Efforts continuing establishment of sister city in the Philippines

Published 1:54 pm Friday, June 24, 2016

Nobody ever said getting a sister city relationship off the ground would be seamless.

A group that has worked to establish such a relationship between Oak Harbor and the Philippines village of Santa Rita is excited about several developments in the works, including a donation that has helped a vocational school wellness program get started.

But there was one small bump in the road uncovered this week when Geline Cardwell checked her email and examined photos that showed the city’s name embroidered on towels and T-shirts and printed on literature as a show of appreciation.

The city being praised was Oak City.

Oopsy daisy.

Cardwell immediately reported the error to her contact in the Philippines, politely asking for a correction as soon as possible.

“She missed the Harbor word. It was Oak City,” Cardwell said. “I said, ‘Could you add Harbor there?’

“We want to make sure it’s printed correctly with Oak Harbor.”

It was a mildly amusing hiccup in the budding relationship with the Olongapo City barangay, a Filipino term for a village or district. Olongapo City is in the province of Zambales.

In one of its first acts since selecting Santa Rita as Oak Harbor’s sister city early last year, the Oak Harbor group’s board in March approved the funding of $1,200 for Gordon Heights National High School to purchase eight massage beds for a new wellness program.

Classes for the new school year are already underway.

“It’s nice to be able to give back to where I grew up,” said Cardwell, an Oak Harbor resident who is from the Philippines.

Another potential plan includes pen-pal activity between students in Oak Harbor and Santa Rita.

The Oak Harbor group also is considering developing a sister city relationship with Helensburgh, Scotland.

The group meets every month at the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce office.