US Servas | Hosts/Travelers

Servas Office Up and Running in California

The new U.S. Servas office in Arcata, California is fully operational, distributing stamped Letters of Introduction and already planning next year’s host list. Judy Sears has assumed the role of office administrator. She and newly elected board member, Daryl Chinn, went to New York to assist in closing down the John Street office and attain a grasp of the day-to-day operations. New York team member, Dominick Ogrodowicz, traveled to Arcata to help in the transition. New staff members include Judy Sears and Nelson Lee.

The office’s address is 1125 16th St., Suite 201, Arcata, CA 95521. The phone number is 707-825-1714 and the fax number is 707-825-1762. Our e-mail and website addresses remain the same.

Annual Meeting at the Jersey Shore, October 13 - 15

The US SERVAS annual conference and member meeting will be held on the New Jersey shore in Brigantine on Saturday, October 14, 2006. There’s still room for you to join us and increase your involvement with Servas. To keep costs down and to encourage a Servas experience, most attendees will be staying with New Jersey hosts. As a member, you are encouraged to attend, hear the board’s annual report, and learn about the finances and governance of your organization. Register no later than ten days before the meeting in order to vote. If you register later, you can still participate fully in other ways.

The board is planning to meet on Friday, Oct. 13 for final planning; the newly elected board will have its first meeting on Sunday, Oct. 15. If you would like to sit in on a board meeting, just let a member of the board know.

For further information about the conference, contact Robert Allekotte, at robabet@aol.com or (609)266-6065. A registration form is attached to this newsletter.

2007’s Annual Meeting to be near San Diego

In keeping with the policy of moving our annual meetings around the country, next year’s annual meeting will be held during the summer on the west coast near San Diego, CA. Look to future newsletters and our website for more information. If you would like to help plan this event, contact conference coordinator, Darleana McHenry at dmackhenry@aol.com.

NEWSLETTER |

September 2006 NEWSLETTER

Servas Office Up and Running in California

The office’s address is 1125 16th St., Suite 201, Arcata, CA 95521. The phone number is 707-825-1714 and the fax number is 707-825-1762. Our e-mail and website addresses remain the same.

Annual Meeting at the Jersey Shore, October 13 - 15

For further information about the conference, contact Robert Allekotte, at robabet@aol.com or (609)266-6065. A registration form is attached to this newsletter.

2007’s Annual Meeting to be near San Diego

RICH vs. POOR I - DON’T PRESUME!

Traveling Westerners, no matter how affluent or poor, will often be perceived as rich – and relative to the locals, they often will be. Social contact between rich and poor can be awkward in any context. Trying to keep up with a rich friend’s tastes in restaurants and entertainment can ruin an ordinary American’s finances. On the other hand, almost everyone would find it uncomfortable if the rich friend paid for everything just to enable the other one to participate in their mutual social life. No matter how selfless the rich one’s motives may be (“Hey, what the hell, I can afford it and you can’t. I’ll be happy to pay.”), tensions would almost inevitably develop.
Even if you never play the “rich” role at home, you’ll find yourself in it when you travel in developing nations. I use the term “developing” politely. In many areas of the world the lives of ordinary citizens are gradually improving. In many others, the rich are getting richer and ordinary people continue to struggle, year after year, for the bare necessities of life.

Virtually every Servas host is hospitable. It’s the very definition of Servas, but host hospitality sometimes exceeds financial capacity and many hosts, particularly those who have had few or no travelers, will suffer economically rather than rein in their desire to treat their guests well. That chicken and fish feast served up in your honor might well have cost a host a week’s worth of grocery money.

Offering a host money, although a practical gift, is simply not part of the Servas tradition. It risks setting too commercial a tone. Once a visit is under way, family pride will often prevent a host family from accepting traveler help with hosting expenses. I’ve never had a problem, though, arriving at a host’s home carrying an armload of fresh groceries. It makes the “visitor gift” both symbolic and practical, lessening the hospitality burden for a host of meager means.

