, we have proficient teachers. Please, students of NY, we will be full of enthusiasm if you also write to us so as to know the cordial relationship between us. Please, we would like to end here with much greetings. Bye!

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Dear Osman,

How are you doing? I have notice that in your letter you
have mentioned that you only have 408 students in your entire school. it's a little like that in my school but instead we have about only 700 kids in the whole school. Osman you said that you like super Nintendo and the Playstation game console. Well osman I like those type of things to but my question to you is have you ever played or herd of Playstation 2 or Nintendo 64?

There really fun to play , but the only thing is I haven't played Playstation 2 yet but if I do I be sure to let you no how is . I see that you like to play sports and have competitions, I do also but I haven't done all those things that you mentioned except the long jump,, high jump, and running. The reason why I haven't really done all those stuff is because I'm not really into track and field I'm into BASKETBALL.

I'm telling you Osman basketball is my game. Everybody says I cant play because I'm short or they just think I'm not good there making a mistake. I'm so good that when I play your not getting the ball unless I give it to you. Well any way I got to go , hope you write Home !
I'm out one.

Sincerely,

Malcolm Livingston II

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Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000

Dear Mariam,

This is your new friend from New York, André. How is your life and studies in Ghana?
I hope everything is good and your grades are high.

What do you like to do in your spare time? Do have any game systems over there? I like to do is watch television almost all day and play my playstation. I also like playing sports like American football, Baseball and sometimes basketball.

How are you in school? Is it fun, interesting, or boring? What do you like to do in school? What are your favorite subjects? I like mostly Math, English, and Art. Sometimes school can be boring, but interesting at the sometimes.

I would like to know more about you, try to answer these questions above. Please write me soon.

Sincerely
André Escobar
your new friend

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Fri, 17 Nov 2000 14:12:11

Dear Irene

My name is Celia Maldonado. I am fourteen year old. My mother and father are from Puerto Rico. I am a student from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It's located in Manhattan. I am in the 9th grade. The subject I take is math, English,Spanish, global history, health, science and computer.

In New York City have many culture. The reason why because we have many type of people who is living in this city. I don't really know a lot about my culture.
For me I don't care so much like other people. If you like I would find something about my culture.

I would like to know more about you. I would like to know how is school in Ghana. Also, I would to know how many subject your school have? I am looking forward to here for you again.

Sincerely your


Celia Maldonado

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17 Nov 2000 14:19:18

Dear Yakubu Mohammed:

I am happy to send you this letter. How are you doing?

My name is Vielka Zabala and I am 14 years old. I speak English and Spanish. I am from the Dominican Republic, and island in the caribbean. I like listening to music like *NSYNC, Homestreet Boys, Britney Spears, Cristina Aguilera ,Eminem and Sisqo. I am in the 9th grade in Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School.

In my spare time I like to read love stories. In my culture, the religion is Catholic. We go to church every Sunday. We have what is called the First Communion. Is really nice. You dressed up in white with a white candle in your hand and is like a baptizism. I haven't done it yet but I hope to do. It means that from that moment on you are clean of all the bad things that you have done but you can't do it again. When you do something bad you have to go to church and confessed everything you did. Then the priest is going to tell you to pray
and ask for forgiveness.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Take care,
Vielka Zabala

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Fri, 17 Nov 2000
Dear Irene Owusu

Hello my name is Carlos J. Ramos. I'm a student from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School. My favorite subject is art. In this country girls don't wait for some one to check if they're pregnant sometimes girls act dumb and get babies because they want to or because girls also can be raped. This country isn't as beautiful as people may think it to be. But there are a lot of good things about New York like Central Park . And there are a lot of bad things about New York like the crowded subways, all the mean people, in some places the robberies, also all the people that try to rip people off in the stores. My favorite food is pizza. I can only speak English but understand Spanish. My favorite things to do are surf the Internet also I like to draw. I would like to
know more about your country and you? When you type Home please tell me. I got to go bye type Home.

Sincerely yours
Carlos Ramos

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Fri, 17 Nov 2000

Dear Abdullai Awal,

Hi my name is Raul. I am from New York City. I was born there and raised there. But actually I was living in the Dominican Republic for four years. So I was raised in the Dominican Republic for four years and in the United States for ten. If you do the math then you probably already know I am 14 years old. I attend a school in Manhattan New York. My school is called Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. This is a school for international careers. My school is located in the heart of New York, which is Time Square.

