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A warm welcome at the website of Sister Cities of Gedern!
Most importantly, Sister Cities of Gedern wants to support the actual exchange between the people of Gedern and Columbia in order to foster mutual understanding, to develop cultural exchange and to strengthen theties between Gedern and Columbia.
For this purpose there are official partnership visits every other year, alternately to Columbia and Gedern. For ten days a Gedern group of fifty to seventy persons travels to Columbia, and usually a group of about forty persons from Columbia comes to Gedern.
90% of accommodation is supplied by private housing. Sister Cities of Gedern plans the itinerary for the American guests and takes care of them during their stay.
Since the founding of Sister Cities of Gedern many private relationships have come into existence, repeatedly causing private visits on both sides of the Atlantic.
Participants in these trips must be members of Sister Cities of Gedern.
Together with Gesamtschule Gedern (Gedern Comprehensive School), Sister Cities of Gedern organizes the student exchange with Columbia High School, the official partner school. These student exchanges alternate yearly and usually take three weeks. Sister Cities of Gedern also gives financial support to the participating students.
Sister Cities of Gedern has good contacts with the Amerika-Haus in Frankfurt/Main and has an actual exchange with other participants in the U.S. Sister Cities program from Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.
In the past years several associations were in Columbia on their own or together with the official exchange group:
- The Gedern Big Band
- The Seementaler Musikanten (the Musicians from Seemental)
- The Gedern Voluntary Fire Department
Since the founding of Sister Cities of Gedern many private relationships have come into existence, repeatedly causing private visits on both sides of the Atlantic.
We have also seen Columbians coming into Gedern on their trip through Germany or Europe, and Gederners have visited Columbia while in the USA.