Hi guys, This will be a long mail, sorry for that. If you have little time, jump to the last paragraph.
Background Many years ago I wanted to travel the world. I chose the USA as my destination. Not a month before my flight, I picked a hitchhiker, in what was a strike of pure luck, because she told me about SERVAS (http://www.servas.org/ ). In short, it is an international organization thst promote world peace by people meeting people. In this organization you can be a host or a guest. The host promise to supply a bed for two nights and both must have dinners together. The host benefits from the stories his guest is sharing with him over dinner. The guest benefits by saving the hotel costs, and by having a word of advice about the surrounding area. Most importantly, both benefit from getting to know new people, and to have the opportunity to find new friends. Of course, if both parties want, one can extend his stay. The system is highly organized, and the one to be a guest get a list of all hosts in his destiny state, with all possible data – how many days in advance one must ask for a stay; language the host speaks at, how many guests he had last year and if he wants more, same or less this year, hobbies, clubs, transportation, will he accept men only, women only, or he doesn’t care, how many guests (if you travel in couples) are allowed, are kids allowed or not, and so on. With all that data, it is easy to find people that you will have a common ground with. Its a rare win-win situation. I joined SERVAS (“peace” in Esperanto) the next day, and I traveled from a host on the east coast to a peace camp on the west; all in all going through 32 families, all were amazing and interesting people. Back to this day, I want to present the idea of SERVAS to the international origami community. The broader idea is to have a site that will provide names of people from our community who are willing to host origamists from around the world, who happen to visit their city. This simple idea need to be developed furthermore, and need resources I don’t have at the moment. But I really would like to make a first step here. So let me add another issue. OASIS is going to have its second convention is Israel, this coming March. One of the things I learned already from previous conventions, is how important is to have international guests. They bring fresh, unfamiliar ideas and models, and for a small community it’s very important, as we all know each other and each other`s models well enough. being small, we can only invite one guest. So, how can we tempt international folders to choose our convention? The answer is right here… The last paragraph OASIS invites international folders to join our convention. For the two days before or after, some of our community members invite you to their houses, SERVAS style. We promise a lovely room with a bad, two dinners together, to provide you with all needed information to travel in the area and the opportunity to make a new origami friend. Your hosts will also provide you with transportation to the convention hotel (or share with you the trip on a public transportation). So, if you ever thought of visiting Israel, March has a perfect weather; not too cold, not too hot, and prices are still cheap. Now you can have at least two days without the hotel costs, with guidance and a friend. Furthermore, international guests do not pay registration fee. The dates – 19 to 21 in March, 2015. For any more details, please contact me directly. Ilan Garibi OASIS president [email protected]
