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1984: Burlington City Council votes to establish sister
city
relationship in Nicaragua to protest Reagon administration policy of
support
for Contra war; Puerto Cabezas on Atlantic Coast becomes sister city.
1986: Burlington sends "Pdeace Ship" with 560 tons of
material
aid to Puerto Cabezas for war relief
1987: Ballot initiative leads to referendum in Burlington
condemning
US support for Contra war; Brigade of Vermont plumbers and carpenters
work
at Grey Hospital and construct public playground in Puerto Cabezas;
Health
kits sent to Nursing College from UMH.
1988: Publication of book "Sister City Side By Side",
following
exhibition of photographs at Casa de Cultura in Puerto Cabezas and at
various
sites in Vermont.
1990: Establishment of Vivero Comunal Community Tree
Nursery
on 30 acres of land on outskirts of Puerto Cabezas,to establish a
genetic
bank of quality fruit stock and train personel in agroforestry
techniques.
1993: Vivero Comunal Tree Nursery celebrates its third
anniversary
with tens of thousands of seedlings and Nicaragua's largest citrus germ
plasma bank.
1994: 14 member delegation of Vermont teachers, social
workers,
dancers and artists travels to Puerto Cabezas; folk singers
Remigio
Hodgson and Tiger Omer from Puerto Cabezas sing at Ben and Jerry music
festival and tour Vermont.
1995: University of Vermont student delegation spends
Alternate
Spring Break working at Vivero Comunal Tree nursery; Vermont delegation
washes and paints Casa De Cultura and Dan Higgins sets up photo
postcard
studio and exhibits "Puerto Cabezas Portraits"; Abenaki storyteller
Wolfsong
travels to Puerto Cabezas; Champlain Valley High school begins
educational
exchanges with school in Puerto Cabezas; World Bank 50 Years is Enough
campaign is launched with Sister City support.
996: Theater delegation travels to Puerto Cabezas and
produces
collaborative theater event with youth; ongoing advisory and grant
writing
support for Vivero Comunal and Conades; work with "50 Years is Enough"
campaign to educate North Americans about oppressive relationship of
World
Bank to development in Third World countries.
1997: Environmental Justice Delegation tours communities
affected
by multinational timber and mining operations on the Atlantic Coast; an
environmental justice solidarity campaign is launched in response to
massive
foreign logging concessions; a former University of Vermont student
collects
outdated computers from UVM
and takes them to Puerto Cabezas, establishing a community computer
training
center; Burlington Fire Department sends outdated equipment to Fire
Department
in Bilwi.
1998: Vermonters visit Atlantic Coast for Elections to
Autonomous
Government positions; Two students from Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua
travel
to Burlington for a three month internship focusing on sustainable
agriculture
at the Intervale Foundation's Green City Farm in Burlington; $1800 is
raised
to launch the Municipal Compost Project at the Vivero Comunal site in
Puerto
Cabezas; $2000 is raised for Hurricane Mitch relief on the Atlantic
Coast;
A shipment of 6 used computers is sent to the Puerto Cabezas Municipal
Computer Center serving low income residents; a shipment of sports
equipment
is sent with the Pastors for Peace caravan. Delegation from Puerto
Cabezas
visits Burlington, visits Living Machine technology center; young
Nicaraguan
baseball player serves as bat boy for Vermont Expos baseball team.
1999: 12 Vermonters, including Burlington Mayor Peter
Clavelle,
participate in Spring Delegation to Puerto Cabezas and Rio Coco area;
30
students graduate from the Burlington supported Computer center in
Puerto
Cabezas; The Vivero Comunal launches an organic compost production
project;
Delegation from Mayor's office in Puerto Cabezas visits Burlington;
Bilwi
fire chief trains with Burlington Fire Department.
2000: Sister City board members Dan Higgins, Jane Kramer,
Howard
Jaentschke and CCTV member Nat Ayer spend three months in Bilwi
offering
video training to 18 students through URACCAN to produce local community
video programming. Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle and 4
families
visit Bilwi in March to work on community construction projects. In
June
Jaime Ruiz of PuertoVision Cable TV visits Burlington and meets with
Public
Access television channels in Vermont. PuertoVision continues to
show
local videos being made by the URACCAN students. Also in June 4
residents
of Bilwi receive scholarships arranged by David Hutchinson of Johnson
State
College to participate in a drug counselling workshop as part of the
Institute
for Addiction Studies.
2001: Delegation of Burlington Little Leaguers travel to
Bilwi
for a week of baseball in April. In August Burlington is visited by a
delegation
of 14 young baseball players from Bilwi, their coaches, and President
of
baseball federation Rudolfo Jaentschke. Along with the baseball players
came the Mayor of Puerto Cabezas Guillermo Espinoza, the Chair of the
City
Council Sebastian Morales, the Secretary for the City Council Glennis
Escobar,
and the Chief of Police Gregorio Aburto. Bringing the delegation to 25
(the largest ever) was Julio Bordas, member of the URACCAN community
video
project, who will be working with Dan and Jane on the video project in
"Port" this fall.
2002: Dan Higgins and Jane Kramer offer video
workshops
to URACCAN teachers, Lynn McNicol fundraises for Maureen Courtney
School of Special Ed, Charley Delaney brings Rodolfo Rivera Hill to
United
Nations conference of Indiginous Peoples, firetruck packed with fire
fighting
supplies and video equipment donated by Public Access Channels for
shipping
to Bilwi.
2003: Visit to Burlington by Myrna Cunningham, support
for URACCAN
Video Project continues, Delegation of Johnson State College students
travel
on work brigade to "Port" in May, firetruck shipped in July. Mayor
declares
Aug 8 Puerto Cabezas Day in Burlington as part of Latino
Festival.
2004: Video training with URACCAN's Preparatorio students living
on Kamla Campus, culminating in student making of movie "Sisimiki".
20th
anniversary celebration in Burlington with Neko and Dancers from "Port"
who tour Vermont towns and give workshops in the schools. Performance
at
Contois Auditorium.
2005:
Sister City conference in Managua, BilwiVision established, video
exchange project -UVM and Charlotte High schoool students and Kamla
Preparatory students
2006: Roxanne
Dunbar-Ortiz launches "Blood on the Border", Video training in Bilwi, Ellwin Finley, Miskitu man, trained at Burlington Tech school
2007: Hurricane Felix
destroys homes and trees in Bilwi. Alida Duncan coordinates "Roofs for
Christmas" campaign to raise funds for rebuilding houses in "Port".
2008: Burlington raises $10,000 for roof repair in Puerto Cabezas. Delegation to Bilwi in April includesJohnson College counseling students who meet with social
support organizations in Bilwi. In October Debby Hodgson of CEDEHKA visits Burlington.
2009: 25th anniversary of Sister City Program, Call to Vermont artists, musicians, etc. to join video collaboration with Nicaraguan counterparts. Dan Higgins completes documentary film on Sister City Program hisory, film shown at Burlington College October and on Channel 17 television, reviewed in Seven Days. Charlie Delaney works with Elwin Finley on roof rebuilding projects and storage area for Barrio Cocal School.
2010: February delegation to Bilwi: David Hutchinson brings Johnson State College Counseling students who meet with social organizations and do service projects for the Alcaldia. Charlie Delaney and Elwin Finley build tables for Barrio Cocal School. Dan Higgins video tapes Brigitte Zacarias reading her poetry and Calmor Tatum talking about artists use of tunu bark. Propsal initiated for bringing Nicaraguan artists, musicians, etc. to Burlington for a Miskito Culture/ Vermont Art Collaboration in October 2011.
2011:Arts Exchange 2011;
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