Wel Come to Servas Pakistan

WEL COME TO SERVAS PAKISTAN

Are you: Friendly?
Curious?
Open-Minded?
 Would you like to visit foreign countries and take part in everyday life?
 Would you like people from other countries to join in your daily life for a short time?
 Do you try to overcome your prejudices to communicate with others?
 Do you believe that peace is possible if everyone truly wants it?
Then, SERVAS is for you. 14,000 families and individuals in over 130 countries on 6 continents will welcome you in their homes.
What is SERVAS ?
SERVAS is ... an international, non-governmental organization.

... Based on understanding, tolerance and world peace.
... An organization of hosts and travelers.
... Based on volunteer work.
... Founded in 1949.
... Non-profit.
... Divided into nine areas around the world. Each area has its own coordinator.

/ " Our object should be peace within & peace without, we want to live peacefully & will gladly make our full contribution to the peace & prosperity of the world "

Quaid-e-AZAM MUHAMMAD Ali Jinnah

Editor’s Folder

Being the first editor, I congratulate all of my Servas members on the first issue of Servas Pakistan Newsletter. I think it is an effort in the field of Journalism. Most people in this world don't even have the real freedom that we are enjoying here in the Pakistan. The world is facing many serious problems like overcrowding, starvation, disease, poverty, illiteracy and terrorism. We can solve these by our efforts on the platform of Servas.

I would like to welcome you to send your articles / essays / poetry and other types of written material related to these topics like peace, hospitality, tourism, culture, disaster management, environment, research, poverty alleviation, governance, education, rural development, human rights, health, advocacy, children, child labour, child rights, women rights, youth rights, Drug Abuse, Communication & Media, information technology and infrastructure development.

Servas members from all over the world are invited to send their views, suggestions and also articles. I hope you will contribute with me.
Yours in Servas
Chief Editor: Faisal Naveed Toor

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Events of Servas PAKISTAN (1999-2000-2001)

Avari Hotel Lahore (10-10-1999)

National Secretary is presenting Golden Jubilee Shield to chief guest Mr. Zia Haider Rizvi

On the event of 50th Anniversary celebration of SERVAS International and 4th Regional Meeting of SERVAS Pakistan at Avari Hotel Lahore

Golden Jubilee of Servas International

FDC of Golden Jubilee with Special Post Mark issued on 10-10-99

(1949 – 1999)

51st Anniversary report of Servas Pakistan

Members of Servas Pakistan met at Café-999, Lahore on 10-10-2000 to celebrate the 51st Anniversary of Servas International, and it was presided by the National Secretary of Servas Pakistan Mr. Muhammad Naseem.

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Café 999 Lahore (10-10-2000)

A German Servas member Ms. Silke is presenting shield to chief guest Mrs. Zile Huma

The chief guest was Mrs.Zile Huma, Principal Lahore Model School, Lahore; she highlighted the prospects of education and tourism in Pakistan and gave valuable proposals for the promotion of education and tourism in the country, she also congratulate to all the Servas members on the occasion of 51st Anniversary of Servas International.

This meeting was held as Servas International Anniversary day and to review the activities of last meeting.

Pakistan travel guide/host list edition 2001 distributed among the members and special memento was given to the chief guest on behalf of Servas Pakistan.

All members actively participated and proposed suggestions to uplift the activities of Servas Pakistan.

A German Servas couple Mr.Martin Schillinger and Mrs.Silke Flieger also attended the meeting and highlighted their Servas experiences in Pakistan.

1st Report of Year 2000

Our first meeting of year 2000 was held at Hotel Avari, Lahore on 27th Feb 2000, attendance of the members were 90% whereas some new faces were also seen. Programme was started with recitation of Holy Quran followed by National Anthem of Pakistan. Programme coordinator congratulate the new elected members, welcomed the participants and chief guest.

One of the member briefly introduced Servas International and its activities worldwide. Some members also gave their valuable proposals for the promotion of Servas in Pakistan. Most of them emphasized on office of the Servas in Lahore to improve person-to-person contacts, one announcement from one of the Servas members who offered 50% discount on computer courses for Servas members only.

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The programme coordinator noted all suggestions and proposals. National Secretary Mr. Muhammad Naseem made a speech in which he highlighted the activities of Servas Pakistan including success story of our two projects of 1999 which were medical aid to orphanage houses, free medical dispensaries, free glasses to the deserving patients and marriage fund for a poor girl. National Secretary also briefed the members about his trip to Bangladesh for attending the Second South West Asia Conference at Dhaka, which was held in Dec 1999. In the end National Secretary thanked all of those who helped in this regards. He also proposed to extend membership and its activities for the peace of the world.

National Secretary is presenting shield to chief guest Mr. Naseem Labar

At this occasion director of Tourism Services (Ministry of Tourism & Information) Mr. Naseem Labar was invited as chief guest who thanked Servas Pakistan and highlighted the activities of his department for the promotion of tourism in Pakistan. The National Secretary presented Servas memento to the chief guest.

At the end, following announcements were made.

 Nomination of peace mission to India.

