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Sister Cities

President's Message

In October 2005 Gastonia Sister Cities hosted Student Exchange Groups from Gotha, Germany and Santiago de Surco, Peru for 10 days. These two groups of marvelous young people and their chaperones had the opportunity to experience Gastonia and our area first hand as were hosted by local students and their families. At the Gastonia City Council Meeting on October 18th their recounting of their experiences and what these visits meant to them brought tears and a standing ovation from those present. It made me proud to be a part of this organization. I have received several comments from people who participated in these visits about how important it is for young people in today's world to be able to experience an exchange of this type. Thanks to all the host families, City of Gastonia staff members and Sister Cities Board members who made this possible.

The week following these young people's visit, Joe Carpenter and I had the opportunity to experience another aspect of Sister Cities - the cultural exchange. We traveled to Peru at Alcalde (Mayor) Dargent's invitation to view in Surco's new Cultural Center an exhibition on the discovery of one of the oldest civilizations in the world and the oldest known one in the Western Hemisphere. The archaeological site is located about 200 kilometers north of Lima, Peru at Caral in the Supe River valley and we were fortunate enough to visit there also. The purpose of the trip was to explore the possibility of bringing that exhibition to The Schiele Museum in Gastonia. What a coup for this area when that becomes a reality!

Gastonia Sister Cities will be very active in 2006 promoting exchanges of all types between Gotha, Surco and Gastonia and we would love you to join us in those activities. Just call, write or e-mail and let us know your interest.

On behalf of the Board of Directors I would like to wish everyone a joyous holiday season and a prosperous new year.

Randy Vinson, President Sister Cities Committee

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