On paper decorated with stickers and pictures, students from an orphanage in Kenya described themselves to Westlake Village second- and third-graders.

"My name is Nduta, am happy to have a pen pal from America," wrote one child. Another named Bahati likes to swim and read. And Naom drew a human heart after signing off at the bottom of the page.

Students at Westlake Elementary School waited for those letters, which arrived every few months, hoping their questions would be answered and thinking up more to ask in return.

The pen pals traded letters for a year, bridging the more than 9,600 miles between their homes and continuing a multiyear project that has raised money and awareness for the orphanage in Makobe, Kenya.

With school out for the summer, more than a dozen students and some members of a local Girl Scout troop returned to teacher Wendy Ridenour's classroom Monday. They sorted pencils, crayons and other school supplies, which will be packed up and delivered to the 42 students at the orphanage later this summer.

The school project, called "Friends Around the World," started three years ago. Ridenour had just returned from Makobe and wanted to find a way to connect her students to the children there.

"We're building bigger hearts," Ridenour said, adding that the project also helped her teach subjects like writing and social studies to her Westlake students.

The relationship between the school and Makobe village started when a Kenyan minister interned at a church here where Wendy's husband, the Rev. Dale Ridenour, served. The Ridenours and other community members visited the Makobe village.

The orphanage, for children who lost their parents to AIDS, was later built and supported by the Baraka Foundation, a nonprofit partnership with directors in both Ventura County and Makobe.

This year, a group of 41 Ventura County residents will return to Makobe, taking with them the students' care packages and $2,600 raised at the school's bake sale for materials to build desks.

After that stop, the group will travel to a rural Masai community on Kenya's southern border, where a medical clinic designed by the Ridenours' son is being built.

Matthew Ridenour finished his architecture degree at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo this year. His senior thesis was to design the clinic, being built on land provided by the Kenyan government.

On Monday, students said they're glad they got the chance to be part of the project.

"It makes you feel good," said 8-year-old Max Bulko.

Classmate Ryan Hampton added, "You have another friend around the world."