SI MONTHLY NEWS APRIL 2007 News
From SI Exco News
The Far East Asian Regional Conference, April 6-8, 2007
Background: The elected FEA Regional Coordinator Kin-ya Tsuge, resigned. Having organized 3 previous conferences for FEA, Mr. Nishiyama, the National Secretary of Japan, stepped in as interim FEA AC. Mr. Kim was elected NS of Korea effective 1 Jan 07. Mr. Nishiyama worked closely with the NSs of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Japan to continue the direct working relationships within the FEA region and their participation in this conference. Mr. Kim and Mr. Nishiyama visited each other. With his recent retirement as a high school English Teacher, Mr. Kim enthusiastically offered to host the FEA Regional Conference in Korea.
PreConference. Mary Jane Mikuriya, SI Vice President, met with Mr. Nishiyama and Mr. Kim to discuss the elements of the conference needed to comply with the intent of the EGA - consideration by the NSs which countries should be included in the FEA, election of the AC, regional goal setting, Financial Operating Procedures, to help strengthen Servas within the region and by individuals/teams/national groups volunteering for projects to support Volunteer Center established by EGA.
Friday, April 6, 2007 Interviewing techniques Servas Korea is divided into 12 regions. Each region elects its regional coordinator, has 4 Servas regional meetings a year which are announced on the Korean website and open to members from other regions. These 12 regional coordinators together with the 8 elected executives for Servas Korea have 4 board meetings a year. Although, Servas Korea has 310 hosts there are few Korean Servas travelers maybe 60 a year. To be a traveler, Koreans must be hosts. To encourage more travelers Servas Korea will need trained interviewers. Mr. Kim received a sample USA Interviewer Kit to be translated and adapted for Korean regional coordinators. It was with these 20 national Korean Servas leaders, the NSs of India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan that I discussed, Interviewing techniques of prescreening, structured interviews and holding travelers accountable for following Servas rules.
FEA Meeting of the NSs was an open meeting to demonstrate transparency. Present, in addition to the NSs of Korea, Taiwan Hong Kong, China and Japan, were two silent observers: NS India and NS Pakistan. With Mary Jane as moderator, each national Secretary gave an oral presentation of Servas in his/ her country, each had submitted a written report to Mr. Nishiyama. Taiwan has doubled its membership to 22 with mostly young professionals, China needs more hosts in Shanghai and Beijing, Korea needs more travelers and seeks to make partnerships with organizations to enable hosts to have more visitors, Hong Kong is mostly day hosts due to the housing situation of Hong Kong; Japan is concerned about aging hosts and loosing membership each year. The NSs considering which countries should be included in the FEA decided they wanted to continue to work together as the current 5 national groups and to recruit members in Mongolia. The group elected Mr. Nishiyama of Japan as AC and Mr. Kim of Korea as the Deputy AC. For regional goal setting, it was decided that the next FEA Regional Meeting would be organized jointly by Hong Kong and China in 2008 Taiwan wants to host the subsequent conference in 2009 or 2010. FEA is aware of the EGA support for youth so Servas Korea had given a Mongolian student a scholarship to attend the conference. Her aunt had been a Servas member in Mongolia Half of the Servas Members have joined Servas to help their children while the other half of hosts are members for their "pleasure." Financial Operating Procedures were distributed and discussed individually with the NSs. To help strengthen Servas within the region and show willingness to work with other NSs, the SI funds supporting the FEA regional meeting were used to partially fund various people. NSs were encouraged to encourage volunteers for projects to support the Volunteer Center established by the EGA.
Sat, 7 Apr. Servas Korea Board Meeting - Mary Jane, observer
• Each board member given 500 Servas business card with his/her picture on it.
• Board gives approval to Korea to seek to have SI GA in 2009 in Korea. NB: Mr Kim could get a visa for the NS Pakistan, while the NS of India realized it would be impossible for India to get visas for Pakistan Servas members. Therefore, although Servas India very much hoped to host the next GA, it has thrown its support to Korea to host the next GA
• After a spirited discussion, Board approved a Memorandum of Understanding for Servas Korea to provide home hospitality for foreign visitors recommended by the Busan Convention and Visitor Bureau (something like the Meet the Danes program for foreign visitors that sold me on Servas before I knew there was Servas)
Sat, April 7, FEA Regional Servas Conference - Conference agenda on Servas Korea website. Students from Vocational School video taped and webcast FEA Conference. 180 conference participants attended.
• Introductions of Foreign Guests, Korean Servas Leaders and invited Guests
• Mary Jane - guest speaker gave greetings to the conference from EXCO. She told how the GA determines the direction and policies for Servas International and EXCO carries them out. She discussed how NGs could assist a struggling NG. How the GA wants to put Peace back into Servas. She distributed a DVD documentary A Force more Powerful on how nonviolent power over came oppression and authoritarian rule. The documentary shows how the power that Gandhi pioneered has been used on 4 continents and in every decade of the 20th Century to fight for rights and freedom. A copy of the DVD was presented to each of the 7 NSs attending the conference. For those who wanted to get involved now, Nonviolent Peace force, [www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org nonviolentpeaceforce.org] was recommended. To work on service projects to overcome needs, violence and environmental challenges a 25 year old NGO, International Volunteers for Peace was recommended. Mary Jane encouraged the 12 regions in Korea to identify a project to help Servas locally, nationally or international. To be inclusive, the events should invite nonmembers to their projects.
• Formal signing of the Servas Korea, Busan Convention and Visitor Bureau Memorandum of Understanding was observed
Sunday, April 8, 2007 (Easter Sunday)
• Three concurrent workshops • tour of Kyongju an ancient Korean village and visit to Posco Steel Co. in Pohang. • Participants with host families for an overnight visit All wanting homestays were assigned hosts. I had two homestays in Korea. As a teacher, I especially enjoyed speaking with 5th grade students studying English in a 1400 student middle school in Busan.
The conference was well organized and many Servas members were involved. Servas Korea has, including the National Meeting, 53 meetings per year -- more than one a week. It received $5000 donation from the Busan Convention and Visitor Bureau for this conference. This Conference has shown me that Korea has an effective organization and strong leadership. I believe that Mr. Kim, NS has the time, the organizational skill and vision to help SI. He is willing to work on an international assignment.
Mary Jane Mikuriya, SI Vice President
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