September 7, 2005

Presenting: Pablo Chufeni - Servas Traveller and a Champion of Cross-Border Youth Exchanges

I met Pablo at the Canada-US Servas Conference that was held at the beginning of August in Vancouver where I had a chance to spend about an hour and a half with him to find out more about his involvement as a volunteer for Servas. Pablo is one of those people who always has a smile on his face and he is filled with an incredible amount of energy. Through Servas he has travelled through a variety of European and North and South American countries.

As a volunteer for Servas, Pablo has tried to harness the international network of Servas hosts in new ways, and most recently he has created an initiative that allows young Servas members to go on language exchanges free of charge that are faciliated by other Servas travellers. Both accommodation and language training are provided free of charge. So far his network of participating countries includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, the United States and Canada which will provide language study opportunities in Spanish, Portuguese, French and English.

In addition he is organizing a youth summit for Servas, to be held in January 2006 in the resort town of Bariloche, Argentina. And he does all these activities part-time, after work as a volunteer. Meet this bundle of energy - Pablo Chufeni.

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, what is your profession, where do you live now?

I'm 27 years old and I work as a theater professor in various institutes. I study politics at the university as well as French and Portuguese. This year I started to work for the Developing Bank of the Americas in a social program here in my city, Rosario in Argentina, where I currently live nowadays. I work in the capacitation department as a tutor for teenagers who are at risk. For 7 years I worked for the local TV station as a general producer, but that took up all my time, so now I prefer to use my day in a different way. I also work for a foundation that works with cultural promotion here in my city.

2. You have been a Servas member for a few years now. How did you hear about this organization and what was your first travel experience like?

I heard of Servas by acident, at a coffee table. First I went to Europe as a traveller, but after that I organized my local group of Servas here in Rosario, and got involved in the running of the organization. I went to official meetings in Canada, Spain, Argentina, Mexico, UK and Uruguay. The Servas experiences are so deep and so large that is quite complicated to talk about that in a few lines. What I have experienced is simply amazing, a real life change.

3. What countries have you travelled to through Servas? What kinds of people from what places have you hosted in your home? What makes Servas travel so
special to you?

I traveled with Servas in Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Belgium, France, Ireland, Portugal, and UK. But I´ll make my list larger as soon as
possible!!! At my place I have hosted people from the USA, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Brazil. My house is open to Servas travellers all year long.

It´s not only the bridge that Servas make for you, but also who is waiting for you on the other side. All the people in Servas are great and interesting, if not the wouldn't open their doors and use their time to chat with you and show you their world.

4. Please tell us about your 3 favourite or most memorable travel stories.

A great couple in Lisbon, she was Mexican and he was born in Angola. The time with them was so great. They originally met trough Servas when she was a traveller staying at his house. And now they are married!!!

I also met a guy in Brussels who ate food without cooking it and had a strong position on flavours and health and how human beings developed the art of cooking only by following their tongue. I had another interesting travel experience with a Arab person who lived in Paris. This was simply amazing. We went together to see a show in Paris of Ute Lemper, a German singer that I always liked, and one day I saw the letters on the street of Paris, SOLD OUT! But when I returned to his house he told me, Pablo, I got tickets to a show tonight just if you want to go. We had a great time at the concert.

5. Please tell us about your 3 favourite or most memorable hosting experiences.

It´s hard to say, everyone was great in it´s own way.

6. You are very actively involved in harnessing Servas as a network for learning experiences for young people. Please tell us about the language learning opportunities that you have created through Servas.

Here I am sending to you an attach with the info of this program.

7. You are also organizing the first international youth meeting of Servas, called "Patagonia 06", to be held in the beautiful resort town of Bariloche in
Argentina during the 3rd week of January of 2006. Please tell us about this initiative.

I am also sendig to you an attach and the address of the web site of PATAGONIA'06: www3.telus.net/SC/SERVAS/index.htm

8. Despite having your hands full, you are already thinking of other ways of harnessing the Servas network to provide internship and job shadowing
opportunities for young people from across the world. Please tell us more about that.

This is an idea to the near future. First I want to reach my personal goal with PATAGONIA'06 and the international youth exchanges. Then I want to use
the Servas network to provide job opportunites to young people abroad to develop their resume and their skills.

9. You also host local "diversity meals". What are they and what is their purpose?

I am sending the attach of this activity to you on this mail.

10. When you are not volunteering for a good cause, how do you spend the rest of your time?

Honestly I do not have any free time. I work 10 hours a day, so frequently I work on Servas projects at night, that´s why all my emails get sent out at weird times. I also go to the gym daily. In addition, my mother has a life-long medical condition, so I have to help her and stay close to her all the time just in case.

11. What are your upcoming plans, travel and otherwise?

It is always a challenge for my try to find the way to be involved in the kind of activities that I do, with the need of earn money. If one day I find the way to get meet my economic needs while working at Servas and anothers NGOs I would be absolutly happy. I always have the feeling that I´m wasting my time when I am working, thinking of all the things that I could be doing if I had the time to spend working on Servas projects. This is my personal challenge.