Bordewich-Bray Elementary fourth-graders have put the finishing touches on a letter to new friends across the Atlantic Ocean.
"It just kind of gives me chills as a teacher to think that these children have a connection across the world," said their teacher Connie McGruder. "It's wonderful."
The children wrote in response to a letter they received from Portuguese students who wrote to express their condolences for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"We are with you in this hour of sorrow," they wrote from Portugal. "Don't be afraid, keep your strength up and hope for peace, tranquility and joy because they will return. Terrorism will not win over peace."
The letter came via Carson City resident Madalena Farrow, who was visiting her family in Portugal when the terrorists struck.
Her nephew, Manuel MiguZns, 8, watched the attacks on television.
"He was incredibly touched by the things that happened," Farrow said. "He told my sister he wanted to do something."
Since he had met McGruder on a trip to the United States two years ago, he decided to write a letter to her students and involve his classmates.
"I thought it was very touching," said Jennifer Bracamontes, 9. "They wrote that we would win against terrorism. I know that we will win."
In addition to the letter, the students also drew pictures -- mostly of the World Trade Center on fire. McGruder's class sent pictures in return but tried to concentrate on a message of hope.
Caelan Sanders, 9, drew a broken heart with a Carson City student on one side and a Portuguese student on the other.
"The kids are pushing it back together so it's not cracked anymore," he explained.
Mary Jolly's second-grade class also sent letters and pictures in response.
"In the future, we hope to heal and have world peace," their letter read. "Just because we're far apart, it doesn't mean we can't stick together."
Farrow's daughter, Maria Farrow, a freshman at Western Nevada Community College will translate the letters before they are sent over.
"I think this is fantastic," Madalena Farrow said. "It's too bad something terrible had to happen but I think this is essential. It opens up their eyes and lets them communicate with kids throughout the world."
