Posted: Monday, March 17, 2003 12:00 am
A local column by Pete Bober
This week is "Corvallis Sister Cities Week," a weeklong celebration commemorating the formation of the Corvallis Sister Cities Association and our 13-year sister-city relationship with Uzhgorod, Ukraine.
The international sister-city movement was established after World War II by President Dwight Eisenhower "to increase international understanding and foster world peace by furthering international communication and exchange at the person-to-person level through city-to-city affiliations."
The Corvallis-Uzhgorod relationship started as an alternative to the tense cold-war relations between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Several Corvallis residents believed promoting "citizen diplomacy" via the growing international sister-city movement might be the key to improved relations between the two superpowers.
The idea took hold and the relationship between our two cities has continued to grow exponentially. Since the first exchange in 1990, more than 500 citizens from the two communities have participated in numerous exchange activities and service projects.
Meanwhile, few realize that CSCA and its programs have won numerous awards from Sister Cities International, including the prestigious "Best Overall Program" award in 2001.
A sample of CSCA projects in conjunction with the Uzhgorod Sister City Association include:
• Introducing "family medicine" to the Transcarpathian region via a $1 million grant.
• Developing an orphan sponsorship program that serves more than 300 children.
• A program that created numerous sports, recreation, and education opportunities for people with disabilities, as well as equipment and training for therapists.
• A women's neighborhood networking project that created a citywide emergency preparedness system.
• A project to begin replacement of the aging water infrastructure in the city.
• Economic and tourism development activities.
• Numerous connections with Corvallis service clubs and churches, and many citizen exchanges, including several youth exchanges.
The highlight of this year's Sister Cities Week will be the arrival of an official delegation from Uzhgorod. Members of the delegation are the recently elected mayor of Uzhgorod, Viktor Pohorelov; Stanislav Sokach, business manager of the professional choir "Cantus"; and Viktoria Roman, a newspaper journalist. Kateryna Bizilya, past president of the Uzhgorod Sister City Association, is with the delegation as interpreter.
Sister Cities Week also will include a "State of the Sister-City Relationship" report to the Corvallis City Council by CSCA. The meeting will include an introduction of the Uzhgorod delegation to the City Council, as well as a review of the past year's activities and talk of future projects between the two cities.
The Uzhgorod delegation has a full schedule for the two weeks they will be in Corvallis. Mayor Pohorelov will be meeting with CSCA and several other Corvallis organizations regarding Uzhgorod's domestic water system, public health issues and methods to increase economic and tourism development.
Pohorelov will address two Rotary Clubs, meet with numerous city, county and other local officials from a variety of organizations, including the Corvallis Public Schools, Linn-Benton Community College, Oregon State University, the Corvallis-Benton County Economic Development Partnership, the Corvallis Convention and Visitors Bureau and Hewlett-Packard Co.
Sokach will work with the CSCA Cultural Exchange Committee to plan for the Cantus choir's proposed Corvallis visit in 2005. The Cantus choir has toured extensively in Europe and China and hopes to launch its first U.S. tour in the spring of 2005.
Roman, will cover the delegation's trip and sister city relationship for the Uzhgorod newspaper. She will visit the Gazette-Times and work with members of its staff, including reporter Theresa Hogue.
I hope you will join us in celebrating Sister Cities Week, and I encourage you to meet the members of the Uzhgorod delegation!
Pete Bober is president of the Corvallis Sister Cities Association. For more information, see http://sistercities.corvallis.or.us.