The Alameda Sister City Association (ASCA) is hosting a community meeting on Wednesday, May 28, to discuss its proposal to establish a Sister City relationship with Wadi Foquin, a Palestinian village located about five miles southwest of Bethlehem. The meeting will take place at Mastick Senior Center, 1155 Santa Clara Avenue, at 6 p.m. Those who are interested may RSVP online or on the meeting’s Facebook event page.
Comments about the meeting on the City of Alameda’s Facebook page were mixed, with a very small minority expressing contempt for the proposal and the vast majority supporting making Wadi Foquin a Sister City. One commenter wrote, “Sister City programs are a wonderful way to build kindness, relationships, and care across vastly different cultures and lived experience. Building relationships with real people in other places has deeply enriched my life and helped me see myself as a citizen of the world. …As a Jewish Alamedan, I’m proud and excited to have a Sister City in Palestine.”
What is a Sister City?
“A Sister City relationship is a broad-based, long-term partnership between two communities in different countries,” ASCA states. “These partnerships are officially recognized when the highest elected or appointed officials from both cities sign an agreement of cooperation.”
Alameda currently has four sister cities:
- Jiang yin City, Peoples Republic of China, since 2008.
- Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, Philippines, since 2015.
- Yeongdong, South Korea, since 2017.
- Varazze, Italy, since 2019.
ASCA was established in 2006 by members of the Alameda community who believed that cultural exchange could bring the people of Alameda closer together, according to the ASCA website. “By fostering shared business practices, educational resources, and cultural understanding, they hoped to contribute to a more peaceful and connected world,” the website explains.
ASCA was originally part of Alameda’s Social Services Human Relations Board but became a self-sustaining nonprofit organization in 2014. It is 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2009. It is a volunteer-run organization.