Recent Activities
- 2004-11-7
- Worthington Delegation to Sayama City's 50th Anniversary
- 2004-9-22 to 27
- SIFA sends its Sixth Homestay Delegation to Worthington
- 2003-10-24 to 28
- SIFA attended Worthington Bicentennial
- 2003-10-1 to 7
- Sixth 7-delegate homestay delegation from WIFA visited Sayama
On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the City of Sayama held on November 7, the Worthington Delegation visited Sayama City. It consisted of Dr. Goorey, President City Council, Mr. Minton, Mayor, Mrs. Anne Brown, Community Relations/Public Information Officer, Mr. Wade Duym, WIFA President, all of whom were accompanied by their spouses, respectively.
Except for Mr. & Mrs. Wade Duym who had visited Kyoto and Nara on their
way to Sayama, the other delegates missed their flight from Chicago to
Japan due to the delay of their flight from Columbus to Chicago and arrived
about two hours later than scheduled, but they were all in good spirits.
On November 6, SIFA held its Welcome Dinner Party in honor of the Worthington
Delegation with many SIFA members present including the members of SIFA
Homestay Delegation 2004. Everyone enjoyed the party and had a chance to
further deepen mutual understanding and friendship.
Click to see the pictures of welcome party
- The City of Worthington is a beautiful city with a history of over 200
years, which faces the northern part of Columbus, the state capital of
Ohio. The City celebrated its Bicentennial in 2003.
- History of friendly exchanges with the City of Worthington
The friendly relationship between the Sayama International Friendship Association (SIFA) and the Worthington International Friendship Association (WIFA) was initiated on a `grass-roots cultural exchange' basis in 1993. For further details, click `History of Sister City Exchanges between Sayama and Worthington.'
- Since the first homestay delegation from WIFA visited Sayama in 1994,
SIFA or WIFA has sent its homestay delegation to Worthington or Sayama every
other year. The purpose of this mutual visit is to learn more about the
other people's culture, life style and way of thinking, and to become aware
of the similarities and differences of each culture. Each delegate from
SIFA or WIFA stays with his or her host family as a family member and
experiences firsthand family life sometimes with the great help of
his or her body language or hand signs.
One may not enjoy such valuable experience through any sightseeing tours.
- Following the visit of the sixth 7-delegate homestay
delegation from WIFA in October 2003,
the SIFA's Sixth Homestay Delegation headed
by Mr. Toichi Sashida departed from Japan on September 22, 2004, and
all the delegates safely returned to Japan on
September 30, 2004 as scheduled after visiting Washington DC, the
capital of the United States on their way home.
For more information and pictures of the SIFA delegation in Worthington, see Mr. Bill Westerman's Sayama Journal 2004.
Click picture to enlarge.
| SIFA Delegates to Worthington |
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- 2004-9-22 8:30
- The Sixth SIFA homestay delegation headed by Mr. Sashida departed from the Sayama City Hall at 8:30 a.m. on schedule.
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Each delegate met his or her host family at the Welcoming Reception held by WIFA. |
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| Dr. Chosy addresses to the delegates on behalf of the City Council (Dr. Chosy, a city council member, visited Sayama together with Mrs. Chosy in 1999. |
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Kurihara-san with his new glasses next to Suzan-san, who visited Sayama in 2001. |
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Click to see the pictures of Worthington Bicentennial
Click to see the pictures of homestay delegation
You can also find the related article in Mr. Bill Westerman's Sayama Journal 2003.
