In May Manabu and Yumi Iko arrived in Chattanooga from Tono, Japan.
Tono's Mayor Honda has sent Manabu, Tono City employee, to our City Hall as a visiting executive for a year. His primary tasks are, in a nutshell, to promote Tono to Chattanooga and to learn how Chattanooga's city government is run in order to take ideas back to Tono.
On Saturday, June 9th, Manabu and Yumi were formally introduced to 30 attendees at the SCA luncheon at Olive Branch Mediterranean Foods on Ringgold Road. (Insert photo)
Upcoming activities include
1. Dinner on Monday, July 9th, at the Mayan Kitchen, 507 Broad Street 37402, beginning at 6 p.m. RSVP to jckhanum@comcast.net.
2. Lunch on Saturday, July 28th, at Cafe and Toast Vietnamese and Singaporean food, 3536 Cummings Highway # 180 37419, beginning at 11:45. RSVP to jckhanum@comcast.net.
3. A celebration of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival at Forbidden City, 2273 Gunbarrel Road, 37421 from noon to 2 p.m. More details TBD.
We are expecting visitors, and you have opportunities to get involved!
UTC has asked SCA to host six Russians coming from September 28th until October 6th. Although they won't be from our sister city, they will be here on a State Department sponsored program regarding political party development. Would you be interested in hosting one of these 6? Each host is asked to provide a private bedroom, breakfast daily and dinner much of the time while the participants are here plus transportation to and from UTC. Are you willing to host? Please let Karen or Irina know, by emailing karen@chattanoogasistercities.org or Irina-Khmelko@utc.edu.
Wolfsburg, Germany would like to send a delegation here in late September or in October. We will need hosts for these guests and people to serve on a committee to help Sabine Busch with planning activities. As soon as Wolfsburg informs us of the dates and number of delegates, we'll let you know more.
In early 2019 the Thelma Yellin School in Givatayim, Israel will send a student group to Chattanooga, and we have a potential school host with the Chattanooga Stem School. Exact dates are TBD, and we will let you know details. Although the students will probably be staying with families of local students, they want to give a presentation for the greater community. You won't want to miss it! We will need members to help with that event.
Other announcements:
This June Signal Mountain Middle and High School sent a delegation on their annual GAPP School Exchange to Hamm, Germany. The Hamm students will make the reciprocal visit in September/October this year.
CSAS and CSLA sent a student group to Tono on June 21, the first group from Chattanooga to make this school exchange in ten years.
Let us know of additional sister activity that we might not be aware of!
Many exciting events and activities are ahead for our sister city organization, and we hope you will want to be involved! We need you!