Tom Guttier

To learn more about Afghanistan, the town invited Tom Guttier, dean of international studies at University of Nebraska-Omaha, to speak to them.Guttier, originally from Maumee and a graduate of Bowling Green State University, spent 10 years in Afghanistan.He first served there with the Peace Corps, and later as a consultant for the U.N. and as the head of the Fulbright Foundation in Afghanistan.The Phillipses said that talk only whet the appetites of people in Scottsbluff and Gering, a neighboring town of around 10,000 located across the river.Guttier asked the community to host a short visit by Afghanistan teachers and officials and the residents agreed.Thirteen Afghanistan teachers came and visited the Scottsbluff-Gering area, along with Washington, D.C., and Omaha.Two more waves of teachers visited the community over the next couple of years, and more are scheduled, but still the people of Scottsbluff and Gering wanted to do more.Residents contacted Sister Cities International, a non-profit citizen diplomacy network that promotes peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation - one individual and one community at a time.That group set them up with the town of Bamiyan in the provence of Bamiyan, Afghanistan.After the first few visits and the formation of the Scottsbluff-Gering Sister City group with Bamiyan - the first Sister City between communities in Afghanistan and America - those in Nebraska wanted to visit their counterparts in Bamiyan.That trip occurred this past June when the Phillipses, Guttier and a handful of others visited Bamiyan and the Afghanistan capital of Kabul.
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Tom Guttier, a former Ohioan and dean of international studies at University of Nebraska-Omaha, chats with a few of the visitors from Scottsbluff and Gering during their trip to Bamiyan.