SERVAS: If you would like to get to know local people, including staying in their home, we highly recommend joining the nonprofit organization Servas. Its purpose is to promote international peace and understanding through getting to know people from different cultures and countries on a person-to-person basis. India has more than 600 volunteer hosts who would like to have foreigners stay with them for a couple of nights at no cost. Some hosts cannot accommodate guests overnight but are glad to be with you during the day. There are also hosts in around 133 other countries.
The Servas process, at least in the USA, is as follows: You fill out an introduction form with character references and are then interviewed and pay a membership fee. You'll pay a refundable deposit for a directory for each country you want to visit. The home stays are then free. The directory lists hosts who want to meet foreign visitors, including biographical information so you can select hosts who share your interests or sound like people you'd like to meet. You contact the hosts in advance and request the visit. It is entirely up to the host whether or not to have you as a guest; sometimes hosts are too busy, or too tired, or ill, or away traveling themselves. Hosts in the larger cities occasionally can feel "over-used," while hosts in smaller towns or remote areas are often eager for visitors. Stays are normally for 2 nights unless the host invites you for longer.
One caution: Many, maybe most, phone numbers in India have changed in the last couple of years. The most recent India Servas directory available to travelers from the USA (dated 1999-2000) lists many numbers that are no longer valid. Unfortunately, when you try to telephone, it sounds like the phone is ringing normally, but no one will ever answer. Until a newer India Servas directory is available, it's much more reliable to write to potential hosts than to try phoning.
You can join Servas as a host, as well as a traveler, but it is not necessary to be both. In the USA, most areas of the country have members who function as volunteer interviewers. The main office, which can put you in touch with a local interviewer, is in New York City: 11 John Street, Room 505, New York, NY 10038-4009; Tel. (212) 267-0252; Fax (212) 267-0292. Email: info@usservas.org The Web site is www.usservas.org
See www.servas.org for the international Servas Web site, with information on contacting the organization in other countries.
GUEST HOUSES: You can also stay as a paying visitor in many low cost small guest houses, where you're often treated almost as a member of the family.
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Copyright © 2002 Gary Worthington. All rights reserved.