Pen pal program offers U.S. and Ukrainian teens a unique view of the world

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, a pen pal program was established between Ukrainian and American students.

Diana Makarenko is a 14-year-old girl living in Okhtyrka in northeastern Ukraine, near the Russian border. Her town was heavily bombed in the first weeks of the war. Most of her classmates are now learning online, but she and some of her peers are choosing to attend school in person. They had to go into the dugout every time the air alarm sounded, which sometimes happened several times a day.

Minati Divakar is a 14-year-old girl who lives in the quiet suburb of Oakton, Virginia, outside the U.S. capital Washington. She attends a top school and spends most of her free time studying, hoping to get into a good university.

Over the past six months, the girls have shared their lives through emails, WhatsApp messages and recordings.

“I want to find friends abroad,” Diana said. “To communicate and learn in some way the perspective of someone who learned about the war from the media, from the news, from the internet and someone who didn’t experience the war firsthand.”

For Minati, becoming a pen pal was an eye-opening experience.

“I never imagined I would have such a deep connection with someone living on the other side of the world, let alone a country torn by war,” she said. “Like, I’m not that different from her… even though her life is 100 percent more difficult than mine.”