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The first impression of Pablo Chufeni is that he’s just a bundle of energy - Pablo just radiates optimism and enthusiasm. He is from Argentina, in his twenties, and works in a variety of professions, including as a professor teaching theatre, and as a TV producer. He got his first work experience at a local program of a developing bank, working with poor teenagers. Beyond these varied work activities, Pablo dedicates a huge amount of his time as a volunteer for Servas, and as you will find out soon, he is working on setting up a number of exciting international youth initiatives for this organization.

Pablo originally discovered Servas through his uncle. He has had an opportunity to travel to the Netherlands, to Belgium, France and England, and he credits Servas for making these travels possible since he would otherwise not have been able to visit these countries. Servas allowed him to travel cost-effectively and gave him the opportunity to really get to know these places.

Upon returning from these trips, Pablo decided to create a local Servas chapter in Rosario, Argentina’s second largest city. Today there are 15 very active Servas members and the group has already hosted 2 national meetings with people from 5 different provinces.

Pablo told me of his experiences in Montevideo where he met a young Brazilian woman who wanted to study Spanish. Pablo thought that Servas offered a phenomenal international network of open-minded people, and somehow this network could be harnessed in productive ways. He ended up designing a program for youth to study abroad. This young Brazilian woman ended up staying a whole month in different Servas member homes in Argentina while a teacher gave her free Spanish language lessons. She also had a chance to take tango lessons, a real introduction to Argentinean culture. This was enhanced by a scholarship at a theatre arranged by Pablo, which normally would have cost $700. In return for this experience, Argentina sent a young Servas member to Brazil to study Portuguese.

This initiative has now expanded, and in addition to Brazil and Argentina, Pablo is setting up free youth language exchange programs in Mexico and Uruguay, and he is currently working on expanding the Servas language learning and cultural exchange experience into Canada and the United States. All in all, this program will be able to offer free learning programs to 18 to 30 year old Servas members in 4 languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French and English.

In addition, Pablo is also working on organizing the first International Servas Youth Meeting in the Southern Hemisphere. The event is called “Patagonia 06″ and will be held during the 3rd week of January of 2006. Servas members from all over the world will be invited to share their experiences of how to enhance the organization’s effectiveness for promoting peace. Pablo also intends the event to make Servas more dynamic and more accessible to young people. He feels there are so many possibilities of harnessing this international network of like-minded people for the peaceful development of the world.

Patagonia 06 will be hosted in the well-known Argentinean resort town of Bariloche and it will be an extremely affordable event: The conference program including accommodation and meals will only cost US$160.00. This low cost will allow young people from all over the world to participate.

On a more local level, Pablo hosts “diversity meals”, dinners that are intended to get more young people involved in Servas. So far he has hosted 4 meals with 4 participants each, and 6 of these people have now become active Servas members, another example of the success of local outreach programs.

Pablo’s imagination never rests. In addition to his current projects he is already thinking of combining Servas travel with farm work experiences as well as international job shadowing and internship opportunities. Very soon you’ll hear from this whirlwind of positive energy himself, how he develops all these creative ideas and finds the time to implement them in his spare-time.

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions(http://www.travelandtransitions.com). Travel and Transitions deals with unconventional travel and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences, interviews with travellers and travel experts, insights and reflections, cross-cultural issues, contests and many other features. You will also find stories about life and the transitions that we face as we go through our own personal life-long journeys.

Submit your own travel stories in our first travel story contest(http://www.travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm) and have a chance to win an amazing adventure cruise on the Amazon River.

“Life is a Journey

Tags: Canada US Servas Conference, servas, travel, travel for peace, volunteerCanada US Servas Conference, servas, travel, travel for peace, volunteer

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I had a chance to meet Helga recently at the Servas Conference that I covered in Vancouver. Once you read Helga’s story you’ll realize why she has been included in a recent book called “Women Who Rock”, featuring the stories of women who have made outstanding contributions to business, sports or community endeavours.

Originally from East Germany, Helga escaped to the West in 1963 and came to New York City a few years later. Without much help, she raised three children, completed a university degree and successfully established herself in the United States.

Helga has volunteered for a variety of non-profit organizations, inspired others to get active by running marathon races and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds to help African women start their own small businesses. Here is Helga’s fascinating story:

1. Please tell us about your background. Where are you from, where did you grow up?

I grew up in a country that does not exist anymore, East Germany. Life was not much fun after WWII and it did not improve when the communists took over in 1948. Since I lived close to West Berlin, there was the constant reminder that life can be different. In those of us, who were not willing to resign ourselves to the limitations of the communist regime, it fostered a rebellion and the urge to throw off the chains.

2. You left East Germany in 1963, 2 years after the Berlin Wall was erected. Please tell us about your escape from East Germany.

