Sister city delegates visit Morgan Hill
GILROY
– In the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center, just outside
the El Toro room, a display case is filled with metal relief
artworks from Mexico and a photo of an Irish abbey. While the two
countries might be thousands of miles apart, they are connected as
Sister Cities to Morgan Hill.
Sister city delegates visit Morgan Hill
GILROY – In the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center, just outside the El Toro room, a display case is filled with metal relief artworks from Mexico and a photo of an Irish abbey. While the two countries might be thousands of miles apart, they are connected as Sister Cities to Morgan Hill.
Since 2001, Morgan Hill has been cultivating sister city relationships with countries in Mexico, Ireland, Italy and now Japan.
At an afternoon reception July 3, Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy signed a proclamation uniting the city with its fourth sister city, Mizuho, Japan.
“It’s an opportunity to build relationships and bridges with other communities,” Kennedy said. “It’s a chance to reconnect to countries of origin.”
Sister Cities International, the national organization that overseas sister city programs, got its start after World War II, according to Ami Neiberger-Miller, the communications director for the nonprofit organization.
President Eisenhower held a summit in 1956 where he encouraged U.S. cities to form bonds with international cities. The organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
“He wanted people-to-people friendships and to really learn about the world,” Neiberger-Miller said. “He believed that through getting to know each other we would have peace.”
Cities connect for different reason, Neiberger-Miller said. They might have similar economies or industries, be of a similar size or have a similar geography. The organization lets each city chose their own criteria, though they have profiles on their Web site of cities that are looking for a sister city.
“It’s kind of like an online matchmaking program,” she said. “Starting a sister city program is a little like dating. They explore – find out what’s out there. Maybe visit a few places before they find a city.
Gilroy has six sister cities, many who send delegates at the end of July for the Garlic Festival. Hollister has one sister city.
For Morgan Hill, the program offered a chance for descendants of immigrants to connect to their countries of origins. Morgan Hill founded its first sister city relationship in 2001 with San Casciano in Val de Pesa, Italy, largely because of an active Italian-American community in the city. Other sister cities include Headford, Ireland, in County Galway; San Martin de Hidalgo, Mexico in Jalisco; and now “One thing is it gives me a chance to practice Italian,” said Ernie Rusconi, a member of Morgan Hill’s sister city committee. “I had to translate some of the proclamations into Italian.”
Delegates from San Casciano or San Marin de Hidalgo were not able to make it to for the days of events planned for the Fourth of July, but hope to come next year.
“It’s all mutual,” Rusconi said. “It shows there are good people in both countries and we need to improve our relationships in all countries.”
Four delegates from Japan made the trek to Morgan Hill, including Mizuho Mayor Kouemon Ishizuka. Other delegates included the sister city committee chairperson Shigeyoshi Hara, financial representative Hiroyuki Sugiura and Masao Nakagawa.
Two delegates, husband and wife pair Noel and Philomena Monaghan, visited from Headford. Each delegate stayed with a host family who helped shuttle them from event to event, some of which included the July 3 reception, a Fourth of July sing-along, an all-American barbecue and the Fourth of July parade.
The host families also take the delegates to area attractions. The Monaghans toured the Sonoma Wine Country with their host Bernie Mulligan, while Reiko Borst and her husband planned to take Ishizuka to Bonfante Gardens before his return to Borst got involved with the sister cities committee when talk of a Japanese sister city started. She was born and raised in Tokyo. Ishizuka stayed in her home, where she cooked both Japanese and American foods for him.
“We have similar industries – high tech,” Ishizuka said, comparing Mizuho to Morgan Hill through translator Borst. “Nature is wonderful here and the town itself is very well planned.”
Mizuho has a 1,200 year history with some families going back nine generations so it hasn’t had the same opportunities for planned growth. Ishizuka hopes the sister city relationship will allow opportunities to discuss economic development and growth of each city.
“We are becoming more international. Globally, everything is getting so close,” he said.
Next year, the Mizuho plans to send 10 delegates from the community on a cultural exchange.
John Foggiato, the president of the Morgan Hill’s sister city committee, agreed that an important part of the program is bringing community members rather than politicians together.
One goal of the committee is to raise enough money in the future to put on a student exchange program. The sister city program receives no funding from the city of Morgan Hill and relies on fundraisers or donations, including a September 29 dinner fundraiser at Guglielmo Winery. They also rely on volunteer help and host families to plan delegate visits.
In the meantime, they have plenty of visits from delegates planned for the fall.
“We have a large group of Irish high school students coming over. They will put on an Irish prologue, skits and music,” Foggiato said.
