SERVAS for PEACE
UNDERSTANDING
and
GOODWILL
Sandra & Peter Debney
Joint National Secretaries
5 Manuka St, MASTERTON 5810, NZ
Email: [email protected]
NZ Website: www.servas.org.nz
NEWSLETTER SPRING 2016
“Tena koutou, tena koutou tena koutou katoa!!”
SICOGA 2015 Totara Springs, Matamata, New Zealand
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………
On reflection New Zealand’s hosting of SICOGA 2015 was an outstanding success!!
We in New Zealand need to build on this success and the Secretariat is looking to build on this
through participation in wider Servas International activities, such as, Servas Youth Language
Experiences (SYLE), Home Exchanges, being a Pilot country for establishing SOLSYS.
 Read on to have these are more fully outlined in the Newsletter.
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Introducing the New Zealand Secretariat
for 2016 - 2017
Joint National Secretaries: Sandra & Peter Debney – you will find them in the Host List page 71.
 Residents in the Wairarapa since 1999, Sandra and Peter have teaching backgrounds and are
widely involved in their community. Previously Sandra and Peter had been Regional
Coordinators for the Lower North Island from 2006 to 2015 and Servas Hosts since 1994.
Deputy National Secretary: Marijke Batenburg – you will find Marijke (& Chris) in H/List page 27.
 Now dual residents in Auckland and Miranda from last year, Marijke is a Clinical Psychologist
and along with Chris had been Joint National Secretaries before Chris took on SI Distant:Vote
Coordinator’s role when Marijke then became National Secretary and was SICOGA 2015 NZ
Organising Committee Convenor. Marijke & Chris were awarded Life Membership in 2015.
Regional Coordinator - Top North Island: Jessica Andrades – you will find Jessica on page 25.
 Jessica is Servas NZ’s Web Manager and it is well worth the time to visit our NZ Website.
 Resides in Auckland out in the Waitakeres close to Piha beach. Jessica is a HR Adviser.
Jessica has been the Regional Coordinator since 2007, a Host since 2000 and travels widely.
Regional Coordinator – Central North Island: Belinda Baird – you will find Belinda on page 39.
 Belinda has taken over the Regional Coordinator’s role from Rodney & Sarah this year.
 Resides in Flagstaff, Hamilton. Belinda has a teaching background, has travelled extensively,
fluent in French & German, loves the outdoors and has been a Host since 1998.
Regional Coordinator – Lower North Island: Jon Field – Jon (& Bridget) you will find on page 75.
 Jon has taken over the Regional Coordinator’s role from Peter & Sandra this year for the LNI.
 Resides in Island Bay, Wellington. Jon is ex-merchant navy and recently retired General
Secretary of the Greens Party, has travelled widely and has strong environmental interests.
Regional Coordinator – South Island: Diane Bargas-Rees – Diane (& David) find on H/L page 92.
 Diane has taken over Regional Coordinator’s role from Bee Ruder this year for the South Is.
 Resides in Cashmere, Christchurch (neighbour of Derek & Margaret). Diane has travelled
extensively, is fluent in Spanish and French, and has strong sporting and outdoors interests
Peace Secretary: Ashley Burrowes – you will find Ashley in the Host List on page 50.
 Resides in Whakatane. Ashley recently retired, has been a Visiting Professor, MidSweden
University & Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, New Zealand, was 2013 Erskine Scholar in
Accounting, University of Canterbury and at SICOGA 2015 elected to SI Audit Committee.
International Host List Coordinator & National Treasurer: Jan Carr – Jan (& Jack) find page 78.
 Jan has held dual roles as International Host List Coordinator & National Treasurer since 2000
 Resides in Trentham in Hutt Valley. Jan (& Jack) have travelled widely, particularly in Europe,
is active in PROBUS and Soroptimists Society with strong interests in genealogy and history.
Membership Secretary: Derek Carver – you will find Derek (& Margaret) in Host List on page 92.
 Derek as Membership Secretary is responsible for compiling the Host List and membership
renewals, major undertaking each year, is also NZ member on SI Online Committee – SOLYS
 Resides in Cashmere, Christchurch (neighbour of Diane & David). Derek has travelled
extensively, renowned as” Gandor”, of Lord of the Rings fame - starred at SICOGA2015 !!
These are your Servas New Zealand key contacts
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Travels in the times of Brexit!
Marijke and Chris had an extended trip to Canada, Britain and Europe in June and July 2016. The main
trigger for the trip was the wedding of our young friends Katie and Christof in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. As
Katie’s kiwi aunt & uncle, we were nominated to do a reading at the ceremony – Chris in English and Marijke
in German in recognition of Christof’s family.