When the Wall was built it became nearly impossible to leave the country. If caught, the penalty for escaping from East Germany at the time was 6 years in prison. But I was single with no binding obligations, so I was willing to take a chance. I scouted out several possibilities and finally got onto a train which passed locked thru East Germany, stopped in East Berlin to let on foreigners and went to West Berlin before being locked again for the second passage thru East Germany to West Germany. I hid in the train and saw the border police passing by inches away from me. Destiny must have been on my side because the police did not detect me and I made it to West Berlin.

The beginning in West Berlin was not easy since I had nothing, knew nobody and the official help offered was barely enough to get one outfit to go on a job search. Well, I did get a job, found an apartment and basically was on my way.

3. A few years after you left East Germany you came to the United States, to New York City. Please tell us about the first few years in the United States.

Now that I was free to make my own decisions, the opportunity arose to come to the United States. The fact that I did not speak any English did not deter me. Indeed, it did make it a bit more difficult, but challenges are there to make us grow.
I took a job as a domestic, learned English as quickly as I could, made friends and a year later started working in an office. Soon after, I married an American and we had three children during the next five years. By that time my husband decided he did not want a family after all and I was single again. Life became challenging once more. To feed the children, I had to go on welfare for a while. But I also attended school, and as soon as I had an associate degree I started to work again. This time I took a job at a major financial institution and stayed with them for more than 20 years in a variety of positions. Along the way I acquired specialized computer skills that allowed me to support my children thru college. My daughter graduated from Harvard Law School and works for International Development. My son attended Fordham University and lives in New York with his Ecuadorian wife. Both of them are recognized and respected graffiti artists, famous for murals in their neighborhood, the City and around the world.

4. How and when did you hear about Servas? What countries have you traveled to through Servas? How many people from what countries have you hosted? In your opinion, what is special about traveling through Servas?

My children were still teenagers when on a Sunday afternoon hike I met a “little old lady traveling with a knapsack”* who told me about Servas. It sounded interesting, but I did not have the time or money to travel myself, so I decided to become a host and let travelers come to me. Several years later, having hosted dozens of people from many different countries, I became really eager to travel myself.

If it had not been for Servas, I do not know whether I ever would have had the courage to visit other countries on my own. But once I started, it quickly became a fascination and my urge to travel was dampened only by financial constraints and the brief annual vacation employees receive in the US. During the 20 years I have been a Servas member I have hosted hundreds of people and traveled to more than 50 countries, visiting Servas people whenever possible.

There are 15000 Servas hosts in 135 countries, and even though it may not always be feasible to stay with them or they may not be available at the time, every visit is enriching in some way. Every traveler coming into my home has something special about him or her and I will always make an effort to have a meaningful encounter.

Vice versa, when I visit people in other countries, I like to find out what their life is like, what are their concerns, what do we have in common and how can we relate and help each other. In doing so, I believe that we are fostering understanding and tolerance. Often we are inspired and motivated to take actions in peace building on the grassroots level. A network of Servas members worldwide helps in that effort.

* (Sandy Cherry was listed in the host list with that quote. She lived in California, and I met her years later at one of our national Servas meetings in Boston.)

5. Please tell us about your 3 favorite or most memorable hosting experiences with Servas.

One of my earliest encounters began in California where I met a lovely young woman from Australia who was somewhat reluctant to come to 1980s crime-ridden New York, or so it was perceived as in those days. I encouraged her to visit me and of course she loved it. Short after, she wrote to me that her parents also wanted to come to New York and asked to find a place for them to stay. Naturally I invited them into my home, even though they were not with Servas. They were in the States for the first time and instead of doing the usual sightseeing in New York, they visited a relative of a friend of theirs in the hospital, because he had nobody else who cared about him. I was very impressed by their humanitarian action and selflessness.

During the first year as a host I was not sure of what precisely hosting entailed. An elderly gentleman came to visit who had just discovered Servas and thought it was a marvelous invention. He obviously had his own agenda that had nothing to do with the Servas spirit. After smoking up my apartment for three days, I asked him whether he was going to stay with anyone else in New York. His answer was, that he liked it here and that he felt just like at home. I did not have the courage to tell him it was time to leave and he stayed another three days.

For the Millennium Forum in 2000, Servas hosts in New York were asked to volunteer hosting UN delegates of NGOs who often do not receive enough funding. I was privileged to host Muborak Sharipova from Tajikistan who knew nothing about Servas. As a sociologist, Muborak had lived the Servas spirit all her life, becoming a member of Servas was just a logical extension of what she was doing all along. We now have a close relationship and I am happy to help her in more ways than one whenever she comes to New York.

The full interview with photos is published at Travel and Transitions - Interviews

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions(http://www.travelandtransitions.com). Travel and Transitions deals with unconventional travel and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences, interviews with travellers and travel experts, insights and reflections, cross-cultural issues, contests and many other features. You will also find stories about life and the transitions that we face as we go through our own personal life-long journeys.

Submit your own travel stories in our first travel story contest(http://www.travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm) and have a chance to win an amazing adventure cruise on the Amazon River.

“Life is a Journey

Tags: Canada US Servas Conference, servas, travel, travel for peace, volunteerCanada US Servas Conference, servas, travel, travel for peace, volunteer

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