While many towns in New England have sister communities, most of them in Europe, Brattleboro has reached further and established reciprocal relationships with communities in four low income countries and two Native American communities plus another Charter of Compassion member town in New York state.
There will soon be a signboard in downtown Brattleboro celebrating these sister community relationships, plus classroom interactions across these communities. The communities are described below:
Colonia Pandora, Apopa, El Salvador: The Colonia Pandora community, in the town of Apopa, has had a longstanding relationship with Brattleboro’s Centre Church which has provided assistance to its Cabañitas school, including a scholarship program taking some children from kindergarten to the university. Long term relationships already exist between teenage girls from the two towns. Brattleboro’s involvement is led by Jennifer Ambler.
Kaiguchu, Kenya: Kaiguchu was the home of the Nobel Prize winning environmentalist Wangari Maatthai who had ties with SIT and Brattleboro. The town has had a relationship locally with the Guilford Community Church and with Oak Grove School (both have trees planted by Maathai), and with Lisa Merton and Alan Dater whose company New Day Films made a film about Wangari. Over fifty community members have already traveled there to do service work and to learn about both the indigenous and contemporary cultures of Kenya. Kaiguchu village has a population of 9,000, only slightly smaller than Brattleboro.
With Kaiguchu as our sister community, Brattleboro may be able to help support, for example, vocational training for AIDS orphans, perhaps creating the first solar-powered school in the country. And our teenagers could join theirs in so-called “green safaris,” tree planting along with wild animal adventures. Brattleboro’s ambassador to Kaiguchu is Lise Sparrow.
La Plant Cheyenne River Lakota Tiospaye, South Dakota: The La Plant Cheyenne River Lakota community in South Dakota has had a long association with the Guilford Community Church and with the Brattleboro Area Interfaith Youth Group. Since 2015, teenagers and adults from Brattleboro have travelled to La Plant to work with local residents in building and repairing homes and providing a summer camp for children there. Some Brattleboro teens have returned year after year, forging deep relationships with Lakota youth and learning about the realities of reservation life and the challenges being faced. The Brattleboro ambassador to the La Plant community is Lise Sparrow.
Marygold Village హేమచంద్రాపురం, Telangana, India: Marygold Village actually comprises parts of several villages in the south Indian state of Telangana, linked by a creative initiative undertaken by local residents, Carmelite monks and a woman from Brattleboro. This initiative includes improved hygiene, water and sanitation, organic agriculture and play-based education in an area, which three generations ago was populated by lepers...and is slowly recovering from the associated stigma. With Marygold Village, Brattleboro hopes to share agricultural ideas, and learn about the multiple cultural and spiritual traditions of this part of India. A special cultural event took place in the Brattleboro area in 2019 to welcome Marygold Village as one of our sisters. The area point person is Teresa Saval.
Meyer, Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti: The non-profit Haiti Orphanage Sponsorship Trust (HOST), led by Brattleboro residents Sheila Humphreys and Mariam Diallo, has been actively supporting the Foyer Evangelique Orphanage in that town. St. Michaels (Episcopal) Church also has been actively involved in the effort to help these children left in need by the 2010 earthquake. Multiple cultural programs in Brattleboro have taken place to support this effort. With this sister-relationship, a student exchange program may be initiated, with Brattleboro students helping to develop creative ways to support the orphans in Haiti. Brattleboro’s point person is Sheila Humphreys.
Olean, New York: Olean which voted to become part of the Charter for Compassion in 2019 (with signatures from 300 students at Olean High School in addition to the adults), is located in the southern part of New York state near the Pennsylvania border. It is about the same size as Brattleboro and has lots in common with us, including uncommon energy for compassion and multiple initiatives.
One of its important initiatives has been partnering with the Chautauqua Institution to present a Western New York regional conference entitled “Cultivating Compassion in your Community.” The conference, attended by most of the non-profits in that area plus educational administrators, law enforcement personnel and the President of the City Council, served as a catalyst for community awareness and involvement. Follow-up seminars have been held on the topics of Aging in a Rural Community and Use of Software to Recruit, Match and Maintain Volunteers.
The Olean sister relationship with Brattleboro is consistent with the Charter’s expressed hope that Charter communities will interact actively.
Tsidi To’ii (Birdsprings), Navajo Nation, Arizona: In some ways, Tsidi To’ii has been a sister to Brattleboro for a while. This little community on the southern part of the Navajo Nation, is home of the Little Singer Community School. It is from this school that many teachers and staff have journeyed to Brattleboro. There were also three 7th grade students that visited the Marlboro Elementary School back in 2002. Since then we have had parents and staff from the Family and Child Education Program (FACE), the principal of the school, the language and culture teacher, offering classes at The Grammar School in Putney, participants from the Nation at the SIT Summer CONTACT program and more. There is much more to look forward to in this relationship. Brattleboro’s ambassador to the Tsidi To’ii community is Miriam Dror.