The wedding was a blessed event; blessed by the venue – the gate house of Kenilworth Castle, the onetime
residence of Elizabeth I, blessed by the weather – bright and sunny, blessed by a special collection of guests
from England, Scotland, Germany and of course New Zealand, and blessed by a delightful dinner and ceilidh.
The only part unblessed was the bride and groom in the English civil ceremony that was decidedly agnostic –
with any mention of god prohibited!
That said our trip was a sandwich of Canada, Britain and Europe, with the wedding the special filling! The first
slice of bread was Canada, well two slices actually – starting in the West and ending the East. Pre-wedding
we travelled from Birmingham, to Cambridge, to Fife in Scotland and back via the Lake District. Post-wedding
we went to the South of Sweden and the Netherlands with an overnight stop in Shanghai on the way home.
Some of the Servas highlights were:
Visiting Penny Pattison, Servas International General
Secretary in Victoria, BC, now a good friend after six
General Assemblies (GA)! Our tour of the city included
great gardens, good food and wildlife! A fawn in the garden
at breakfast!
A road trip with Chris Jones, also a long time Servas friend
from six GAs. The twin peaks gondola and the Squamish
Lil'Wat Cultural Centre at Whistler were memorable.
In Toronto we stayed with Servas hosts Irene & Hastings Withers.
Walking along the lakeside boardwalk we watched the “strawberry
moon” rise across Lake Ontario. The next night we went to a play
reflecting life of an activist in the 1980’s California.
In Ottawa we were
privileged to stay with
Gary Sealey & Hugh
Nelson. They showed
us their city on foot, by
car, from the river and
from the top of the
Peace Tower. We were
also treated to two
memorable vegetarian
meals – the first was a
pot luck dinner with
their
friends
and
neighbours, the second was a smorgasbord where the charge you by the weight of the food on your plate!
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On our way South from Scotland we stayed with Shirley
Leighton a Servas host in Wigton between the Solway Firth
and the Lake District. With Shirley as our guide, we spent a day
taking short walks and enjoying the views around Keswick and
Honister Pass. A very fit octogenarian nearly exhausted us two
youngsters!
After the wedding we flew to Copenhagen, the train to Malmo
and then spent a week being shown around Skåne, Sweden’s
southernmost province and Stockholm. Again our guides were
octogenarians! May we be as lively and active!
Our last Servas visit was with Jonny (Servas International President) & Christina Saganger at their country
cottage near Uppsala. After cooking in a wood fired sauna we were treated to a wonderful meal by Chrisina’s
family – several of whom live nearby. Conversation ranged far and wide, with language no barrier.
Overnighting in Shanghai was an adventure; the “airport hotel” was 45 minutes by motorway from the airport in
a non-tourist area; the hotel’s restaurants were closed and we had no cash. With cell phones as translators
we found an ATM in the subway, a café around the corner and enjoyed three different tofu dishes selected
from the pictures on the wall. Our thanks to the many locals who assisted us in this adventure!
PS:
When you get a rental, do make sure you know if it is petrol or diesel when you first refuel! Getting it
wrong is time consuming and costly – thanks AA Fuel Service for sorting this out for us!
Marijke & Chris
Suggestion from Ashley our NZ Peace Secretary:
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Over a cuppa with fellow Servas members why not discuss how we
in New Zealand can help with "the diaspora of refugees, women,
men and children, from Syria". This exodus has been identified as
the largest in the history of mankind!
Peace... The word brings images to my mind from my recent Servas
trip.... Oh, the tranquillity of the Stockholm Archipelago pictured
below!
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Contrast this with the environmental juxtaposition I noticed when visiting Bakersfield CA, home of the Country
Music Museum. Just off Highway 99 at 7th Standard Road was quarter section of almond saplings
showing green buds sprouting.
Eventually they will camouflage the oil wagons on a rail siding adjacent to
the oil field.
What a juxtaposition...new buds, new life tranquillity to the might of the oil
industry. Peace.
*************
The UN International Day of Peace this year was on 21st September the UN set the Day’s theme for 2016 as “The Sustainable Development
Goals: Building Blocks for Peace.”
Have a look on: http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/
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SOLSYS = ServasOnLineSYStem
An exciting development for Servas worldwide
At the Servas General Assembly held in New Zealand October 2015, all the 172 members from 54
different countries emphasised the urgent need to bring Servas into the 21st Century. We must have
an online global search system, or Servas will die. All the many other hosting organisations rely on
Internet search.