 Language classes, which are scheduled to start on 25th March 2000 at Paragon.

 Computer College Lahore.

 Advertisement request for travel guide/host list.

 Agreed for office premises for Servas.

 One-day trip to Harrapa on 8th April on the invitation of Ch. Abdul Hadi.

 Announcement of Servas Award for the project to make visible activities of Servas Pakistan.

At the end tea was served with formal discussion and fellowship among the members.

REPORT OF 2nd SERVAS PAKISTAN MEETING –2000

Second meeting of Servas Pakistan year 2000 was held on 14th May, 2000 at the beautiful hall of Ambassador Hotel, Lahore presided by the National Secretary Mr. Muhammad Naseem. The keynote speaker was Syed Zulfiqar Hussain who is consultant of anti narcotics campaign against drug abuse prevention program and Chief coordinator of Youth Council for Ant narcotics.Program was started with the recitation of Holy Quran and National Anthem of Pakistan, after that National Secretary Mr. Muhammad Naseem presented the report of Servas Pakistan and Deputy Secretary introduced Servas International and its activities worldwide.

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Our Chief Guest was Mr.Humayun Fareed (Honorary Consulate of Bangladesh at Lahore) but due to an emergency meeting he left to Bangladesh Embassy at Islamabad & unable to attend our meeting. Our guest speaker Syed Zulfiqar Hussain highlighted on the latest situation on drug abuse in Pakistan and its prevention program with different Government Organizations and NGOs. He gave statistics showing drop of cultivation of poppy crops from 265 mt to 16 mt from 1975 to 1998, which will be eliminated within two years more, and it was a healthy sign for this nation. He visited himself with his team in the different poppy cultivated areas of NWFP province with the help of Narcotics affairs Section of USA Embassy are astonish to see the development with the help of UNDP. In this regard he has arranged many training seminars and public awareness program against drug abuse, treatment & rehabilitation program with the help of Pakistan Narcotics Control Board. On the whole it was an excellent awareness program for Servas friends.

Previously we had announced an award for making & launching extraordinary web site for Servas Pakistan, which was unanimously presented to Mr. Joseph Rey of Servas Mauritius for his kind services regarding Servas Pakistan.

Other award was announced & presented to Mr. Daniele Pasalacqua of Servas Italy for launching Urdu Servas introduction page on website. We again thankful for their services, Mr. Saleem Akhtar said vote of thanks for our guest speaker and Servas momento were presented to our Chief guest & guest speaker.

At the end following announcements were made:

 Request to all the Servas friends to join language classes.

 Asked to deposit Rs.50.00 for Servas Identification Card.

 An essay competition among the school students about "PEACE IN THE REGION".

 Finalization of travel guide / Host list which will be delivered in June.

Hotel Holiday Inn, Lahore (10-10-2001)

Group Photo of Servas Members with Chief Guest Mr. M. Abdullah Shahid

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52nd Anniversary Celebrations - Servas Pakistan

Members of Servas Pakistan met at Hotel Holiday Inn, Lahore to celebrate the 52nd anniversary of Servas International.

More than 35 members attended the meeting from all over Pakistan. Foreign delegates from Korea and Japan was also supposed to attend the meeting but they changed their programme due to the current war situation in the region.

Meeting was started with recitation of verses from Holy Quran. All the participants sang national anthem and Servas Song.

Chief Guest of the meeting was Malik Muhammad Abdullah Shahid (Deputy Secretary Admin) Labour & Manpower Department, Lahore (Punjab)

Mr.Tariq Ilyas, Managing Director, Shariah Computer College, and Ms.Humaira F.Qureshi, Incharge News Bureau of Servas Pakistan addressed to the meeting regarding peace and war between Afghanistan and USA. They said we should have to do work only for the peace.

Mr.Muhammad Naseem, National Secretary of Servas Pakistan also addressed to the members regarding Servas activities around the world and within Pakistan. He said with the quotation of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah: “Our object should be peace within and peace without we want to live peacefully and will gladly make our full contribution to the peace and prosperity of the world”. National Secretary also briefed the members about his trip to Thailand for attending the SI conference conference & Servas experiences with foreign Servas delegates & members at Sida Resort near Bangkok, which was held in July, 2001.He also talked about the war between Afghanistan and USA. He said that war is not a solution of a problem or terrorism we need the peace in the world and we have to work hard to get this noble objective. At the end he thanked to all members and visitors who attended the meeting.

The honorable Chief guest Malik Muhammad Abdullah Shahid addressed the meeting and stressed the need of peace for humanity. He also said that we have to help those peoples who help the others, like

Servas. At the end National Secretary presented a shield to Honorable Chief Guest on behalf of Servas Pakistan.

Chief Guest presented first two shields to our foreign delegates (who did not attended the meeting due to the over mentioned reason)

 Mr. Eum Jae Ryang National Secretary of Korea.

 Mrs. Huh Kab Won of Servas Korea.

The Chief Guest presented some other shields to the following members on behalf of Servas Pakistan.

