1987: Friendships begin
How do new Sister Islands get to know each other when there is a war going on and an embargo against trade? One way is to send messages of friendship in the hands of travelers passing through. Mary Gleysteen relayed a suitcase of school supplies destined for Ometepe. Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin packed their video equipment to Ometepe after a visit elsewhere in Nicaragua.
1986: Searching for a sister island
Bainbridge Island peace activists were frustrated and enraged by the U.S. government’s backing of the Contra war against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. In hopes of circumventing governments and creating a different relationship with people from the embattled nation, 90 Islanders held a pot-luck dinner fund-raiser and sent Kim Esterberg off to Managua with the Seattle Sister Cities delegation in search of a sister island.