A sign bearing the words Fort Dodge Lane and the city’s logo clearly identifies the path.

Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich and Gjakova Mayor Adrian Gjini recently unveiled the sign during a ceremony that was one of the latest developments in the sister city relationship between the communities in Iowa and the Balkan nation.

The original sister city agreement committing the two communities to cooperation on cultural, economic, education and public administration matters, was signed in December 2016 in Fort Dodge. Late last month, Bemrich led a small group to Gjakova to sign an updated version of that pact.

While there, the Fort Dodge delegation also worked on a plan in which educational institutions in Gjakova would team up with Iowa Central Community College and Friendship Haven to train nurses.

-Submitted photo
Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich and Gjakova Mayor Adrian Gjini sign an updated sister city agreement between their two communities on Sept. 24.

”I thought that was very impactful,” Bemrich said of the discussions regarding the proposed nursing program.

Iowa Central Community College President Dan Kinney; Dawn Larson, economic development specialist for the city of Fort Dodge; and Julie Thorson, CEO of Friendship Haven; joined Bemrich on the trip.

The group arrived in Kosovo Sept. 22 and returned to Iowa on Sept. 26.

Strengthening ties between cities

Bemrich said signing the updated sister city agreement was his primary job on the trip.

-Submitted photo
Representatives of Fort Dodge who traveled to Gjakova in Kosovo last month pose outside a restaurant there. From left to right: Dawn Larson, economic development specialist for the city of Fort Dodge; Dan Kinney, president of Iowa Central Community College; Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich; and Julie Thorson, CEO of Friendship Haven.

”I think it’s healthy to renew them,” Bemrich said of the agreement. ”Oceans apart, we’re not going to talk on a daily basis.”

Larson, who is the city’s point person for the relationship with Gjakova, said a sister city agreement is a ”broad-based, long-term partnership between two communities in two countries.”

”They are traditionally developed for diplomatic, cultural or educational collaboration,” she said. ”Today, it also serves as a tool to work on mutual issues such as economic and community development by sharing best practices.”

After the signing ceremony, the Fort Dodge group and leaders of Gjakova went to the community’s main park in the heart of the city. There, the two mayors unveiled the Fort Dodge Lane sign.

”It was an honor to be part of that,” Bemrich said. ”It was a neat moment further connecting our two communities.”

Gjakova’s central park is about three times the size of the Fort Dodge City Square, he said. There is a handful of paths radiating out from the center of the park. The longest of those paths is now named Fort Dodge Lane.

The central park used to be an overgrown lot that years ago was the site of Yugoslavian military barracks. Its creation is part of the ongoing transformation of Kosovo as it emerges from the shadow of years of civil war, according to Bemrich. He said when he first visited the country in 2017, replacing water mains and getting the airport open were the priorities there. Now, the country is opening parks and restoring historic sites.

”You can see the evolution of their communities, their government, into the democracy they’re trying to create and nurture,” Bemrich said.

Potential nurse training

The proposed training program would give young people from Kosovo the education to become registered nurses while also providing a new source of nursing personnel for Friendship Haven.

”We need the employees,” Thorson said. ”There’s more jobs than people.”

She said the nursing students would spend part of their days taking classes at Iowa Central and part of their days working at Friendship Haven.

The students would be graduates of a Gjakova high school that specializes in preparing young people for careers in health care. Thorson said they would earn registered nurse certification in three years through the proposed program.

In Kosovo, Thorson and Kinney talked to educational leaders to get their support for the program.

”We wanted to get a sense of would the local community support that,” she said. ”I feel like it was met positively.”

The college and Friendship Haven are now applying for visas needed to start the program. Thorson said it would start with 10 students.

The residents of Friendship Haven have been told about the program, she said.

”So far, the residents have been really excited about it,” she said. ”I think our residents would be wonderful ambassadors to these young people.”