In New York the Trains are very crowded. But that's the way most of us get to school. Life in New York is very fun. There are a lot of places you could go to.
You could go to amusement parks and the movie theaters. At night there are a lot of lights, especially if you come to Times Square. It is really fun looking at the lights, that is if you are seeing them for the first time. After a while you become use to the lights, so they are not that fun.

Let me give you some information on how and when we start preparing for our future jobs. We only get to study what we want to do in the future, in College.
Some High Schools specialize in some subjects. For example my High School specializes in International Careers, so at school I take classes like Virtual Enterprise. I am not at that point yet, but I'll be there in a year or so. Until now the only business class I take is computer applications. Here in the U.S. you could basically start to prepare for the future at any age. But it's always good to start young. You may know the famous saying "The early bird catches the worm." I would like to know more about Ghana, like what are the people like there, what nice places could I visit if I were to visit.

Sincerely Yours
Raul Acevedo

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Fri, 17 Nov 2000
Dear Mariam,

This is your new friend from New York, André. How is your life and studies in Ghana?
I hope everything is good and your grades are high.

What do you like to do in your spare time? Do have any game systems over there?
I like to do is watch television almost all day and play my playstation. I also like playing sports like American football, Baseball and sometimes basketball.

How are you in school? Is it fun, interesting, or boring? What do you like to do in school? What are your favorite subjects? I like mostly Math, English, and Art. Sometimes school can be boring, but interesting at the sometimes.

I would like to know more about you, try to answer these questions above. Please write me soon.

Sincerely
André Escobar
your new friend

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November 17, 2000
Dear Bright

Hello, students from Ghana. My name is Dwayne Fredericks. I am fourteen years old. I live in Brooklyn, New York. That is one of the many places in New York.
I attend Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School. It is in Manhattan, a place also in New York. We have about 600 kids in our school. They are from different places in New York.

New York City is fun. You can never be bored because there is always something to do. Things like the movies, shopping, video arcades, parks, and etc. In New York, there are so many different types fo cultures. There are people from all over the world that are in New York, even Ghananians. Everyone likes music, but there are different types of music. For example, hip-hop, rock, country, r&b,and so on. My favorite types of music is hip-hop, reggae, and r&b. My favorite hip-hop artists are Ja Rule, Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G, 2Pac, and so on.

So far this is what I can tell you about myself and New York. There are somethings that I would like to know. How many children are in your school? In Ghana, what activities do you do for fun? If you had the chance to change something about where you live, what would you change?
What other rituals do you have in Ghana? How old are you? Where in Ghana do you live?

Sincerely
Dwayne Fredericks

------------------------------------------------------------ November 17, 2000

Dear Osman,

I am not Fredericks but my Teacher gave this letter to me. My name is Messiah and I live in NYC in the borough of Queens the best borough NYC. Probably the best place to live in United States. I'm 14 years old. I go to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School in Manhattan. I go to A high school in Manhattan because I wanted to stay out of trouble. Our School is very whack we don't have sports. Girls don't have to wait till they get married to lose their virginity they can give it anytime.
I listen to Jay-Z, Nelly, R- Kelly and others also Outkast but they dress weird but their songs are hot. I'm getting Playstation 2 I got playstation now. Well peace out e-mail me and tell me what you eat in Ghana and what you watch on TV.

Sincerely,

Messiah Rhodes

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Dear Sarah,edna,sadik and Elizabeth

Hi! This is Eriberto I liked your letter,my country is united states of America.
Here we are also strict in many ways if we get in trouble they call our parents.
We are not as strict as you may be, our country is a very liberal country. Our teachers discipline us but not with canes, the law in the united states means no staff or anyone except parents could touch. My culture is Hispanic I am Dominican , my school is a very good school it has a good environment. There are good people in this school they care for you this is like another home for you.
Anyway I hope to hear from you again.


Sincerely,

Eriberto

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Dear Bright

The conditions in New York are good, is starting to get cold. I was reading your letter about culture and marriage. For my culture you also get married, but you can marry whoever you want. Your parents don't have to pick your husband, you can pick whoever you want to get married with.

In my culture my religion is catholic. In my religion parents always say that is good to get married after your 18, and to have children after you get married.
Some parents say that is a sin to have children before you get married. In my community there are a lot of young girls who have children and are not even married.

