Sister Cities was started in 1956 by Dwight D Eisenhower with the mission to create “global relationships based on cultural, educational, informational, and trade exchanges.” (sistercities.org) Council Bluffs over the years has had multiple sister cities including El Hajeb, Morocco; Herat, Afghanistan; Kandahar, Afghanistan; Karrada(Baghdad), Iraq; Prizren, Kosovo; and the first Sister, City Tobolsk, Russia. Council Bluffs and Tobolsk have been sister cities for over 30 years. During that time their relationship has been a shining example of citizen diplomacy through multiple cultural, educational, and professional exchanges.
Tobolsk was chosen due to its similar size and makeup to Council Bluffs. Tobolsk is a medium sized commercial town located on a bend of the Irtysh River in central Russia. (Non Pareil 02-13-1985) Tobolsk’s industrial output included at the time oil and gas exploration, a shipyard, furniture production, fur trading, and ivory carving. An interesting historical connection to Tobolsk is the involvement of General Greville Dodge in the creation of the Trans Siberian Railroad of which Tobolsk is a stop. (Non Pareil 01-08-1989).
In 1985, a letter writing program was led by RH Fanders, former Thomas Jefferson Teacher, between Tobolsk and Council Bluffs school aged children. Fanders stated the goal for the program was “to tell the Soviet people about our Country” (Non Pareil 05-09-1985) in hopes of setting up future exchanges between our cities. No response was received from Tobolsk for two years due to a delay in delivery; the first contact was through the TV Bridge USA-Russia, an early satellite broadcast that allowed for citizens of the US and Russia to communicate through a public video conference. The beginnings of the first in person exchange happened in April 1989 when Council Bluffs received an invitation from Tobolsk Petrochemical Complex’s CEO Vladimir J Judin, who would be instrumental in laying the ground work for our Sister City Relationship, to have 8-10 area women aged at least 17 years old to visit Tobolsk and help students and teachers practice their English. (Non Pareil 04-27-1989) Eight Council Bluffs women were selected to travel to Tobolsk in June 1989 for a three week trip in August 1989. (Non Pareil 06-13-1989)
Upon return, the exchange was called a “smashing success” when reporting on the warm and enthusiastic reception that they received from the people of Tobolsk. After the initial exchange, the plans to formalize the sister city relationship began to take shape. The official Charter was signed by the Mayor of Tobolsk Arcady G. Yelfimov and Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan on June 19, 1990 during the first visit to Council Bluffs. This first visit brought three men and fourteen women from Tobolsk to Council Bluffs and focused on showing different cultural, agricultural, and environmental facilities in the Western Iowa area. These first exchanges were the beginning to the decades-long relationship of international goodwill between the two cities.
Over the course of our 30 year relationship with Tobolsk there have been over 25 different cultural, educational, and professional exchanges between our two cities. The first educational exchange was led by Yvonne and Eugene Freund, two University of Nebraska Omaha professors who worked with the Mendeleev Pedagogical Institute to create an English as a second language program. (Non Pareil 04-09-1990). In August 1990 the second group of 15 delegates to represent the city of Council Bluffs, including City Councilman Philip W. Meyer, left for Tobolsk to “help form linkages that would establish professional relationships for further interests and exchanges between Council Bluffs and Tobolsk’”. (Non Pareil 08-05-1990) In February 1991, five from Tobolsk visit, including bone carving expert Gavril Khazov, to display traditional Tobolsk folk art, namely ivory carvings. (Non Pareil 02-22-1991) An additional professional delegation left for Tobolsk in June 1991 including professionals from transportation, medical, and postal fields.
In April 1992, 22 delegates from Tobolsk visited Council Bluffs, during the visit they helped rebuild a hiking bridge on the Wabash Trace Nature Trial named the “Council Bluffs/Tobolsk Friendship Bridge”. Starting September 1992, Council Bluffs began gathering medical supplies and equipment to Tobolsk, sending equipment that is “not readily available in the area”. The donations were an intercity effort between Omaha and Council Bluffs to help gather the supplies needed. The donated equipment was later followed by a delegation of medical professionals from Council Bluffs to provide instruction on how to use them. Another donation drive was 1994 to support orphanages in Tobolsk. The community donated hygiene and clothing items to support the 400 orphans living in five orphanages in Tobolsk. (Non Pareil 03-11-1994). The art exchanges have left a lasting impression on the library with two different Tobolsk pieces displayed currently. One piece is a landscape painting depicting the Tobolsk Kremlin, the second oldest Kremlin in Russia, and the Black Angel tapestry worked from a photo of the Ruth Ann Dodge Memorial Statue. (Non Pareil 01-03-2000)
Within the first 10 years of the signing of the Sister Cities charter there were more that 25 exchanges between cities. While the pace of exchanges has slowed, with the last visit being in 2013, the relationship has had a lasting impact for both our cities.
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