This is an informational site about the organization, "SAPE" (formerly called "The Soviet-American Penfriend Exchange"). Our primary goal is to find postal mail ("snail-mail") penfriends for more than 100,000 people in the Baltics and former Soviet Union who have written to us.

This service is FREE. We accept applications by postal mail only and your penpal information is then sent to you by postal mail as well. We include a Russian version of the address in addition to the English version if it is needed and cannot transmit that by email. Most people don't have Russian fonts installed on their computers and email programs, so sending the addresses to you by postal mail easier than our trying to explain to you how to Russify your computer (and then HOPING that the address is really being displayed on your end in Russian and not in "gibberish"). We do ask that you pay the cost of the postage but you do not need to send any money. Payment is in the form of either U.S. postage stamps or, if you are outside the USA, by International Reply Coupons (which you can buy at your post office). Please refer to the registration section for more specific information and the application form.

We are working to make this site a place where you can find all kinds of information about the Baltic nations and former Soviet Union. There are now some places on the internet where you can find email pals in those countries. We hope that you'll also choose to correspond with one or more of our SAPE penfriends by postal mail since most people in the Baltics and former Soviet Union do not have computers or access to the internet. They are eager to correspond with friends in other countries the only way they can: by postal mail ("snail mail").

Who We Are - Go here to read general information about SAPE's history, goals, and a list of endorsements by some international organizations.

Teacher Recommendations - Read some letters from teachers in the U.S.A. and other countries whose students have participated in SAPE.

Pen Pal Meetings - Over the years, we've heard from some participants who have traveled overseas to meet their SAPE pen pals. Here are two such stories.

Children's Express Article - In 1991, the international children's newswire organization Children's Express conducted six months of interviews with SAPE participants and their teachers in both the USA and the not-yet-dissolved USSR. Their story about us was published on February 10, 1992. One of the newspapers where it appeared was The Indianapolis Star.

Become a SAPE Penfriend! - Ready to make a new friend? This link will take you through the registration process.

Resource Center - Here you'll find a section devoted to each of the Baltic Nations (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and the former Soviet republics (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan). Each section contains general information about the country, a map, its flag, a selection of relevant books and CDs that can be bought online, and soon, we are in the process of collecting a wide variety of weblinks to help you explore each country. If you know of some good country-specific links, please let us know. We would like to turn this into the ultimate reference site about the former Soviet Union and the Baltics.

Link Page - Some other interesting pen pal sites.
 

PLEASE HELP SAPE GET A NEW MIDDLE EAST PENPAL PROGRAM STARTED ! ! !  click here for information

Make A Donation to SAPE! - If you like what you see or if you've already made a new friend through SAPE and would like to help keep this organization going, please consider making a donation.  We're now able to accept donations online through PayPal, the online payment service.

Write to us! Our email address is SAPEmail@gmail.com and our postal address is: SAPE, P.O. Box 319, Monroe, CT 06468-0319, U.S.A.