OPEN celebrates culture, encourages community to do the same

Marvin Campbell lives in a museum.

When the 83-year-old looks up from the cushy recliner in the center of his small living room, he sees history and a wealth of Ukrainian culture displayed on the high walls reaching to the 17-foot-tall ceiling. Every artifact, photo and keepsake has its own story, hidden away in the recesses of Campbell’s memories.

Sharing space with these relics are Campbell’s own illustrations and collages chronicling the triumphs and milestones of the Newton-based Organization Promoting Everlasting Neighbors, or OPEN as it is more commonly called, which has maintained sister city relations with Smila, Ukraine for the past 30 years.

OPEN established another sister city with Wu Chi, Taiwan during that time. Campbell has mementos from that country, too, but not nearly as much as his Ukrainian collection. There is a clear admiration for the country and its people, which he freely admits. But those items covering his walls are not souvenirs.

To him, they are precious treasures embedded with personal experiences gained from his 29 trips to Ukraine; a feat that would have been near impossible had it not been for OPEN, the organization he was pivotal in creating back in 1991. What appear to be unique home decorations are actually symbols of progress.

Through OPEN, Campbell achieved the same love and understanding that the organization hoped others would experience by becoming involved with or being directly exposed to Newton’s sister cities. He may have never learned the language, but he respected the people, their culture and their history.

“Once I got there, I instantly became involved with them. And I respected the time they gave me,” he said. “To this day, it was one of the greatest experiences in my lifetime to be one of the first Americans to go to Smila, Ukraine and open the door for such opportunities that I was presented.”

For three decades, OPEN has organized numerous programs with its sister cities. From concerts featuring Taiwanese pianists and Ukrainian trios playing banduras, to delegation trips, culinary collaborations with DMACC and artwork exchanges, the local nonprofit has consistently accomplished its mission.

OPEN states its mission is to strengthen “the global outreach of Newton and Jasper County in ways that increase peace and understanding, promote democracy and citizen participation, and recognize mutual benefits of education, culture, agriculture business and trade.”

Of course one of the more visible and well-known programs has been OPEN’s foreign exchange student projects, in which a student from Smila, Ukraine or Wu Chi, Taiwan stay with a host family and attend Newton High School. Jane Ann Cotton, chair of the OPEN board, said the program has had a big impact.

“We’ve connected with those students for many years and stayed in contact with them, now through social media — unlike years ago where you’d have to write a letter,” Cotton said, noting OPEN has connected with 38 students from Ukraine and five students from Taiwan. “It’s really amazing.”

Affiliating with the students has always been Cotton’s favorite part of OPEN. Looking back at the past 30 years, Cotton hopes the organization’s legacy broadened the minds of the “many wonderful host families” who welcomed students into their homes and into their lives.

“Some are still in real close contact with their students. Having them in the high school, having them participating in sports and everything else and having close relationships with the hosts, I think it broadened the outlook of so many families,” Cotton said.

Although Campbell served as chair of the OPEN board for many years, he finds the most enjoyment from handling the special projects. It’s a position that has often presented the group opportunities to provide humanitarian aid, and it also frequently introduces Campbell to the Ukrainian people.

One such person is a Ukrainian educator by the name of Mariia Sihetii. In 2018, Sihetii toured Iowa school districts and observed classrooms activities in hopes of implementing such practices into her own district’s curriculum at the time. She gave Campbell a framed piece artwork before she left the United States.

It depicted an image of red flowers made of beads. On the back Sihetii signed her name and addressed it “for Marvin Campbell.” In parentheses next to his name, she wrote: “my American dad.” Many of the host families who opened their homes to Ukrainian and Taiwanese students share similar relationships, he said.

“This was our mission all these years,” Campbell said, pointing to OPEN’s full mission statement typed out in bold lettering on one of the many booklets recording the organization’s history in Newton. “Increase peace and understanding, it says. I think we more than accomplished that.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com