Groups of two or more travelers can easily precipitate an unseen financial crisis.
If your visit is extended, you’ll probably develop a sufficiently honest relationship that allows you to contribute financially or in kind for the costs of hospitality. Servas traveling is a way to go further on less money, but don’t make that your priority. Be prepared to contribute as much to hosts as you would on low-end commercial accommodations. In almost every case, hosts won’t consider accepting that much assistance, but it’s arrogant of you to presume on their generosity. Hosts and travelers exchange cultural contact, attention, hospitality, and eventually friendship. Hosts’ out-of-pocket costs should not be taken for granted.

HIROSHIMA’S PEACE DECLARATION

Every year on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city, Hiroshima’s mayor issues a peace declaration. Excerpts from this year’s declaration follow.
Radiation, heat blast and their synergetic effects created a hell on Earth. Sixty-one years later, the number of nations enamored of evil and enslaved by nuclear weapons is increasing. The human family stands at a crossroads. This choice poses another question. Is it acceptable for cities, and especially the innocent children who live in them, to be targeted by nuclear weapons?

From a hell in which no one could have blamed them for choosing death, the hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) set forth toward life and the future. Living injuries and illnesses eating away at body and mind, they have spoken persistently about their experiences. Refusing to bow before discrimination, slander, and scorn, they have warned continuously that “no one else should ever suffer as we did.” Their voices, picked up by people of conscience the world over, are becoming a powerful chorus.

Ten years ago, The International Court of Justice found that the use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law. Regretting that we have not done more, the City of Hiroshima, along with Mayors for Peace, whose member cities have increased to 1403, is launching a Cities Are Not Targets project demanding that nuclear-weapon states stop targeting cities for nuclear attack. The U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a similar resolution at their last meeting.

If you wish to receive the yearly Peace Declaration by e-mail, contact peace@city.hiroshima.jp. Hundred of Servas hosts in Japan (including Hiroshima) await your visit. The peace museum and park at ground zero in Hiroshima will leave impressions that will last forever.

GREAT TO BE HERE!

Greetings! I’m Judy Sears, working in the newly established Arcata, California SERVAS Office. I was hired in July of 2006 to facilitate the move of the national SERVAS office. The office, once housed in the grand old building at 11 John Street in New York City, has now been moved to another historic building, Stewart School, at 1125 16th Street in Arcata, California.

Along with our hard-working staff both in NYC and Arcata, many volunteer hours have gone into putting our new office together. We have also received many generous donations from our community college, the Senior Center of Eureka, AARP Foundation and many individuals, both members and potential members of SERVAS. Our newest employee, Nelson Lee, was hired only weeks ago, and now is graciously answering our mail, phones and e-mails. Two seasoned SERVAS members, Faye Honorof and Xande Zublin-Meyer, have stepped up to help us with banking matters. We welcome Dave Hitchcock and Pam Bell as our accountant and bookkeeper. Dave Marshall and Bethany Gilden have been our council for networking our new computer system.

I am both honored and humbled by the generous out-pouring of enthusiastic support from this, our new community, and the on-going support we have gotten from the greater community of United States SERVAS.

A littel about me personally.... I was born and raised in California, and have raised two children here in Arcata. I have worked in many capacities over the years, including retail, transportation, construction, manufacturing, at a community college, and most recently as Operations Manager at the non-profit World Shelters. I have marketing and promotion skills, and am a student in professional organizing.
The office is coming together beautifully, and all of us are looking forward to the fall up-date of the US SERVAS Host Book for 2007.

I’d love to meet each of you at our annual Membership Meeting, October 13th, 14th, and 15th, at Atlantic City, New Jersey. If you can’t make it, please don’t hesitate to be in touch with our office with your ideas, stories and questions. We will be facilitating the periodic publication of this newsletter, Open Doors, and look forward to your contributions in the form of travel logs, photographs, letters and ideas for SERVAS.
May all of your travels be filled with peace, understanding and new and lasting friendships.

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Thank you!