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Living in Cobden connects people across globe

By Scott Fitzgerald, The Southern

Saturday, October 11, 2008 10:10 PM CDT

COBDEN - A monument dedication ceremony Saturday in Cobden Community Park was testimonial to the fact the world becomes a smaller place when people reach out.

The monument praises people who have participated since 1988 in a visitor exchange program known as Cobden Connection.

"This has been quite an interesting journey," said Kevin Johnston, a teacher from Australia who first visited Cobden in January 1988, after viewing an information packet prepared by Carla Winters' English class at Cobden High School.

Winters said she stumbled on the idea of reaching out to other Cobden communities of the world more than 20 years earlier when she was returning home from vacation.

She pitched the idea as a class project. Soon, she and her students were doing their research.

They found Cobdens in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The class worked on information packets that were sent to the other Cobden communities.

An information packet flowed across Johnston's desk. He responded and soon wrote to Winters informing her that he was coming to visit.

"The thing that still amazes me on that first visit was noticing the school colors at the high school were nearly identical to those at home," Johnston said with a laugh on Saturday.

Seven months after Johnston's initial visit here, a group of students from Cobden, Illinois, visited Cobden, Australia. A student visitor exchange program had been firmly established with participation of Cobden communities in Canada and New Zealand.

Visits were conducted informally, usually lasting two weeks. Students would live with families and visit the schools during their visits, Winters said.

News about the program made an impact statewide.

Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar attended a Cobden Connection reception in the summer of 1996.

During Saturday's ceremony, Johnston said the student exchange has likely "run its course involving the schools."

But the friendships established from those earlier communications and visits involving hundreds of people from all the Cobden communities will last forever, he said.

"Everyone is welcomed to visit. There are lots of friendships involved," Johnston said.

Winters said she and the members of that initial class who researched and prepared those information packets never envisioned where the journey would eventually lead.

"The first time the Australians came to Illinois, this community opened up. Long live the connection," Winters said.

scott.fitzgerald@thesouthern.com

351-5076