LIMA — After holding two video conferences with representatives from Varanasi, India, a delegation from Lima will be making the trip to the city of more than 1.2 million people in late January or early February to hold a face-to-face meeting with local officials to further explore the potential forming of a sister cities relationship akin to Lima’s relationship with Harima-cho, Japan.
The announcement of the trip was made Wednesday at Mayor David Berger’s weekly news conference, with the mayor outlining how this connection started to form several months earlier, thanks to local physicians Dr. Shama Amin and Dr. Suman Mishr.
“Dr. Mishr has a practice here in our community, but he also has very deep roots with the community of Varanasi, India, where his family remains as part of the community,” Berger said. “He once taught at the medical school there, and he runs a private school there for primary and secondary students.”
Sitting on the banks of the Ganges River, Varanasi is considered a holy site for both the Buddhist and Hindu religions, while also serving as an industrial center for fabric and perfume manufacturing and housing a diesel locomotive plant.
“On behalf of Varanasi, I welcome this opportunity to link with America,” Mishr said. “This initial delegation is focused on education, with educational leadership going and meeting with the vice-chancellors of the four universities in Varanasi and address principals of 40 to 50 community colleges in the city.”
Local educational representatives on the trip will include the presidents of Bluffton University and Ohio Northern University, as well as Apollo Career Center superintendent Judy Wells, along with Berger, Amin, Mishr and Sylvia Clark with the Lima Sister Cities Association.
“It’s going to be a new foray for Apollo Career Center to be involved in an international partnership for economic development and skilled training,” Wells said. “One of the things that really stuck in my mind from conversations with Dr. Mishr is that there are many universities and a lot of degreed people in India, but they need skilled trades.”
Berger also said that, with 300 families of Indian descent living in the area, there could be the potential for a volunteer base to help put Lima’s best foot forward, should a return delegation from Varanasi visit Ohio.
“This has presented a rich set of opportunities for folks from both communities to travel and get to know each other in a very personal way,” he said.
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