I plan to get married after I have a career and a job, for me to get married is a very hard thing to do, because after you get married you have a family to take care of. After I get married I plan to have two kids only, because I think in this world two children are enough. Well I have to go, hope you like my letter and write Home.

Sincerely yours,
Suhail Perez

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Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000

Dear Bashiru Mad Fish Faza

I am glad to hear from you. My name is Melody Electra Rodriguez. I
am a student at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. I'll tell you a little about myself. My nationality is Puerto Rican and I live in Manhattan, New York with my aunt and uncle. I am a freshman in high school.

In my school tonight we are going to have fashion show. That is
where the student of my school try on crazy clothes and dance to all different types of music. Do you have anything like that where you live. Tomorrow I am going to my friend's birthday, which is a costume party. That is where you buy crazy clothing and pretend you are something else for the day. Tomorrow I am going to be someone who lived in the 50's. I am going to wear a big purple wig.

That is amazing how you name your children with the days of the
week. We have nothing of that sort over here you get named depending on what your parents want to be named. We do take our father's last name though. What day were you born on?

What type of music do you like? Any American music? What do you do for fun?
Please write Home I am very interested to hear more about your culture, friends, family, or whatever you want to talk about.

Yours truly,
Melody Rodriguez

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November 17, 2000

Dear Students in Ghana,

Thank you for Your letter! My name is Sara and I am Fourteen years old. I live in New York City but I also have a house in Long Island by the beach. My family is really big, I have four brothers and my parents!
Life in New York is a lot of fun, we always have something to do or somewhere to go. I like to play sports and I love to wear makeup and go shopping, what are your interests?

There is a lot to see and do in NYC, TRL (a television show) lets us meet our favorite musicians and stars. I met Hanson there. Hanson is my favorite band ever! I listen to rock music as well as pop. My friends and I like to make music with each other we also make movies with our digital camera.

School is not that much fun in New York, its not fun anywhere, but I guess if you have to go to school anywhere it would be New York. The teachers here are kind of mean. If we are bad be can get sent to the Dean, get suspended or expelled. It's not a big deal as long as you stay out of trouble you know?

I am very interested in how you live and the things you like to do. It seems so cool to live in Ghana for a while. Maybe from this writing experience I will learn more about Ghana. I hope to hear from you soon!


Sincerely yours,
Sara DeGaetano

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Novmeber17, 2000

Dear Oti Antwi,

Hello! How are you doing? My name is Anna Jorge I am 14 years old and live in New York City, and attend Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis high school, its my first year in this school which means I am a ninth grader.

Im Hispanic, I am an in complexion with brown eyes and black hair, I am about 5'1" tall. I speak two languages Spanish and English, my favorite subjects are art because I can express my feelings and emotions in art, and global because I learn a lot about the different countries in the world.

My parents are both alive as well and they are from the Dominican Republic, I was born in New York fourteen years ago.

My main hobbies are playing volley ball and watching television or just talk with my friend on the phone. Im very happy you wrote and look forward to writing more often to each other, well see you later.
PS write Home real soon please and like you said Cherrio.

Sincerely

Anna Jorge

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: Fri, 17 Nov 2000

Dear Frimpong Latif Jamal,

Hi, my name is Mabel Frias and I'm 14 years old. When I read the beliefs your community believes in I started thinking about my community's beliefs. Well, in the US there are many beliefs, such as if someone sweeps your feet you'll marry an old man/woman. Also, many people are very "superstitious". I'm a little superstitious myself. My religion is Christianity. I believe only in God. The God that I believe is in the sky.

My mom is more superstitious than I am. She is aware of everything. She says that if you put your purse on the floor you will loose your money. I don't believe that.

People here in New York City are sometimes very superstitious. Some believe in other religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Catholic, etc. Thank you for sending me this letter and I hope to hear from you soon! Please keep in contact.

Sincerely yours,

Mabel Frias

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Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000
Dear Hassan,

My name is Jordan Wiggs, I am a student at Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis High School. I am on the bowling team here. Do you play any sports? What kind if you do? I am 14 years old and have many friends. For fun I enjoy going to the movie theaters, friends houses, parties, or just hanging out, laughing and having a good time. Do you do any of those things, what do you do for fun?

