Why Sister-Cities Are So Awesome!

Since my first experience with PML as a member of a delegation in 1997, I have had a very high opinion of the organization. This prompted me to take a year off between high school and college to work in León as a volunteer and return again this past summer for two months. This time, however, I was doing research about non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for the Program in Latin American Studies at my school, Johns Hopkins University. My goal was to look at a variety of organizations, including PML, to learn about their history and their methods of work to try to get an idea of what people in León actually thought of them.

Not an easy task, as you might imagine. To give you an idea of the pure amount of information, I wrote up a six page outline for the 15-page paper I have to write. I have so far written 16 pages and I am only at the end of the second page of my outline. Anyway, amidst the bombardment of new ideas and information, one thing that stood out was how awesome sister-city organizations are compared to the rest of foreign funded NGOs. Let me tell you why:

León has sister-city relationships with places all over the world, including Hamburg in Germany, Utrecht in the Netherlands, Zaragoza in Spain, and with Japan, Italy, Austria. The list goes on and on. While they vary greatly in size, structure and types of projects, there is one thing that all sister-city arrangements have in common and which sets them apart from other foreign-funded NGOs that are not sister-cities.

The difference is the personal connection between the two places, in our case between Nicaraguans and Minnesotans. The development work we do is very important, but it is the way in which we do this work that sets us apart. There is an earnest effort to share our cultures with each other and to learn from each other. We realize that trying to create a more just world does not mean first-world countries throwing their money at third-world countries. To truly change things, we need to understand them. And they need to understand us. And just as we try to change things in Nicaragua we need to change things in the United States as well. And we will do so while forming friendships and working relationships and exchanging ideas and feelings as equals. The critical difference is the delegations, the right _kind_ of delegations. The kind where our travel experiences lead us to respect and appreciate Nicaragua and accept the Idea that we as visiting participants will be getting just as much from our visit as the host citizens will be getting. And, of course, vice versa for Nicaraguan delegations to the States. It’s not about helping Nicaraguans is what I’m trying to say. It’s about learning how we can best help each other to create a more just world for all of us.

Get active in your own community! For Nicaragua and Minnesota! For the World!

¡Viva León Jodido!