Cultivating a Sisterhood

After 20 years at the helm, Maxine Shaw plans to hand over reins

-- Monica Deady; staff writer, Brookline Tab

For two decades, Maxine Shaw's relationship with the people of Nicaragua has flourished. Shaw first worked as a teacher in the Latin American country in the mid-1980s, and later, with the help of other Brookline residents, created the Brookline-Quezalguaque Sister City Program.

In November, the Greenough Street resident will be leaving Brookline and moving to Florida with her husband, after nearly 20 years at the helm of the Sister City Project. "It's amazing how this [program] has grown," Shaw said. "I feel like it's in a good place and I can leave and it will continue."

Shaw will leave a legacy of strong, involved leadership."She leads by rolling up her sleeves and doing it herself," said John Bassett, a Town Meeting member who proposed the resolution that established the program. "She was really the spirit that got this thing going.""Her involvement has been just remarkable," said organization co-president Carol Caro, who will take over when Shaw leaves. "Her enthusiasm never seems to dwindle."

Shaw's connection to Latin America began when she worked as a bilingual education teacher at the Boston Public Schools; she met teachers from Nicaragua through the Central American Solidarity Committee, and later, taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Quezalguaque for two years. Through Shaw, a group of Brookline residents realized the need and began sending supplies to Quezalguaque, planting the seeds for the Sister City Project. In 1987, Brookline's Town Meeting passed a resolution that established a formal sister city relationship with the rural western Nicaraguan city.

At first, the new relationship focused on accomplishing small projects - one of the schools got a cow through money raised by Brookline residents; the high school got plumbing; school supplies were purchased; and motorcycles were given to the schools to help teachers in rural areas get around more easily. In 1989, the group raised enough funds to build a health center for the people there, and in 2002, a library. Through the generosity of residents, the group has raised money to help out after hurricanes, and has even helped facilitate a partnership with the Boston University School of Public Health. Delegations of Brookline residents typically go once a year in February to visit with the people, and continue to work on projects. In addition, the program now has an in-country coordinator who can help oversee projects in Quezalguaque.

As Shaw prepares to step down, those who have worked alongside her credit her enthusiasm and ability to work with different groups. Shaw has been both passionate and energetic, and has shown she can interact with families and children as well as negotiate with the politicos, Caro said."She is beloved, but at the same time she is also considered a force," she said. Meanwhile, Shaw's positive outlook has made a lasting impression.

"I guess what she carries with her always is an optimism, an interest in working with other people, an assumption that other people are well-intentioned and can work together and can do good things together, and focus on the job at hand," Bassett said.

Leaving Sister City Program is bittersweet for Shaw, who said she envisioned herself working on the organization full time after she retired. Even though she will be in Florida, Shaw said she will still be as connected as she can to Brookline, and will continue to visit Nicaragua, where she has many friends. Caro said Shaw's connection to Nicaragua and its people is second to none. "Maxine's lifeblood is the Sister City Program," she said.