Often Sister City Association of Chattanooga (SCA) members muse that we’re the best-kept secret in town and need to promote ourselves more.
We are an active group of people interested in international connections and forming global friendships.
Sister Cities International was founded in 1956 by then-President Dwight Eisenhower to promote world peace. Peace doesn’t occur government to government, he claimed, but through citizen diplomacy, through direct personal and cultural bonds where individuals from different countries form friendships and get to know, understand and appreciate one another. SCA endeavors to create opportunities for Chattanooga area residents to get acquainted and develop friendships with people from our sister cities.
Perspective: Chattanooga’s sister cities teach global understanding
Chattanooga’s first sister city partnership began 49 years ago when some employees of DuPont Chattanooga went to DuPont in Hamm, Germany, for several months of training. They worked alongside Germans and became friends. There was encouragement from Washington, D.C., for U.S. cities to partner with cities elsewhere, and the DuPont workers began asking, “Why don’t WE become sister cities?” It happened, and Hamm has long been a strong partner. Many people have visited, a school partnership was formed, annual student exchanges occurred, interns came to Chattanooga from Hamm to learn how our city government functions, performers came and traveled to the other city to give concerts and perform musical theater pieces, and so much more. Literally hundreds of Chattanoogans have traveled to and stayed with families in Hamm and vice versa. Even Mayor Tim Kelly was an exchange student while in high school and lived with a Hamm family one summer.
Our next partnership was Wuxi, China. Then Nizhnii Tagil, Russia. Today our “sisters” also include Tono, Japan; GivaTayim, Israel; Wolfsburg, Germany; Accra, Ghana; Gangneung, South Korea (where our relationship is dormant, but we are working to revive it), and Trostyanets, Ukraine. Fano, Italy is a friendship city we hope to make a sister city.
Activities with our partners vary depending on several factors. One is ability to travel. It’s easy, for example, for Germans to visit us or us them, whereas it’s nearly impossible for most Chinese even to consider the trip. Visiting Chinese delegations are generally city and business leaders. We have, however, organized multiple art exchanges and large-screen video calls where Chinese and American youth, with the aid of translators, have had meaningful conversations. Nizhnii Tagil has similarly joined Chattanooga in art exchanges and large-screen video calls. Tono frequently sends us student groups and we them for home stays and school visits. Tono brewers and local craft breweries even collaborated to create a Sister Cities beer using Tono hops with American ingredients. Hamm is now interested in joining Tono and Chattanooga in a collaborative beer project.
Several years ago, GivaTayim students produced and sent us beautiful posters with messages of peace; these were displayed throughout our city for weeks. Accra has connected with us via Zoom and Facetime. We once hosted a cooking class where Accra chefs gave us cooking instructions via Facetime. Fano invites us to send runners to their marathon in Italy every May, and we reciprocate. Both Wolfsburg and Hamm send interns to work (unpaid, due to visa restrictions) in city government and businesses.
Activities and opportunities are abundant.
Two incidents illustrate benefits of SCA involvement.
Five years ago, we hosted a luncheon for a Chinese delegation, SCA members, and some others. Seating was arranged so people from each group were at every table. One Chinese visitor cornered me after lunch and said, “This is what it’s all about: mingling with the natives!”
One summer, the late Allan Ledford, three other Center for Creative Arts teachers and I took advanced musical theater and dance students to Gangneung for an international youth arts festival. There we met young performing artists from South Korea, Mongolia, mainland China and other countries. We all had university dorm rooms and ate meals together in the dining hall. It was inspiring to watch our CCA students interact with youth from around the globe. Allan remarked before we left Gangneung, “Our president calls the places some of these performers are from ‘the axis of evil,’ and I have considered folks from those countries ‘those people … from over there.’ They are now Joo-Yung, Ming, Seo-jun, Jing, Hua and more … people I have come to like.”
What a valuable lesson learned from sharing the arts and meals. Mingling with the natives is indeed a great way for us to expand our minds and hearts, to grow in understanding and appreciation of other cultures and peoples.
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Karen Claypool is the chair of the board of the Sister City Association of Chattanooga.
Interested in getting involved with the Sister City Association? Join at chattanoogasistercities.org, and check out our activities and events. Annual dues are very modest. There are events monthly, and anyone interested in international connections is welcome.