5-year-old Boy Sends Letters Around The World

Toby Little of Sheffield, England, may be small, but he’s on a huge mission: To write a handwritten letter to every single country in the world. “I want the world to be a better place,” he was quoted as saying.

Toby was inspired to embark on this journey after reading the book, “A Letter to New Zealand,” which describes the postal system. “He said, ‘Can I write a letter to New Zealand?,’” the boy’s mother, Sabine Little, explained. But he didn’t stop there.

“He wanted to write to everybody in the whole wide world,” she said. “I thought he might do 5 or 10, then lose interest, but he just kept going and going.”

So far, Toby has written 234 letters, doubling up on countries where he has more than one contact. He always addresses his letters to someone specific by reaching out to different embassies, finding contacts through his website, or just writing to regular old friends.

Of the 193 United Nations-recognized countries, he’s written letters to 186 of them, leaving only seven countries until he meets his goal.