The first time David Barber went to Villa El Carmen, Nicaragua, was in 2007, and he stayed for two months.
“It was so unlike what I was used to here in Moscow,” Barber said. “It took some getting used to, but it was a great trip.”
Villa El Carmen and Moscow have been sister cities since 1986. Since then, the Moscow Sister City Association, of which Barber is a member, has raised funds and sponsored projects to help develop the Nicaraguan community.
Originally, Barber said the Moscow Sister City Association donated funds to the Nicaraguan government, but the group felt the government wasn”t using the money as they had hoped. So in 2012, when Barber returned to Nicaragua to volunteer teaching English in a school, the group decided to refocus their efforts on education. That way, Barber said, they could be more independent in their sponsorship.
That”s when The Moscow Sister City Association began hosting the Villa El Carmen annual dance and auction, which will be held for the third time at 7 p.m. Friday in the 1912 Center. The event will feature silent and live auctions, desserts for sale and a dance floor with music provided by local band Blue Funk Jailbreak. Admission is $10 for the general public.
Elisabeth Berlinger, president of the Moscow Sister City Association, said she expects between 80 and 120 people to attend this year, and the funds they raise will go toward education in Villa El Carmen. She said the event has raised between $4,000 and $6,000 over the past few years.
“A lot will be scholarships, but if we have enough or extra, then we go pay for whatever they need to have,” Berlinger said.
She said the Moscow Sister City Association has already provided new bathrooms, books, dictionaries, water towers and renovated schoolrooms. For the last two years there has also been a scholarship program, Barber said.
Berlinger said she believes both sides gain a lot from this relationship.
“It”s not just about helping them with education,” Berlinger said. “Kids here – often high schoolers – learn about other cultures, and they learn that not everybody is as privileged as they are here.”
She said she likes the exchange of different cultures that comes from the sister city relationship.
Yet Barber said many Moscow residents are not aware of the situation in Villa El Carmen.
“One of the biggest problems we have had is individualizing the situation for people here,” Barber said.
He said he hopes that with the individual scholarships program, connections between the two cities and its residents can be improved all around.
Diamond Koloski can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @diamond_uidaho