Traditional singing from Zomba, Malawi, filled the Urbana City Council chambers Monday night as visitors from Urbana’s sister city thanked the city council for giving them a shiny, gold key to the city.

“We are very musical people,” said chairman of the community of Zomba, Dickson B. Vuwa Phiri, “We always sing, especially when things are nice in friendships.”

Phiri said “Ubale” is a song about relationships when people are visiting, exchanging and sharing, and that is what their visit to Urbana is all about.

Through a $100,000 Sino-African Initiative grant given by Sister City International, Urbana partners with the city of Zomba and the Haizhu district in Guangzhou, China, to develop and support sanitary development and water health, said alderman Dennis Roberts, Ward 5.

Six leaders from Zomba are spending the week with Urbana staff to learn about sewage control from a more experienced community and how they can implement changes to their own city.

“We have come here to learn by contact, by seeing and going around, how this city is organized,” said Phiri. He also emphasized the importance of the relationship between the two cities.

Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing said she found it interesting that the three cities have a unique connection to nature, which brings them together in the partnership.

“Urbana is called a tree city in the United States, and Guangzhou is the flower city,” she said. “Zomba is also known for its beautiful trees.”

During the meeting council members also passed three ordinances concerning improvements to bike paths, sidewalks and ramps on Main Street.

Gale Jamison, assistant city engineer, said city staff will send the documents to the Illinois Department of Transportation for approval and then move forward to select a bid from a contractor to do the work. Jamison said bidding will begin in June and final construction of the project is expected by November.

Corinne can be reached at [email protected].