Online message vs physical letter Cancel Se requiere un título

Hi Esteemed Members of the CI Care Team, and seasoned sponsors!

Can you lay out all the differences in the process and experience  when it comes to sending an online letter via the Message Center versus if I were to type out a physical letter and send it via the Kansas City office?

For example, I would imagine the online letter gets translated via translation software, and is delivered to the child's email very quickly. And when the child responds, the letter is similarly translated automatically, then is delivered to  my Message Center?

With the physical letter, I assume it takes days to arrive to Kansas City, then a couple of weeks to deliver to the international country the child is located at. I assume there, local agents translate the letter and rewrites a copy in native language,  then it would be  a few more days for it to be delivered to the child's home? When the child writes a physical letter in response, this delivery/translation chain goes back the other way around? I assume the child gets a copy of my original letter along with the translated version, and I get a copy of the child's original letter along with a translated version?

Is that an accurate summary? What are some other differences to note?

Hi Hadouken!
I believe that at this time the only option is email, because of Covid. So while I would love to be sending real snail mail (my stationary pile is getting out of control) for now we are reliant on the electronic version. Its my understanding that earlier in the pandemic they were just calling and reading the letters to the children on the telephone, or sending a copy of them via text, so there were no physical copies going out. I do not know what is happening now- certainly in the countries CI works in, they’ve been hard hit with the pandemic and it can be difficult to keep up with the restrictions. I heard a rumor that paper mail to Guatemala was getting through, but it was probably just some desperate sponsors fever dream. As to the rest of your question, you might take the time to trawl through CI’s website- theres some interesting info about the mail process, including a video about the mail distribution center thats pretty awesome. PS: I’m not a staff member, so any of this could be old information. It seems like things change daily.

Kiyoshi, you got it! Thanks for your help.
Hadouken - Right now only virtual letters are able to reach your child and utilizing the Message Center is the best platform. How a child receives a letter depends on many factors - does the child have internet access and a device, does the child only have phone access, etc. Lastly, a child's letter to their sponsor will be uploaded to the sponsor's MyCI Message Center and also sent in the mail with a translation provided on the bottom portion of the child's letter.

This article on our website also has a lot of great information about our current letter writing process: All your letter-writing questions, answered https://www.children.org/stories/2021/ 08_august/all-your-letter-writing-questions-answered

Thanks everyone who replied - makes sense!