Building Connections Across Countries & Continents

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The story below is from our May/June 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you! 

Roanoke Valley Sister Cities facilitates connections with seven international cities.

Although the Roanoke Valley is the cultural and economic hub of Southwest Virginia, it’s not the largest metropolitan area in the commonwealth. However, that doesn’t stop it from enjoying an international reputation. One of the most notable ways the valley engages with foreign countries is through the nonprofit Roanoke Valley Sister Cities.

The organization was founded in 1964 with an initial sister city in South Korea. It’s part of Sister Cities International, which was launched during a 1956 White House summit on citizen diplomacy by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Today, the organization maintains sister city connections with seven countries, spanning four continents. The cities include Wonju, South Korea; Kisumu, Kenya; Pskov, Russia; Florianopolis, Brazil; Opole, Poland; Lijiang, China; and Saint-Lô, France.

Sister cities are often paired based on historical ties or similarities in size. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, efforts have been underway to form a connection with a Ukrainian city. However, it likely won’t solidify until after the war is settled. A Hispanic sister city is also of interest to the community.

Funding for the exchanges comes from numerous sources, including grants from the City of Roanoke and Roanoke County to be used for their respective sister cities, member fees and donations.

The organization is divided into committees, with each city having its own committee that is responsible for facilitating interactions.

To make the community aware of the organization’s efforts, it engages in several events, including the Taubman Museum of Art functions like the Lunar New Year festivities and Roanoke Arts Pop, the Local Colors Festival and the Ginkgo Tree Festival in Century Plaza in November.

The organization is led by Mary Jo Fassié, who serves as the president. After seeing an announcement in a local newspaper in the 1990s that Roanoke Valley Sister Cities was working to form a connection with Saint-Lô, she decided to become a member, which made perfect sense because her husband is French and she was a Roanoke City Public Schools French teacher at the time. She has since led five delegations to France.

“It develops long-lasting friendships,” she says of the organization. In fact, she stays with the same woman in Saint-Lô when she visits and emails with her weekly.

Types of Connections

The ties between the cities are maintained through artistic, educational, medical, municipal, social, humanitarian and business exchanges.

Artist exchanges are a prominent feature of the organization. “Art is an international way of communicating with people,” Fassié says. “It really gets people together to share their talents, their culture.”

The Opole connection has primarily been focused on the arts, with Roanoke sending artists to Opole and Opole sending musicians to Roanoke. Unlike most of the other cities, Opole is paired with Roanoke County.

A recent exchange with Florianopolis involved a Brazilian artist, Thiago Valdi. He came to Roanoke in September and October to work on two murals, one on the side of the Wilson Hughes gallery and another at 11th Street and Moorman Avenue with Roanoke muralist Jonathan Murrill. While in Roanoke, he met with members of the organization to discuss his background and career.

Saint-Lô, which largely focuses on education, is an active connection. Local students travel to the city yearly for an internship, while French students come to Roanoke to volunteer for local nonprofits, like at the Taubman Museum of Art.

The Wonju, Florianopolis, Opole and Saint-Lô connections also operate through arrangements with medical universities and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. Recently, a medical student from Wonju was in Roanoke and two Roanoke-based students traveled to Wonju.

Visits by Roanoke members to sister cities, as well as visits by sister city residents to Roanoke, often occur outside of the established connections.

Experiences of Members

Being part of Roanoke Valley Sister Cities has impacted many Roanokers by exposing them to new cultures and experiences, as well as forging lifelong friendships.

Roanoke Vice Mayor Joe Cobb is one of the organization’s biggest supporters on Roanoke City Council. In fact, he’s a member at large of the board and has traveled to a number of the sister cities. 

The various international connections are a natural extension of the city’s diversity, according to Cobb. “Roanoke, for as long as it’s been around, has been a hub for many cultures. This was a place where early immigrants found a home. That has just expanded through the years. Citizens from over 120 different nations call Roanoke home,” he says.

As part of the organization, he’s traveled to several of Roanoke’s sister cities, including Lijiang in November for a conference. While there, he met with the local teachers college to discuss teacher and student exchanges.

“We just immersed ourselves in the people and culture,” he says of his five-day stay. “There’s nothing better than visiting a place, meeting the people and experiencing their daily lives.”

Lijiang also holds a special place in the heart of Sara Epperly, member at large, because of its connection to one of the organization’s matrons, Pearl Fu. “Pearl is from this area of Southwest China,” Epperly, a former Salem City Schools administrator, says. “I have always marveled that our Roanoke scored a relationship with this most special place. Lijiang is well known throughout China for its historical, cultural and geographic significance.”

In addition to Cobb, other local officials and former officials, including former Roanoke City Councilman Bill Bestpitch, are also part of the organization. In 2019, Bestpitch, who serves as the organization’s treasurer, traveled to Saint-Lô.

“During our trip, we were fortunate that a wonderful couple provided home hospitality for us, Irene & Patrick Duval. We have stayed in touch and still exchange holiday and birthday cards. The newspaper articles that Irene sends give me a chance to try to improve my very limited fluency in French,” he says.

For real estate agent Bill Modica, recording secretary of the organization and Kisumu committee chair, being involved in Roanoke Valley Sister Cities makes him feel that he is having a positive impact on the community. “Sister Cities makes an effort to improve communications between people all over the world and besides, it gives me friends in remote places and teaches me how others live in the world we all share,” he says.

Peggy Wells, co-chair of the Saint-Lô committee, cherishes the friendships she’s made with the people of Saint-Lô. She says, “I value the exchanges, both adult and student, that we have been able to facilitate.”

Roanoke Valley Sister Cities has given Dr. Kristina Bulas-Slowikowski, chair of the Opole committee, the opportunity to connect with her Polish heritage.

“Thirty years ago, I listened to Elmer Hodge, Roanoke County administrator, on an NPR interview speak about partnering Roanoke County with a city in Poland. Having just moved to Roanoke and of Polish American heritage, I thought that was an amazing idea and a wonderful way to get to know and contribute to my new home,” she remembers.

Like Bulas-Slowikowski, Ramona Kirsch, director of global learning at Hollins University, got involved in the organization due to her background. The daughter of an immigrant, she grew up valuing the stories of those from various countries and cultures.

Upon her move to Roanoke in 2019, she became chair of the Wonju committee. “I have come to appreciate more and more the unique culture in South Korea and I believe in the Sister Cities International mission to ‘promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation one individual, one community at a time,’” she says.

The story above is from our May/June 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!