We are optimistic that SOLSYS will revitalise Servas, and you will see more travellers.
This new system of searching for hosts worldwide has now been developed, and the first countries are
uploading their entire Host Lists. New Zealand is among them.
The new system will hold all the records about members, hosts and travellers that are currently shown in the
Host Lists published by each Servas country in the world. Travellers will have a powerful tool to search for
hosts all over the world, and this will eliminate the need for printed Host Lists.
However, the primary features that distinguish Servas from other hosting organisations, namely the
Interview, and the Letter of Introduction, will still remain.
An important point: we are able to deal with members who do not have a computer or email facility. We are
able to have your record in the system, so you will still be open to traveller requests. At this point, any email
requests for hosting will be sent to your Regional Coordinator, who will contact you by phone.
SOLSYS will be much more secure than any paper booklets. Because full country lists are not downloaded as
part of a search for hosts, SOLSYS will also be more secure than the current practice of giving travellers our
full Host List in electronic format.
In SOLSYS, every Servas host in the world will have the ability to edit and maintain their own profile of
information. Visibility settings will apply to all fields. For example, you would enter your home or mobile phone
numbers, but you can set the visibility so that only Servas administrators can see those details. Your privacy
can easily be protected.
Access to SOLSYS for searching and viewing information about hosts will only be given to travellers with a
valid LOI, as well as to all hosts registered in the system.
SOLSYS will allow messaging between traveller and host without revealing email contact details. Only when
a rapport has been established will host and traveller swap email addresses, and communicate outside the
system. The traveller would usually email their LOI to the host.
SOLSYS indicates immediately whether a member is a traveller with valid LOI, and the potential host is able
to view profile details of that traveller before agreeing to host them. This will provide more immediate checks
to be made by the host, where previously they would need to obtain the Host List of the traveller's country to
view such details.
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Profile information (as shown in current Host Lists) will initially be entered by bulk upload of a complete
country Host List into the system, followed by verification by hosts when they first log in to check their own
details. In future, individual entries will be made by new people joining Servas.
Much work has been done on testing SOLSYS, to find which features work well, and which do not adequately
cover what is needed. Your Membership Secretary has been active in the international committee engaged in
this development, and a number of features we have suggested have been implemented. However, one
doesn't win all battles, and unfortunately, SOLSYS currently operates on a separate record for each person,
relying on a unique email address. In addition, some fields available when you login and edit your own profile
are not being uploaded in the initial stage. You will need to log in, and edit these yourself. Your Servas NZ
Secretariat members will be able to assist when needed.
When SOLSYS is fully operational, we will advise you all, explaining the procedure for you to first log in, and
verify your record, and edit it as you choose.
If you have questions, please contact your Membership Secretary, Derek Carver, either by email to [email protected] , or using Derek's other contact details as shown in our latest Host List booklet.
Auckland Servas Lunch arranged by Jessica
Thanks must go to Jessica
for her arrangements in
organising
in
July
an
Auckland lunch to introduce
our Joint National Secretaries,
Sandra and Peter to hosts
and friends who met up at
Botany Downs for a very
congenial couple of hours.
There were a number of
visitors to NZ who also
attended along with family
members new to Servas. A very enjoyable and engaging occasion. Great to hear the buzz of conversations!
There is a strong movement to establish an International Servas Week during September each year to
encourage Servas members to reach out and connect with friends and neighbours not in Servas and initiate
conversations about our values such as peace, solidarity, service, hospitality and understanding. The lunch in
Auckland was one such opportunity we could emulate in our own homes. Be it on a more intimate scale.
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Servas International Snippets & Updates
At SICOGA 2015, Servas NZ hosted in Matamata, the General Assembly approved a number of innovations
being developed to promote opportunities for members of all ages to have in-depth longer stay experiences
alongside the more usual two night contacts between hosts and travellers.
The potential for extended stays include cultural programmes, volunteering, work experience, language
learning, sharing skills or connecting with local peace organisations. The hope is that a focussed visit will
encourage an in-depth exchange of ideas and shared experiences between traveller, host family, and their
community with the emphasis on linking into local networks known personally to the host.
With advanced planning opportunities could be arranged, perhaps a group of hosts living nearby could
share an offer of hospitality as often happens in SYLE arrangements (Servas Youth Language Experience).
Refer to page 10 of NZ Host List for more information as well as home Exchanges.
To avoid misunderstandings, hosts and travellers will need to be open about their expectations in advance
of the visit and be clear as possible about the length of stay and programme of activities.
