SI MONTHLY NEWS JULY 2005 Countries
From SI Exco News
Hope for the Future
We in Ghana are looking forward to doing more and adding to our numbers. We also anticipate receiving more travellers and thereby opening Ghana to the outside world. We hope that very soon Servas Ghana would have full status at the SI and we would be able to effectively contribute towards world peace.
Country newsletters
A number of countries are producing their own newsletters so that their members can know what it going on locally. These can be of interest to other countries and to travellers visiting the country. Following are some of the latest announcements about newsletters:
1) The Servas group in the state of São Paulo (Brazil) has recently issued its local newsletter (issue nr. 5), in Portuguese.
2) Pedro Puente, from Peru, is about to finish editing a South American newsletter, with news from each of the 10 South American countries. We think it will be ready in one or two weeks (in Spanish).
Area Co-ordinator Southern and Anglophone Africa
For those that are unaware:
Sheldon Weeks, as well as being National Secretary for Botswana, also co-ordinates Southern Africa and Anglophone Africa.
And to show a growing, active region the following are some extracts from detailed minutes:
SERVAS Botswana - First National Workshop, 11-13 Feb 05,
Serowe, Khama Rhino Sanctuary
Inaugural Meeting
Introduction:
Servas is at least 15 years old in Botswana. Felix and Mmacheri were among the first members. Sheldon was an initial coordinator and then handed over to Regina Dambe. Regina was planning the 1st National Workshop in Kasane when she had a stroke. She died a few years later. Servas is small in Botswana with ten hosts in 2004 and visitors only from Canada, Israel, Netherlands, Sweden and USA.
Initially fourteen adults and eight children were expected to attend this inaugural meeting. Due to circumstances beyond our control we had only ten adults and two children participating. People invited from Servas International in Sweden, Malawi and Reunion were unable to attend. The inaugural meeting was still judged to be a success. The rain on Friday evening, though it drove us indoors, was welcome and made for a cooler weekend.
The 1st Servas Botswana National Workshop was held at a place in Central Botswana with the objective of making it accessible in half-a-day’s drive to people in northern and western Botswana. As a consequence, because until now we had no members in that part of the country, we rented a low-cost facility with ten beds and space for tents within the Khama Rhino Camp, a nature sanctuary. As a result we may have between three and five new members from Serowe and Palapye.
Smiles and Tears and Bright Ideas
Smiles: Servas established in Botswana. Meet new friends. Good food in plenty. Loved Rhino Camp and seeing the Rhinos. Thanks to Stella and Kobamelo for the food.
Tears: No one was able to come from Maun and Gantsi. The potential member from Kasane has vanished. That those who came on Friday couldn’t stay on Saturday. That no games were played.
Bright ideas: Hold meeting in 2006 in Maun and stay with hosts there.
Hold meeting in 2007 in Gaborone and stay with hosts. Every member must have a free e-mail account.
A press release on the First Servas National Workshop should be sent to the press.