 Muhammad Arshad Khan: Deputy Secretary

 Muhammad Waheed Butt: Secretary Information

 Munazza Naseem: Host List Officer

 Ch. Abdul Hadi: Regional coordinator (Punjab)

 Sohail Akhtar: Regional Coordinator (Sindh)

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Two shields were also presented as complimentary to:

 Mr.Tariq Ilyas Managing Director (Shariah Computer College) who prepared the title of the Host list of Servas Pakistan 2002.

 Mr.Nadeem Ahmad who composed the Host List of Servas Pakistan for 2002.

At the end of meeting an Anniversary Cake with Hi-tea offered to the participants.

A relief fund had launched by Servas Pakistan to help the refugees & war victims of Afghanistan, Servas Pakistan request the Servas family all over the world to donate warm cloths, medicine, food stuff, blankets & tents or cash amount to help the innocent Afghani citizen.

Report by Miss Humaira F. Qureshi (Servas Pakistan News Bureau Lahore)

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Messages of EXCO and other members of Servas International about the first volume of Servas Pakistan Newsletter

Message of President

Dear Muhammad Naseem,

Thank you for your invitation to write for your newsletter. I heard from Frits Stuurman, our General Secretary that he had already written an item for the newsletter, and I totally support what he writes to you. In (Exco) we try not to duplicate work, and we support the words and actions of each other.

I congratulate you on your decision to produce 4 issues of a newsletter each year, and hope it bears fruit. I endorse what Frits has written, and I would be glad to write something for a later issue.

I hope that is OK with you. If you feel strongly that you need more from me, please let me know and I will give you a couple of paragraphs.

Yours,

Roger Martin

Message of General Secretary

Dear Friends in Servas,

I feel very privileged that your National secretary, our Servas friend Muhammad Naseem, asked me for a message from Exco.

Let me assure you that we all, like many people, feel with you concerned about the difficult situation in which your country finds itself. Not only had the tensions with your neighboring country India, which ask much patience and wisdom from you to let a peaceful situation prevail. It is also a constant challenge to deal with so many refugees. But be assured that all those efforts, to bring these things nearer to a good solution, are valued. The 10 October you will celebrate in Lahore the 53rd Anniversary of our International Servas organization. We wish you a very good meeting and hope new peace initiatives will be born in the group. At the same time we wish to thank you for the initiatives already taken, and of which we would like to be kept posted.

We heard that Servas Pakistan decided to publish the Servas Pakistan Newsletter four times a year from now; this is a very valuable initiative, because it maintains the contacts between the members (hosts and travelers alike). And with four times a year it can be very timely. I know that several other countries do it like that. The (Exco) members would certainly appreciate to receive the First issue if this might be convenient to you.

Communication has, as a matter of fact, been a main concern of this (Exco) in the first year. It is impossible to keep an organization informed without good contacts. That is technically speaking no problem in these days. But in practical situations it is not that easy as we have found out. If not a permanent attention is on the wish to communicate it can be very difficult to find the right way to talk.

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Exco is very happy with the development of the Servas website If any of you have never visited that site, you are invited to do so. And members can go to to ask for a password to enter the members’ area.

An important decision was that the next Servas International conference Will be held in Spain in 2004. This again will be a meeting where we expect to meet Servas friends from West and East, South and North.

Dear Servas friends, let us not forget that Servas is an organization committed to peace building. The well being of the world is the result of all efforts together for a peaceful world.

In Peace,

Frits Stuurman

General Secretary

Message of Servas Canada

Dear Muhammad Naseem,

Hearty congratulation on the production of the first Servas Pakistan Newsletter, It’s a great idea to coincide the issue with the anniversary of Servas.

Newsletters can be a positive force in keeping members of your organization up to date on what is happening in the Servas world.

Servas Canada sends your organization its best wishes for the success of the Newsletter & the celebration of the Servas anniversary.

We shall look forward to receiving a copy.

In peace,

Gerry Staring,

NS Servas Canada

Message from Servas India

Congratulation on the first Servas Pakistan Newsletter and Servas International Day Greetings to Naseem Muhammad and all members of Servas Pakistan.

Gurdev Singh Pannu

Servas India

Letters of Travelers from Report File

Dear Mr.Naseem,

We Torben & Kristian send you our deepest thanks for your great hospitality. It was a very rewarding experience staying at your house. We will never forget the hospitality that you & the other Servas

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members of Lahore showed us. We hope that you will come to Denmark one day; so that we will be able to receive you in our homes...Please bring this thanks to all the nice persons you introduced to us.

After Lahore we traveled to Rawalpindi from where we also book a flight to Karachi the 17th of this month, so unfortunately we will not come to Lahore again, but then we will probably be able to visit Mr.Suhail, Servas regional coordinator for Sindh in Karachi, we will call him today. After Lahore we went up to Lake Saif-ul-Maluk where we camped. Hereafter we took an interesting jeep ride from Naran to Chilas, where we at the moment are preparing to go trekking at Nanga Prabat, after this we will go to Karimabad & Peshawar.

We will keep you updated.

Once again:

THANK YOU ALL

Torben & Kristian

Servas Denmark