Making Connections: a New Resource for Servas
As a first step a “Making Connections” page will be created on the new SI Website with a directory of
opportunities listed by country. We in New Zealand need to identify a link person to oversee this project and
join in planning future developments. Any Servas member interested in finding out more about this
opportunity either to undertake the link person role, or, as a host or group of hosts who would like to be
involved, are asked to contact [email protected]
Servas Youth Language Experience - SYLE
SYLE is an opportunity for hosts, or a group of hosts, to accept younger people (18 t0 30) to be able to stay for
up to a month with the focus on learning a new language through immersion on a daily basis. This may
also include participation in local volunteer activities the host families are involved in.
Again, to avoid misunderstandings, hosts and travellers need to be open about their expectations well in
advance of the visit and be clear as possible about the length of stay and programme of activities. Any
members interested in this are asked to contact [email protected]
International Servas Week linked to UN International Day of Peace
SI wants each country to promote and celebrate Servas through making connections all over the world during
the same week with simultaneous activities promote Servas values of peace, solidarity, service, hospitality and
understanding. This will be in the week in September each year that the Un International Day of Peace is held.
Hosting friends, neighbours and family who are not necessarily Servas members (…yet…) is one such activity.
Storytelling to Promote Servas
Telling and publishing stories about great Servas experiences is another medium to inspire to promote
Servas and inspire people to join Servas and encourage individual members to travel and explore the “Servas
Experience”. We need those stories and photos to include in future newsletters. Just send by attachment to
emails to [email protected]
One Small Step for Humanity, One Giant Step for Servas - SOLSYS
Thanks to Derek, for his very comprehensive update on the development of SOLSYS on pages 5 & 6 of this
Nerwsletter. We cannot emphasis more strongly that there is an urgent need to bring Servas into the
21st Century. We must have an online global search system, or Servas will die.
New Zealand and France are pilot countries in this project and we have Derek to thank for his time
consuming and tireless efforts on all our behalves. THANY YOU, Derek!!
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Servas New Zealand Talking Points
Back in April which doesn’t seem all that long ago with all that has been happening in our lives, winter has
come and gone and spring is rapidly moving into summer, Servas NZ Secretariat meet in Wellington, being
hosted by Jon and Bridget at their lovely home in Island Bay (we came away green, with garden-envy).
After a dinner and de-brief of SICOGA 2015 on the Friday night we got down to business on Saturday,
working through to Sunday lunchtime. Over a very intense 36 hours two major topics became the focus this
year -
One: Servas New Zealand Membership’s Dropping Numbers
A number of initiatives were proposed with SOLSYS being a key focus with linking travellers to hosts and
hosts to travellers , and, the need to devise a renewal system through SOLSYS. As you will have read,
Derek has taken the lead in this.
Another initiative is to target young people and travellers who are not necessarily hosts yet. One proposal
is to endeavour to set up a Servas NZ Information Desk during each University and Polytechnic’s
Orientation Week at campuses from Otago to Auckland with a consistent message promoting our values and
the opportunities travelling and hosting with Servas can provide.
- {Youth - Universities, Polytechnics
A three-pronged promotion focussed on – {Middle Aged – nationally
- {Social Media – at persons of all levels
Two: Future of Servas NZ – Refresh, Revise and Re-Energise
Much time was spent on brain-storming the “How to and Wherefores” of promoting Servas – making it simple
to connect with and find a host – talking to people and interest groups about our values – meeting diverse and
interesting people – forming connections – building peace – asking current hosts to promote Servas to family
members and extended family, especially young people – stress that it is a safe and more connected way to
travel – establish a Servas NZ Facebook page … all valuable food for thought.
It is interesting how this is also being paralleled at the Servas International level. This not a finite list and we
would welcome any contributions hosts and friends would be willing to offer!!
The Secretariat have meet via Skype Conference calls in September and will meet again via Skype in
November to review and update current proposals and look to 2017 and where we in NZ need to go from here.
The value of the face-to-face meeting at Jon & Bridget’s Island Bay home was invaluable to establish the
groundwork for on-going planning and allowed a free-flow of ideas was ideal, comfortable ambience, great
company, shared ambitions and the odd glass of vino helped proceedings no-end !!
The Peace Candle was presented to Servas NZ by Servas International EXCO as a “Thank You” gift at the
concluding session of SICOGA 2015 by Jonny Saganger, International President, at Matamata last October.
The intention is that at all meetings of Servas NZ the candle will be lit.
Yours in Peace, Understanding and Goodwill,
Sandra & Peter Debney, Joint National Secretaries, Servas NZ
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