Commerce and Pailin, Cambodia, officially entered into a sister-city partnership on Thursday, Nov. 19, during a signing ceremony held in the Innovations Room of the Sam Rayburn Student Center at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
After a Buddhist monk blessed the ceremony, the mayor of Commerce, Quay Throgmorton, signed the official agreement in the presence of A&M-Commerce President Dr. Dan Jones, members of the Cambodia Service Learning Project and guests.
“Hopefully, this will really put Commerce on an international map,” Throgmorton said. “Folks will know that not only the university, being part of the A&M-System, is involved in schools throughout the world, but that the city wants to be involved in those types of activities also. Any publicity is good publicity, so we look forward to what this may bring to the city.”
Dr. Jones said he is proud of the university’s role in the initiative.
“This is such a wonderful model of what universities do best, and that is to teach and learn by doing good works,” he said. “I can’t think of a better example of a good work than bringing together two people of very diverse cultures. This program is certainly consistent with that commitment on part of the university to bring the world to Commerce and the benefits from the mutual exchange of perspectives and ideas.”
The city has been working with the Cambodia Service Learning Project on the sister-city initiative. Political science department head Dr. JoAnn DiGeorgio-Lutz. who teaches the course, said she was surprised how quickly the process moved along and is thankful for the city and Dr. Lance Rasbridge, a community services coordinator for the Refugee Outreach Program at Parkland Hospital, who already had connections with the Pailin region.
“I knew eventually we would get there, but I didn’t think it would be this semester,” DiGeorgio said. “I think Dr. Rasbridge helped with his connections at Pailin. The city passing that resolution and giving us the green light to go ahead also helped a lot.”
Rasbridge has worked with war refugees in the Dallas area for over 20 years, specifically with those from Cambodia. The country experienced a civil war from 1967 to 1975 and another war with Vietnam between 1975 and 1989. Rasbridge explained the effects of war are still evident in Cambodia, particularly Pailin.
“Compared to other places in Cambodia, this place really needs outside assistance,” he said. “There’s still a lot of land mines in the area and there’s still a lot of war refugees that ended up in that area because they were forced out of their homes.”
He went on to say Pailin was rich in resources, mostly wood and gem stones, before the war and has since lost control of those industries. Rasbridge said this program could help restore the area’s potential.
“I think with initiatives like this, the management of the resources still there is the wave of the future as well as small business opportunities,” he said. “It is a beautiful area, and the tourist industry potential is vast.”
The objective of the sister-city project, according to Digeorgio is for both Pailin and Commerce to benefit from cultural exchange.
“The ultimate goal would be to bring people from Pailin here to Commerce, to have people from Commerce visit Pailin, and to really have that exchange,” she said. “It would be really great to have the governor and officials from Pailin to meet our city council and mayor.”
Throgmorton said this project is also a chance for the city and the university to cooperate and work toward a common goal.
“These are the kind of projects that the city and the university need to work together on to help out one another with some common goals that we have,” Throgmorton said. “They (the university) want to see increased enrollment, increased programs, and that would definitely benefit the city also.”
Christina Clay, one of the students in the Cambodia Service Learning Project, said the next step is making the initiative a true community project.
“This class is going to do an awareness day, December 1 and 2, and try to get the college a little more involved,” she said. “Next semester’s class is going to go to Commerce ISD and see if they want to exchange artwork between us and Pailin. We’re just going to start slowly trying to get the community involved with Pailin.”