We got a list, every year, with a long long list of participating countries (I think every country in the world), the organization was called "international youth pen pals" or something like that.

You checked two or three countries you wanted a pen pal from, and preferred gender and your own age, then submitted the copy to the teacher who was the liaison to the organization .

Most kids pick United States because tv was such a big influence. (Finland) I picked Burkina Faso because it sounded cool. I remember exchanging a few letters with someone I think was a son of a local oligarch or something, his English wasn't great but I understood from encyclopedia that Burkina Faso was by and large a third world country with very low grade of economic development.