September 2019 This newsletter was sent via the City of Moscow on behalf of the Moscow Sister City Association. This newsletter was written by Moscow Sister City Association authors and may not necessarily reflect the views of the City of Moscow.
In this issue: - Recent local events
- Correspondence partners
- Scholarships for elementary-school students
- New school superintendent in Villa El Carmen
- Activities of some Nicaraguan friends
- Announcement
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1. Recent local events
On August 8 the Young Professional organization of the Chamber of Commerce sponsored the 2nd annual Community Involvement Fair, where MSCA set up a table for the information of interested people. We did the same thing August 24 at the University of Idaho’s PALOUSAFEST,
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a festival welcoming new and returning students, which had over 200 tables featuring student organizations, local businesses, and other groups including nonprofits. Between these two August events we found twenty-six people interested enough in MSCA to leave their email addresses. We now have to keep them interested. This was our table, during preparation:
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2. Correspondence partners
Finding Moscow residents who would enjoy corresponding online with Villa El Carmen residents, and vice versa, seems a good way to pursue the Sister Cities goal of building cross-cultural and international connections “one community, one individual at a time.” So far we have found fourteen people from VEC and twenty from Moscow who want to correspond. There may also be interest in local high-schools and elementary schools.
Matching participants has been a little tricky, due to personal preferences regarding gender, age, and especially language. Some pairs are working entirely in Spanish, some entirely in English, and some in both languages. The correspondences will probably work best in cases where both participants are interested in the other’s language.
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3. Scholarships for elementary-school students
In addition to the university-level scholarships that we award, we also give small grants ($50) to parents of elementary-school children. The school identifies parents who may have trouble affording school supplies and clothes. Recently one of the seven main schools in the VEC area, Escuela Farabundo Martí, made awards to eight students, and sent us photos:
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Nicaraguans like ceremonies a lot, and this particular ceremony involves getting a US $50 bill for each child, which the child is showing in these photos. (Ramiro Aburto, the school principal, is in cap and blue shirt.) The school, which is in the countryside not the town, looks like this:
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 “Welcome to the municipal arboretum of Farabundo Martí. For a greener Nicaragua we keep on reforesting.”
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4. New school superintendent
Ruby Rigby, a long-time English teacher, is the new superintendent of the school system of the town and municipio (county), both called Villa El Carmen, which includes seven K-11 schools and many more elementary-only schools. She will start the process of awarding scholarships to high-school seniors (11th grade in Nicaragua) who want to attend a university in Managua next year. (The school year in Nicaragua goes from February to December. We have committed $4,000 for these scholarships.)
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5. What some of our Nicaraguan friends are doing.
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 Yerlan Sequeira Muñoz at his recent university graduation
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 Yanci Espinoza Maradiaga at her recent university graduation
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 José Manuel Sequeira at his recent university graduation
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 Betzi Vega’s diploma from her recent university graduation
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 Vielka Aguilar at historical and cultural sites in Managua. This is the “Old Cathedral of Managua.” It was internally destroyed in the great earthquake of 1972; the outside is lovely, but you can’t go inside
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 This is the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura, an excellent anthropological, historical, and cultural museum and the cultural center of Managua.
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Vielka studies English at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua, in Managua, and her English is getting really good.
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6. Announcement: There will be a members’ meeting in about a month, in order to develop plans and activities. Details forthcoming.
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Officers of Moscow Sister City Association; Dave Barber, president (and newsletter editor) Lubia Cajas Cano, vice-president Amy Garwood, secretary Jim Reece, treasurer Elisabeth Berlinger, board member Linda Christenson, board member Cindy Magnuson, board member Susie Wiese, board member MSCA Mailing Address: PO Box 8367 Moscow, ID 83843
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