Battle Creek Looking At Sister City Partnership With Burmese Town

The City of Battle Creek could soon have a new sister city in Southeast Asia.

The Battle Creek City Commission is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution that would create a Sister City Exploration Committee, looking into how feasible it is to form a sister city relationship with Falam, a town in northwestern Myanmar near the Indian border in the state of Chin. Much of the sizable Burmese community in Battle Creek comes from Chin State, which is also home to the vast majority of Myanmar’s Christian minority; subsequently, two of the Burmese members who would be appointed to the seven member Exploration Committee are pastors.

If the resolution passes, the Committee will “gather and analyze stakeholder feedback”, determine what would be reasonable to expect from the Sister City program, and eventually give the City Commission a recommendation on how to proceed.

Battle Creek has been home to a Burmese community since the 1980’s, as families and individuals began moving over; now, there are over 1,100 Burmese people living in the area.