Page 7: Argentinean hosts share memories
From SI Exco News
Hosts in Buenos Aires Open Doors to Exco
- From the national secretary:
Frits has just told you about the Exco meeting. I would like to explain the importance of this event to our country’s members and myself.
Argentina is a big country and the people who live here have a huge heart as well. We make friends easily, love to meet people, share time with travellers, show them our city, talk about our country, invite them to a nice meal at home and share some time with our family. I would say, in a sense, every person in our country is Servas at heart. Argentina is also very far away at the south end of the map. 95% of us are second or third generation immigrants, mainly from Europe. Our grandparents were very welcome in those days and worked a lot to give their children a better life and future. Most of them fell in love with our country and never left it again. Maybe this is one reason why we strongly feel that travelling is a way to know a bit more about our past and we usually get the feeling that many things, places, people we get in touch with, are somewhat familiar to us.
Lots of sad things have happened in the last two years due to government corruption. Things that were taken for granted aren’t there any more. All this has, of course, also affected our Servas hosts’ lives. Everyday worries and fears have been keeping many of them from accepting travellers. Many others, due to economical problems, feel they can’t host travellers as they should.
We have been working hard to keep people together and their spirits high. At the same time, we kept working on our project to have SI Exco meet in our country. This, we knew, would be difficult to achieve - we are so far away from everywhere - but we couldn’t give up this unique chance for Servas in Argentina.
Our hosts worked, were moved and concerned. I had to coordinate many things and never had a ‘no’ for an answer, everybody helped. I met members I had never met before and got in touch again with people I hadn´t seen for a long time. Everybody was there, some who wouldn’t be in the city, left us the keys to their houses, just in case. Exco members, in spite of their intense agenda, found a way to share some time with us, everybody had the chance to contact them and learn about some aspects of their work, and they shared their vast experience on how individuals can work for peace. Amazing. Now we have some new hosts, more people interested in Servas and many members visiting the web site. I would say we are a team again, and feel optimistic in understanding that only people working with love can make this world a better place to live.
Thank you for the chance. In love and Peace.
Elena F. Otegui, efotegui@datafull.com
- From the peace secretary:
I would like to share my feelings of what has been an extraordinary event in a country (indeed a continent) that had never before been visited by Servas key-officers, an event which is now part of the history of Servas Argentina. We would have liked to have the chance to spend even more hours discussing with them how we could help Servas achieve its aim, but they had to keep to a full agenda. Even so, it was an excellent opportunity to exchange some points of view. After their long-day meetings, they managed to get together with us and even cook us their traditional meals. A delicious Norwegian dinner was cooked by Roger, our president. On Saturday, 35 people enjoyed Bibendra’s Nepalese feast. How he managed to feed us all is still a mystery to me. He had not finished the first round when people were standing in line for a second plate. This was also a reunion of hosts and key-officers who had not been together for a long, long time, as well as some travellers. Servas is a hands-on, face-to-face organization, that is why all this is necessary. We are all sure that EXCO officers wouldn't be able to take decisions unless they got together whenever and wherever possible with the heart of our organization, that is we, the people. It was completely necessary for me, as Argentina Peace Secretary, to spend some time with Marco, our international Peace Secretary.
I should ask them to forgive us for not leaving them some time for themselves. We couldn't help it; we needed every one of them, that's why they had one of us grabbing their arm at all times. THANK YOU EXCO, PLEASE COME BACK SOMETIME. I would like to extend my invitation to visit Argentina to all Servas members. Things have changed and now Argentina has become one of the cheapest countries in the world. It is a very enjoyable country, you won't regret it, and we will do our best so that you all have a great time here.
Peace, Diana Estrin destrin@fibertel.com.ar Servas Argentina has 196 hosts. As in many countries, only hose in Buenos Aires City, near downtown, and in Patagonia receive many travellers.
- Want more travellers?
Hosts: Tonight, Sleep in your own Guestroom! Yes, we are in Servas to see PEOPLE, but if guests don't sleep well, how can they enjoy you or travelling? Some Servas beds are torture racks and some guestrooms haven’t been cleaned in a year. Before you say: “Well, my guestroom is okay.” I challenge you to spend ONE night there. Pack a suitcase with clothes, towel, toothbrush, etc. and go to your own guestroom or pullout couch. Is there any privacy? A clean place to put your bag? Did you find a spot in the bathroom to leave your things? And where does a guest hang a coat, shirts or a wet towel? Did you have to move a pile of things on the bed just to get in? Where do you put this stuff? And in the morning, how is your back? One host’s son asked me, “How could you SLEEP on that awful bed?”
I tried MY guestroom last night and today I’m adding another towel rack.
If the main complaint by hosts is “not enough travellers”, this might help. Try it tonight. Michael Johnson, Canada
At the other extreme, Servas travellers are sometimes embarrassed by the royal treatment they receive. My hosts in Estonia had a two-room flat, and gave me the bedroom. That evening, family arrived from out of town, but they wouldn’t allow me to trade places. The four adults with small child took turns on the sofa and floor, while I had a double bed to myself. A Romanian traveller on her first Servas journey was puzzled by some hosts (not me) stating ‘sleeping bag necessary’. “But you don’t let your guest sleep on the floor! You give the guest your bed!”
Sharon Belden, Amsterdam
- How to increase membership
For three years now, my youngest son has brought his two children over to my house whenever he was able so they could meet and spend time with my Servas travellers. I always take photos of them with my guests. He WANTS his children to have this experience because he is unable to host at this time, but he fully realizes the importance of the experience for his children.
The first thing the children do is bring out the globe and have the traveller show them where their country is and teach them how to say a few things in their language. Then they talk and talk, and of course accompany them on our excursions, holding their hands and just assuming that they are part of our family. To meet a person from another part of the world is not a strange experience. It's just a normal part of their life.
Yesterday, my 9-year-old granddaughter got out my Servas guest book and started going through it, talking about each traveller, looking at the photos, remembering her experiences, and finally asked if she could take my bulging book to school for Show and Tell! She wanted to share her experiences with her class and teacher. She's only nine years old but an "old hand" at hosting since she was six. What do you think her chances are of being a traveller/and/or host within the next ten years? She already has her own Servas Memory photo album of the Servas travellers she met and shared time with.
The point of this e-mail is to encourage Servas parents and grandparents to make each Servas visit an opportunity for their children and grandchildren to learn more about the world. If my grandchildren are any indication of the importance of this, diversity is to be looked forward to and cherished; all people accepted for themselves as individuals; everyone a future friend. That is the attitude that my grandchildren have and it was learned through experience, not actively taught. Servas has barely skimmed the surface of its potential.
In the hope of a bright future,
Gail Anerine motherearth83@hotmail.com 7375 SW 104th Street, Pinecrest, Florida 33156 USA
