photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Bill Keel, chair of Sister Cities Lawrence, introduces the students from Eutin, Germany, at the Lawrence City Commission meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.

In the span of about a week, Sister Cities Lawrence Chair Bill Keel said on Tuesday night, Lawrence is getting some love from “Africa, Asia, and Europe.”

He was introducing the Europeans — a crowd of high school students from Eutin, Germany — and the visitors from Asia, an adult delegation from Hiratsuka, Japan, are arriving early next week. And, as for Africa, he announced at the Lawrence City Commission’s meeting that the Algerian government had reached out to city leaders about a possible visit to the North African country.

Mayor Brad Finkeldei confirmed to the Journal-World after the commission’s meeting that he had received a letter from the Algerian ambassador inviting him and a delegation from Lawrence to visit, perhaps as early as later this month or at a time that would be convenient for them.

Algeria’s government has been in touch with Lawrence leaders before, when the city hosted the Algerian men’s national team for the FIFA World Cup this past summer. The ambassador visited after the team arrived and gave the city a piece of pottery that’s now displayed with keepsakes from Lawrence’s sister cities on the top floor of City Hall.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

A piece of pottery given to the City of Lawrence by the Algerian ambassador is displayed on the top floor of Lawrence City Hall in this photo from July 2026.

Finkeldei said that Mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas City, Missouri, had received an invitation, too, and that Lawrence Police Chief Rich Lockhart got a letter inviting three members of the police department who had helped with World Cup security and logistics: Lts. David Ernst and Mark Unruh and Detective Meghan Bardwell.

For now, a lot of the details about the possible trip to Algeria aren’t known, Finkeldei said: “We’ve got an official invitation, and there’s a lot to be worked out.”

“We are going to find a way to make it work,” he said.

As for a future sister city relationship, it’s an idea that the board of Sister Cities Lawrence has discussed with Algerians before. Lawrence’s sister city partnerships with Eutin and Hiratsuka have active “friends” groups of people dedicated to maintaining these friendships, and Keel told the Journal-World over the summer that a group of people here would have to be invested in an Algerian sister city, too, to make it work.

If that happens, might there one day be Algerian high school students staying with Lawrence families, immersing themselves in Lawrence schools and introducing themselves to Lawrence’s elected leaders like the Eutiners were on Tuesday night?

One by one, the Eutin student delegation shared what they thought about Lawrence and America. One said the food here was awesome; another, that people were so kind and open; a couple of them were excited to see football games, and weren’t disappointed by Lawrence’s “football spirit.”

“Thank you for having us, for inviting us,” one of the students said. And another one: “We are all grateful. Thank you so much.”

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

The student delegation from Eutin, Germany, is pictured at Lawrence City Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.