[B]URLINGTON — In more than 30 years of cultural exchanges with its sister city in Nicaragua, Burlington has shared firefighting gear, Little League teams and academic work. This week, the Queen City will share its urban agricultural model.
Mayor Miro Weinberger welcomed Mayor Reynaldo Francis and Vice Mayor Anicia Matamoros, of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, at City Hall on Wednesday, three days after the leaders’ arrival in Burlington.
The trip allows Francis and Matamoros to take a look at Burlington’s sustainable community gardening practices in the hopes of implementing similar agricultural structures in Puerto Cabezas, a city of about 60,000.
Puerto Cabezas has been planning to make agricultural changes in its community, according to a news release from the city of Burlington. It will encourage women to produce vegetables for sale and for their families’ use by giving them seeds. During their stay in Burlington, the visiting leaders are learning what a sustainable urban farming model can result in.
“In Puerto Cabezas, (we) have the land, (we) have the resources, so it’s a matter of how to use these lands and resources in ways we are learning from being here,” Francis said through a translator.
He said the unemployment rate in Nicaragua is 90 percent and that this new development will create agricultural job opportunities.
The 30-year relationship between the two cities was forged in 1984 by then-Mayor Bernie Sanders to promote peace during a time of war. It flourished under his successor, Peter Clavelle. The relationship has included exchanges of goods, culture and ideas.
This six-day visit to Burlington is Francis’ first. He was 17 when the relationship between the two cities began, he recalled Wednesday.
Matamoros said she felt blessed to be in Burlington. In Nicaragua the No. 2 official must be of the opposite gender to create a balance in government, she said.
Clavelle, who also attended the welcoming event, said he hopes the visit will prompt new energy within the relationship. He urged members of the Burlington community to reinvigorate the relationship by getting involved.
“The door is open. … You are hearing an invitation as well as an expression of need,” Clavelle said.
He said Burlington will, in exchange, receive new knowledge from a well of open hearts and minds. “We always get out more than we give,” he said.
Out of Burlington’s nine sister cities, Puerto Cabezas has had the most active partnership, Clavelle said.
In the tradition of exchange, the two cities gave each other pieces of local art Wednesday.
