Long before the internet, decades before Hospitality Club, Couchsurfers, and all of the other hospitality organizations, there was SERVAS, the first worldwide peace-through-hospitality network. 

Founded in 1949 by WWII conscientious objector Bob Luitweiler as a way of healing some of the wounds of the war, SERVAS has quietly continued its peacemaking mission right up to the present day.  Members work to break down the stereotypes and misconceptions that lead nations to fight one another, by simply visiting and getting to know members from other countries and cultures, one conversation at a time.

 “All over the world there are small groups and individuals who are working for a Society based on Creative Vocation, Non-Violence and Social Responsibility.”
-Bob Luitweiler

Bob continued to believe that our only hope to turn us away from the greed that is destroying our cultures and our planet is to mentor young adults. His vision of this was simple; plant the seed with a small group of college-age students, provide a space in which they can gather and talk and eat together, to get acquainted, share ideas and become a physically active force of volunteer peace activists. Bob wanted to introduce these young adults to the ideas of “peace builders “, Bob’s phrase for people meeting people, bridging cultural and class differences with compassion, love, work and gratitude. Then these people would reach out as a group into their own communities, volunteering and teaching about peace building. Bob described this as being as simple as helping an older person to clear an over-grown yard and help plant a vegetable garden. This might also manifest as an afterschool mentoring program for poor and immigrant children. The only limitations on these Peace Builders would be their own imaginations.

Bob worked till the moment he closed his eyes to convey this vision of what work he saw as necessary to keep us from our own destruction. In 2009 Servas, now a global organization in more than 100 countries, will be celebrating its 60th year.
Beyond his involvement with founding United States Servas, he was an inventor, a business man, an educator, and a writer. He wrote prolifically about peace building, volunteerism, sustainable building and agriculture, and devised a method to teach people to read.

Bob was asked late in his life “Bob, what do you want to be remembered for?” and Bob’s characteristic reply was “You are missing my point!” Bob Luitweiler was sometimes abrupt, out-spoken and impatient, but he did not want to be remembered for himself, he wanted to be a part of the future, to be a part of a grass-roots movement of young people taking back their power to create a peaceful and sustainable world.
Bob Luitweiler will be missed by friends all over the world.

International Servas (www.servas.org) United States Servas (www.usservas.org)