Cities build bridges, break down barriers

The goals are simple — expose people to other cultures and lifestyles to tear down walls and boundaries and combat stereotypes and cultural misconceptions, said Frances Reimers, communications and programs manager for Sister Cities, Inc.

“We can start at the community level to build an understanding,” she said.

Bloomington currently has three “sisters” — Posoltega, Nicaragua; Santa Clara, Cuba; and Lu Chou Province, Taiwan, though Safe and Civil City Director Beverly Calender-Anderson said the Lu Chou relationship has been inactive for more than a year.

Reimers said relationships start when one city approaches another, possibly through SCI’s cities-seeking-sisters lists.

Calender-Anderson said they are started when someone has “a strong interest or a passion for the city or something the city has to offer.”

The cities agree to collaborate on economic, cultural, technological or sustainability projects — or pretty much anything else.

“We really run the gamut,” Reimers said.

Reasons for the relationships are different for each city, from cultural to industrial to trivial — Toledo, Ohio, and Toledo, Spain, are sisters simply because they share a name, Reimers said.

“It really depends on the nature of the community,” Reimers said.

Many port cities find each other from across the oceans “because they know what the other is going through” with their common industry, Reimers said.

After Hurricane Mitch devastated parts of Central America in 1998, Calender-Anderson said Bloomington helped its sister, sending supplies and volunteers to rebuild.

“Sister city relationships are not always equal, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t gain from the relationship,” she said. “The sharing of culture goes both ways.”

CUBAmistad’s film series is part of the Santa Clara-Bloomington relationship.

According to their Web site, the goal “is to encourage dialogue and understanding between citizens of Cuba and the United States.” Co-sponsored by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the films are shown monthly at the Monroe County Public Library.

In the past, the group has brought a Cuban photo series and lecturers to Bloomington, though travel in Cuba is restricted due to political concerns such as the trade embargo. The State Department reports that anti-American protests are less frequent and smaller than in years past and are typically peaceful.

Calender-Anderson said the city is currently working on creating a new relationship with the Mexican town of Calnali, in the state of Hidalgo. The development is due in large part to a volunteer who is from the town, but local crafts like handmade jewelry and textiles and a world music festival similar to Lotus make it a good choice, she said.

Technologies like e-mail and Skype make forming and maintaining relationships around the world much easier, she said.