Small city, big influence
Size does not affect Burlington's role on world stage

Katie Colleran | staff editor

Though a small city in a small state, Burlington, Vt. does not put a limit on the influence it has at an international or national level. Over the years, Burlington has set up sister city relationships with four cities spread across the world and one across the country.

Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua was the first of Burlington’s sister cities. Since that relationship formed, Burlington has forged bonds with Yaroslavl, Russia, as well as Bethlehem and Arad in Israel, forming the first tri-city sister relationship. Then in 2005, Burlington established ties with Moss Point, Miss.

Going global

Sister Cities is an international program with a goal of bringing together people from all cultures. Burlington decided to join when the city noticed U.S. tension with Nicaragua in 1984, says Joe Reinert, assistant to Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss.

Residents of Moss Point flee the Hurricane Katrina floodwaters. Photo courtesy of the City of Burlington

“There was a feeling of wanting to have a connection with the community in Nicaragua,” he says. “National foreign policy was not encouraging a positive relationship there.”

To help their sister community in Nicaragua, Burlington has provided multiple forms of humanitarian aid, including farming and education materials as well as different technologies.

“With the recent hurricane in Puerto Cabezas, Burlington did a fund-raiser for the community there,” Reinert says. “Through various contributions, about $10,000 was raised to go to repairing roofs, rebuilding schools and medical care.”

With the success of the Nicaragua relationship, Burlington officials realized this form of international association might be possible elsewhere.

“There was a natural cultural exchange that flowed from the Puerto Cabezas relationship,” Reinert says. “A problem area that has grown across the country is little international connection. Puerto Cabezas set a great example for how to change that.”

The next sister city was Russia, 1988, and the other two developed some years later. There is no specific way in which the different cities are chosen, but selection always involves the public, Reinert says.

“The way they often start is that we may get interest from the other city, that they’re interested in establishing this,” he says. “In order to make it work, we have to have the participation of a committed group in our own community. It really comes down to the people here.”

According to Reinert, each sister city relationship is overseen by a chair and a committee who make decisions regarding how Burlington interacts with the specific communities.

“We don’t always have a situation where the city is in need,” Reinert says. “The relationships are a give and take.”

Some examples of how the various cultures have impacted Burlington are visits from Russian librarians and a performance by the Moss Point High School jazz band.

“It’s a big deal for groups to come here,” Reinert says. “In some ways, it [the relationship] is such a personal thing. It’s the opportunity to meet with people from other countries, to hear about them and let them hear about us.”

Closer to home

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the entire country saw the devastating damage it left behind. One of the areas of destruction was Moss Point, Miss. Though not an official sister city, Moss Point attracted the attention of Burlington and its aid. Allen Robinson, chair of the Moss Point relationship in Burlington, has visited Moss Point three times and has witnessed the impact Vermont has had in their community.

“Disaster can happen to anybody,” he says. “It’s always nice when people reach out to other people.”

The Moss Point Relief Fund was set up by the city of Burlington to contribute to the cost of repairing hurricane damage. Robinson has worked in Moss Point to distribute all sorts of supplies to the people in the community there.

“We worked with Barrett trucking and they donated a tractor trailer,” Robinson says. “We filled it with non-perishables; I couldn’t even tell you how full it was.”

Through helping a community the City of Burlington knew little about, a strong bond has been formed.

“Through the support, relationships and friendships have developed,” Robinson says. “That’s what it’s all about, looking at how people in the South and other cultures share in the relationship development.”

In an effort to continue the relationship, plans are in place to have Burlington’s jazz band head to Moss Point since the band from the Mississippi high school have already been to Vermont, Robinson says.

“In the future, we certainly hope to have the opportunity for any student to experience an exchange,” he says. “We want to focus on working the two schools together.”

Burlington in Bethlehem

The only time Sally Joe Kaissieh left her home city of Bethlehem was to come to St. Michael’s College for a year and a half to earn her master’s degree. It was during this time that Kaissieh first learned of the sister city relationship that Burlington had with her home, she wrote in an e-mail correspondence from Israel.

“I was shocked to know about these kinds of relations,” Kaissieh wrote. “I was glad to know about these people. I felt that we have brothers and sisters in this world. We are not alone in this harsh world.”

Kaissieh met with the mayor of Bethlehem while in Burlington, as well as the Vermonters for Peace and Justice group. With both parties, she discussed the situation in her country and how Burlington can help, Kaissieh wrote. Burlington has held processions, discussions and lectures to support the cities of Bethlehem and Arad. Burlington’s efforts have not gone unnoticed, she wrote.

A boy decorates a pumpkin sent from Burlington to Moss Point for their Fall de Rah Festival, October 2005. Photo courtesy of the City of Burlington

“I think it is very important to know that there are people who care about our future and our destiny,” Kaissieh wrote. “I think such people are a godsend to bring hope back to us and help us keep going in hardship and in our suffering.”

Reinert is hopeful that the different city relationships will continue to be fruitful, he says.

“Burlington has always recognized that we have a place in the world, not just in the state and country,” Reinert says. “We are able to not just learn about other places, but also support them and their culture.”