Chairman's Report

Chairman’s Chat
by Jerry Gary

January 6, 2003

Well folks, 2002 is but a fading memory and 2003 is a reality of motion buoyed up by the good work that TASCC did in 2002. Relax, be comfortable and let’s remember: Our shining star, Tatyana, graduated with honors in Linguistics from the University of Arizona. She forges on to the Master’s program in Library Science. Its easy for me to say, “I knew she could do it!” When I met her in 1997 at her home in the town of Talgar, Almaty Region, I sensed her need to succeed. She was never whiney or complaining, just factual about what she wanted to do with her life. Her heart-felt stories of rarely leaving her home because of the difficulties, of learning English alone and with phonograph records and books from the local library, of teaching the village children English in order to polish her own skills, of her one GREAT ESCAPE to Germany for two weeks at the invitation of a humanitarian she met from there….quote Tatyana, “it was like a Fairyland”. Tatyana is a rousing success story for TASCC. Or, how about our project to send 240 wheelchairs to Almaty for distribution by the Almaty Rotary Club, Counterpart, Interntional and the Akbota League!!! Our good friends and Tucson Rotarians, Sid Morse and Billy Joe Varney made it happen. Talk about success….WOW for the looks on the faces of youngsters that were spending their time crawling on the floor, for the quiet gratitude of the older folks that spent their time in bed or on the couch. Ask Barbara Chinworth…she made her first visit to Almaty to oversee the distribution process. What a memorable trip for her. She organized the Almaty-Tucson Sister Cities Committee, complete with elected officers, bylaws and Robert’s Rules of Order. She made contact with the Kazakhstan Women’s National Hockey Team in order to establish a partnership with the Tucson Women’s Chilly Peppers hockey team, she visited school 159, an all Kazakh school, to prepare for a student exchange with Pueblo High School, she investigated venues and potential for our Tucson All Star Mariachi and Folklorico to travel to Almaty in July of 2003 and perform in the Voice of Asia Festival AND in her spare time, completed an application for a grant to bring two students and a teacher from Almaty in the Spring of 2003. PHEW!!! On top of all that, this Barbara person Chairs the Education and Culture group for TASCC, worked with Carole Barnes as Liaison to our Almaty Committee and in creating our first lapel pins along with Patricia Holmes, with Patty Lazarus on the creation of a brochure which extols our many fine qualities as a group, played in the Wildflowers to entertain everyone at the TASCC Christmas Party…..it goes on and on, folks. THANKS BARBARA! How about that Dan Martin guy? Doctorial candidate at the U of A, became a member of TASCC and volunteered to administer the grant application for Emergency Preparedness. It was a successful exercise and Dan is preparing to make his 2nd trip to Almaty. Member Jennifer Sprung will be accompanying Dan on January 15th and will finalize details for the exchange with Pueblo and School 159. DANG, I almost forgot our other rising STAR,
Aizhan. She is the third sponsored student from our sister city to attend the University of Arizona. Majoring in Business and Economics, she is…ho hum…another honors student. Sister Assem graduated with both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s in Art History. While in Almaty, Barbara Chinworth discovered a group called ARDI, a group of dedicated parents that have started a school where children with disabilities can attend school publicly. In November, we dispatched a container loaded with school supplies and furniture in cooperation with Worldcare and Counterpart, International. A second container is currently being prepared which will contain approximately 30 computers and peripheral equipment to be shared by ARDI and our new sister committee in Almaty. Work is also underway to send a second container of wheelchairs there. 2002 saw the appointment of yours truly as the Program Director for Wheelchairs for Peace, a Sister Cities International program. This program will distribute 60,000 wheelchairs around the globe. ANOTHER 2002 accomplishment!!! http://www.tucson-almaty.info/ OUR NEW AND BEAUTIFUL WEBSITE. None other than Tayana to thank for that!
We were graced with the presence of Gulvira Matzhanova, a visiting scholar from Almaty to the Department of Critical Languages at the U of A. What a delightful person she is. The year, 2002, ended with a bang…not a whimper! Our umbrella organization, the Sister Cities Association of Tucson, took on a new look last year. “Return to Our Roots” could be the new slogan of this group. Sister Cities is about “People-to-People” diplomacy and many of our Tucson sister city program were not espousing that philosophy. The Board of Directors has adopted changes designed to bring the individual programs into line with the stated goals and purposes of Sister Cities International. Out of 11 sister programs that have been established over the past years, there are currently six which maintain an ‘active’ status. Those are: Cuidad Obregon and Guadalajara Mexico, Pec, Hungary, Trikala, Greece, Segovia, Spain, Roscommon, Ireland and Almaty, Kazakhstan. This Association meets monthly, on the second Wednesday. Getting better acquainted with the Mexico Sister Cities program was delightful. Eloise Carrillo has been an inspiration to me. Thanks to Alberto Moore and Jack Dolan of the Pecs, Hungary group. Welcome to Vicente Sanchez-Martinez of the Segovia, Spain group. I pledge my support for your efforts to bring your program into prominence.

SO……for all those who worked so hard and so unselfishly in 2002, I salute you. Please forgive me for any oversights and failure to recognize you individually. I humbly request that you continue to help us make Tucson and Almaty examples of global understanding. It is my goal in 2003 to imbue each of you with the feeling of emotion and worth that comes with doing good work in our beautiful and culturally rich Almaty…..the work which has made MY life so meaningful.