Hello from Vancouver - Reporting on the Canada-US Servas Conference
By Susanne Pacher

One of the things I do for the website is I continuously search out individuals and organizations that have accomplished unusual things or made special contributions. Through my research I had come across an organization called SERVAS, an organization of hosts and travellers world-wide throughout 130 countries that intends to foster peace through intercultural exchange.

Hosts throughout the member countries generally receive travellers for 2 days (or longer if they wish) and accommodate them in their home. Sometimes if they don't have the facilities, the hosts take their guests on tours of their local city or have lunch or dinner with them, in which case they are referred to as day-hosts. Many times the travellers become part of the family, helping out with chores around the house, or even being invited to participate in family reunions or other local activities with their hosts.

The really unique thing about Servas, something that sets it apart from other hospitality exchanges, is that the organization's stated mission is to foster international peace, tolerance and understanding through personal connections. Every traveller and every host is interviewed by a volunteer to ensure that the individual's philosophy is consistent with the organization, and that the traveller is indeed prepared to undertake a cultural exchange with the hosts, rather than just looking for free accommodation. Following the interview, the traveller receives an official signed and stamped Letter of Introduction which must be presented to the host as proof of the screening process.

Travelling with SERVAS is definitely not a concept for freeloaders, but a dedicated community of like-minded people who wish to establish human connections across the globe and improve global relations one contact at a time. After I completed my interview with Patrice Samara from the US Office of Servas, she suggested I might want to come out to Vancouver to cover the first Canadian-US Servas Conference. I had never been out to the Canadian West Coast, and I found the concept of Servas very intriguing, so off I went and used my Airmiles to get myself out to Vancouver.