In New York there are many different kinds of people. You have Hispanics, African-Americans, Caucasians, and others. Everyone has their own style and their own beliefs. There are Christians, Baptist, Muslims, Jews, and other various types of religion. I am Baptist. You can marry whoever you choose as long as you take a test and they say that you are ready for the big step (to see if your compatible). You have to be over the age of 18 in New York to get married.

I am going to end this letter by saying I hope to hear from you soon and get more information. Stay safe and Be cool!

Sincerely,
Jordan Wiggs

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Fri, 17 Nov 2000
Dear Frimpong,

In my community I have alot of beliefs. All over there are different beliefs. Alot of people believe in different things.

One of thM beliefs is Friday the 13th. Some people believe that this day is bad luck. I don't really know why they think this is a bad luck day because nothing really happens on this day.

Another belief is Halloween. Some people think that this is the day for the devil. People all over don't celebrate Halloween because they don't think that people should celebrate the day of the devil.

Really I don't believe that Halloween or Friday the 13th is bad luck or the devils day. I think they are just like any other day.

Sincerely,

Teshuni Baker

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Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000

Dear Frimpong Latif Jamal

Hello! Well I read some of your moral belief and I was very impress to hear them. Well some of those beliefs that I have heard are that if you break a mirror and you look at it you would have 7 years of bad luck, and Friday the 13 is a day of bad luck and that anything could happened to you. But in my way of thinking I don't think is true.

One of the tradition or if you what to call it religious thing that you suppose to do in my religion is stay virgin on till you get married but right now must people are not taking that very serious.

Sincerely your friend,
Joelle Santelises

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Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000

Dear Edna, Sarah, Sadik and Elizabeth,

Hello! How are you doing? It's me your friend from New York school of Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis. I received your letter and I thought it was really interesting when you talked about discipline and the uniform you guys need to wear to go to school.

Well here in new York schools such as: Elementary school and some junior high school schools have to wear uniform, but high school don't need to wear uniform we actually wear what we want to wear. I remember when I was in junior high school that we had to wear uniforms but most of the students didn't go to school in uniforms. They used to wear what they felt like to wear. The funny thing is that in my school we had to wear a dark color pants with black sneakers and a white shirt. But since sneakers used to come out in style in all different color especially red everybody used to mach with the same color shirt. Everybody that used to go to school with out their uniforms they used to get detention. Well as you can see almost the whole entire school used to go to detention. So the principal had to change it and put that everybody have to go in a white shirt.
Nobody wore a white shirt but always carried one in their book bag for just in case the principal used to pass through their class, or see them in the hall
way.

Talking about discipline. People in all different school here in new York always have a couple of rules in their schools that they most obey. But the students from here are too hard headed to listen. Students cut class and even school.
What I mean by cutting class or school is by not going to school at all for that day or not going to a certain class for the whole day. Here we go to different rooms and get different teacher for every subject. Once you are caught by a police cutting school you will get arrested but some students run away from the police and get away with things accept for others that try to run away and get caught again which becomes even worst.
Well I would like to end here with much greeting

Yours truly,
Giselle Liriano

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Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 08:39:54 -0500

Dear Leticia,

Thanks for writing Home. As you know, my name is Sheena David and I am student at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. I reside in New York City. I moved to the United States when I was ten from the Caribbean Islands. I must say that the city is much better. I am currently living with my mother and my two sisters. My father is not living in New York along with my brothers. New York is one of the busiest city in the U.S. but its okay.

I am 14 years of age and this is my first year in high school. In my leisure time I like to be with my friends. I also talk a lot on the phone with friends and relatives who I don't see everyday. My favorite sport is basketball and I know quite a few things about it. Although I don't play the game I like to watch the games. I also like to bowl and join the team in my school. I recently found information about Ghana on the Internet. I did not know that your country's main language was English. I would like to hear much more about your country and also yourself. I look forward to hearing from you soon.


Sincerely,
Sheena David.

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Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000

Dear Ahmed Alhayi Bashiru Mad Fish Faza,

Hi! My name is Eva Alexandra Perez and I'm 14 years old. I live in Manhattan, a borough in New york City. I'm a ninth grader attending Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis High School.

It is very interesting how kids get to be named in your culture. I was amazed how everything is so neat and organized. It is determined by the date the child is born.

In my culture, which is Dominican and Cuban, we name our children by their ancestors or a famous person. I was named Eva from my grandmaother which was her nickname. My middle name Alexandra comes from my Cuban grandfather Alexander.
The oddest thing yet, was that I was born on the same date my grandfather was born, February 27.

