Students can experience Fort Worth’s sister city, Mbabane, Swaziland, noon-1 p.m. Feb. 15 in the SSTU Texas Room on South Campus.
Dr. Staussa Ervin, assistant professor of psychology, and Sister Cities board member Avis Davis will give the presentation.
Those in attendance can have their pictures taken in traditional Swazi dress.
In fall 2010, Ervin took a faculty development leave and worked at Fort Worth Sister Cities International.
“In addition to project management activities in the city, I traveled to Mbabane, Swaziland, one of Fort Worth’s sister cities,” she said.
Ervin was involved with the Change for Change organization, a sister cities project that collects spare change throughout the year to purchase books for children in Swaziland.
South Campus staff and faculty collected $1,000 for the project last year.
“The money was used to purchase books, which I helped to distribute in Swaziland,” Ervin said.
Ervin said she is giving this presentation for Black History Month to bring awareness of the relationship Fort Worth has with Swaziland, to help participants understand African-American history in a global context and to share some of the rich culture of Swaziland with the audience through the sharing of African tea and African dance.
Mbabane is the newest of Fort Worth’s sister cities, which are broad-based, officially approved, long-term partnerships between two communities in two countries, according to http://sister-cities.org.
Once Mbabane was researched and explored, presentations were given to the board and membership of Fort Worth Sister Cities International. A unanimous vote was cast to recommend Mbabane to the city of Fort Worth.
The event is free for TCC students.
— Bethany Sanderson
