After nearly a month of diplomacy in Iraq, four Duluth delegates from Duluth Sister Cities International are scheduled to return home Sunday. DSCI will hold a public welcome-home ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5, at the Duluth International Airport, 4701 Grinden Drive.
The five-member group traveled to Duluth's sister city, Ranie in Iraqi Kurdistan, to promote peace and global understanding through person-to-person diplomacy. The DSCI delegates include Michele Obed; Gale and Jeri Kerns; and Koresh and Jill Lakhan. Obed will remain in Rania a bit longer.
During their visit, the group partook in cultural, economic and educational endeavors. They also delivered Duluth-native Anne Labovitz's art exhibit "122 Conversations: Person to Person, Art Beyond Borders," which is currently on display at University of Raparin.
The exhibit includes bright-colored tyvek paintings inspired by Skype conversations Labovitz had conducted with people from Duluth's five sister cities: Rania; Thunder Bay, Ontario; Växj', Sweden; Petrozavodsk, Russia; and Ohara-Isumi City, Japan.
122 Conversations visited Thunder Bay last fall and is scheduled to go on display in the remaining Duluth sister cities - one city at a time - until its final destination at the Duluth Tweed Museum of Art in May 2018.