We have some similarities between our culture and personal Background. I hope next letter I would get to know you better. I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Sincerely,
Eva Alexandra Perez

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Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000

Dear Bright,


Hello. How are you doing? I am good. My name is Karina Sanchez. I live in New York City. I am fourteen years of age and in the 9th grade.

I was happy to find out about your culture. I feel that it's very interesting.
The ideas are very different from the ones in the United States. When a woman is getting married, they have to be the one to decide who they want to marry. Most people get married because they really admire the person as well.

In my culture, marriage is just something you do when you love someone. No one else has a say in it. If you love a person, then you can marry them. I guess this is very different from your culture. Well, I guess that's all. Take care!


Sincerely,

Karina Sanchez

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November 17,2000

Dear Nafisah,

Hello! My name is Jennifer Torres. My age is 15 years old. New York is a big a big apple and the condition here is good. Some people are bad but some people are good. New York City has a lot of people and cars.

I would like to introduce my cultures. My culture is Latin and you have a lot of fun talking it or dancing. When you are Latin, you know how to dance. You dance a lot of different ways. It is fun when you dance and you can't stop dancing.

When you get marry you could cheat on your wife or your husband but I think it is not right.


Sincerely,

Jennifer Torres

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November 17, 2000
Dear Ahmed Bashir Baba,

I want to thank you for writing such a great letter, I've seen some of the other letters that my classmates have, and this is by far the best one.

I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Anthony Jimenez, I live in Brooklyn N.Y. I'm a student of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School. I am 15 years old and I would one day like to enter the business of journalism. My native country is the Dominican Republic. I'm the third generation in my family to be living in the U.S.

N.Y.C. is the best city in the world to visit or live in. There are so many things to do and see. In Brooklyn, you can go to the places of where many Hip-Hop artist were born and raised. In Queens you can go to see a Met game in Shea (of course by way of the #7 train). In the Bronx going to a Yankee game will never do you wrong. I admit it there really isn't anything to do but enjoy nature. Manhattan is where everything is at, Times Square, Knicks game, Broadway Musicals, and many other things.

I was really interested in how your culture is set up and works. All this is new to me, and I admit it that it's weird to me because I'm not used to hearing rituals like this. I would really like to hear more about you culture.

Sincerely,
Anthony Jimenez

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17 Nov 2000

Dear Oman

Hi, I am Gismele Cabrera. I am 15 years old. I live in New York City. My parents are Dominican. I go to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School in Downtown Manhattan. In my school there is about 500 students this year.
In my school we have 8 periods of classes but some have more. In my school we have global, math, science, computer, gym, and English. Here we play sports but at this moment I don't get gym instead I get health. There are boys and girls in my school. When we change classes we talk to our friends.

In New York there is lots of places where you will love to come and
visit. The best place to visit is in Downtown Manhattan. In Downtown Manhattan there lots of stores, places to play games, movies theaters, and the best place is to go and eat in the restaurant. In this place is a place to go and have fun with your friends or family.

I also like to play video games like Nintendo 64, play station, and
dream cast.I hope we can keep writing to each other. Let me know about how is thepeople you live are like, your friends, and what do you like the most about Ghana.


Sincerely
Gismele Cabrera

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Dear Ahmed Bashir Baba:

How are you? I'm doing good. My name is Maureen Lui and I am 14 years old. I am a freshman from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School. In the future I would like to be either a lawyer, an artist, a veterinarian, or to own a successful business.

My favorite kind of music is hip-hop and R&B. I like Tupac, Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy too. My favorite sport is baseball. I am a big Yankees fan and I was so happy that they won the world series.

The naming of a child in Ghana is very interesting. Why do the women not have the right to name a child? What is Schnapp and why is it placed on a child's tongue. The ceremony with the water is almost like being baptized if you want to become a Catholic. One form of religion is the Catholic faith. This is where people believe in God. People with any age can be baptized. They are baptized with holy water which is dripped across the person's forehead in the motion of the cross. This is a sign of saying you want to be a Catholic and you want to follow God.

The way I got my name was from a baby's name book that both of my parents had looked at. Other people get their names from either the parents or grandparents name. Names are made up or whatever fits the baby, that is the name given.

It has been great to know a lot about your culture. Do you have a part of your culture that you don't like? Thanks for your time and I hope you write Home soon.


Sincerely yours,

Maureen Lui