The history of SERVAS
When the World War II came to an end, lots of people keenly felt the importance of peace. They thought it necessary for them to get acquainted with those who share the same idea. As a result, they formed themselves into a group named "Peace-builders." They not only showed interest in world peace but earnestly sought for persons and groups with the same idea from as many countries as they could.
Such earnest people were found in ashrams in India, folk academies in Denmark and Austria, international colleges in Finland, Germany, England, and US. People involved in the Workcamp Movement, Service Civil International, and Quaker Movement were remarkably committed in the movement.
Similar diligent persons were seen in such groups like Brudelhof and Community of Lanzo Del Vast, France. As a matter of course, there were small groups of people and individuals who were very hard-working in peace-building. Especially in India, many chapters of Peace-builders were in collaboration with Gandhi Movement.
In the beginning Peace-builders promoted their campaign by setting up "teams," which developed into "working committees." Each working committee strove for their object with four slogans.
In 1949 SERVAS started its campaign in Denmark and US at the same time, while in Japan it started in 1962. In 1972 SERVAS INTERNATIONAL( S. I. ) was established in Switzerland with an expectation that it will serve as an international organization like the International Committee of the Red Cross. Composed of over 100 countries and districts of the world, Servas International has been involved in building world peace as an NGO recognized by the United Nations.
SERVAS aims to promote world peace, goodwill, and tolerance, and provides its members ( hosts and travelers ) with opportunities by which they can get acquainted with and understand each other, even though they have different culture and background.
Read Bob Luitweiler's own story about the early days of ServasinThe Seeds of Servas
You can watch the following two video interviews with Bob Luitweiler, for many years the central figure in Servas.