DIXON – A long-lost sister from the land of the frozen tundra has returned.

Dixon is sister cities with Herzberg, Germany; Castlebar, Ireland; and Thika, Kenya.

It was thought that its connection with Dikson, Siberia, had been lost because of changes in the Russian government.

But a recent spate of international e-mails between teens has rekindled Dixon's relationship with its first sibling, a seaport and a hydrometeorological center that studies Arctic weather.

Dikson's mayor sent a letter to Dixon more than 20 years ago, requesting to be sister cities with the boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan, the man who sought to tear down the Berlin Wall.

The relationship became official in 1988, said Ellen Mumford, a Dixon Sister Cities Association board member and former president.

Geoff Vanderlin, circulation manager at Sauk Valley Newspapers, is president of the Dixon Sister Cities Association.

"Somewhere along the line after the fall of communism, they lost track of each other," Vanderlin said. 

Several months ago, association members began wondering aloud, Whatever happened to Dikson? Whiteside Area Career Center criminal justice teacher Harry Ulferts, a member of the association, had been to Siberia in the past, and took it upon himself to find out.

Ulferts soon established contact with a teacher there, then students in both classes began e-mailing each other. The connection was re-established, and the association plans to  continue to nurture the relationship.

"When you get to know people from other cultures, you begin to know that we all have the same dreams and thoughts," Vanderlin said.

"The idea was that one-on-one exchanges, people exchanges, can go far to breed understanding."

Toward that end, a group of Thikans is planning to visit Dixon this August.

"Now, we have a sister city like Thika, and we have a way of showing our benevolence and our caring, especially since we are at strife with so many countries," Mumford said.

"It is so important that we all reach out to one another, and it is great that we have a community that is willing to reach out to us."