August 15, 2005
Preview: Robert & Bette Allekotte -
Servas Members, Family Travellers, Volunteers for Peace and the
Environment
I met a broad range of interesting folks at the
recent Canada-US
Servas Conference in Vancouver and among the first people I
met were Robert & Bette Allekotte from New Jersey. They are
both teachers and retired just recently, at only 53 years of age.
Today they live on a little island off New Jersey that is connected
by a bridge to the mainland.
Robert & Bette joined Servas more than 25 years
ago and were interested in the concept of "peace through travel"
since they are both social studies teachers. Since then they have
had the opportunity to travel to many countries, including Scandinavia,
Japan, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Malta and various places throughout
the United States. Through Servas
they have shared people's lives in their homes around the world,
and they have brought up their children to have an open mind, opening
their own home to travellers from all different countries.
Robert & Bette
Robert and Bette are also volunteer interviewers
for Servas and help to ensure that new travellers and hosts will
share the Servas philosophy of building peace and intercultural
understanding through travel. They also host about 10 to 15 different
Servas travellers a year, many of them singles, others as couples
or even families with children.
Through Servas they have met
some really interesting people, for example a "kinetic hypnotist
and whale communicator" from Florida who lives on a motorcycle.
Their first Servas travel experience was on the Danish island of
Bornholm in 1977 where they stayed with an opera singer who also
ran a minigolf course while also being a sailor. All this was happening
right at the time when Elvis Presley died and they remember Elvis
songs playing everywhere. Naturally this travel experience left
some lasting memories.
Robert and Bette commented that the most wonderful
thing about being a Servas member is that you connect with people
in their daily lives, you start to understand people's roles in
the host family and you get a true feeling for the culture. One
time in Japan, Robert was invited by his host family to play the
drums in a big parade during a local festival, something that would
have never happened if he had been just a regular tourist.
So all in all, Robert and Bette and their children have some pretty
interesting stories to share about the places they visited, the
people they met, the things they learned and the long-term friendships
that have been created as a result of these hundreds of connections
over close to 30 years. Stay tuned for their first-hand travel experiences
and inter-cultural adventures.
Related Articles:
Here is the finished interview with Robert
and Bette
Presenting: Helga Smith
- Servas member, Marathon runner, conqueror of Mt. Kilimanjaro
Presenting: Mary Jane Mikuriya -
Servas traveller, volunteer for peace and social justice
Preview: Robert &
Bette Allekotte - Servas members & family travellers
Preview: Gilbert Sherr
- Servas traveller & cultural researcher
Preview: Mary Jane Mikuriya
-Servas traveller, volunteer for peace and social justice
Preview: Helga Smith
- Servas member, Marathon runner, conqueror of Mt. Kilimanjaro
Preview: Pablo Chufeni
- Servas member, Champion of youth causes in Argentina
Coverage of the first Canada-US
Servas Conference in Vancouver, Aug 3 to 5, 2005
Interview with Patrice Samara from the US
Office of Servas
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