Servas Africa & Youth Meeting in Uganda, August 2011

As far back as I can remember, I have had all these nice strangers coming to my house, sharing their lives and stories. My family has been in Servas as long as I can remember. As a matter of fact, my parents met through the organisation, when my mother did her Interrail trip and stayed at my grandmother's house in Oslo...the rest is history.

Although we had received dozens of travellers, it was only in the begining of this year, 2011, that in my first trip alone, I stayed with Servas in Argentina. The experience was amazing and spiritually enriching so I couldn't wait to repeat the experience.

When I knew about the Servas Youth & Africa Meeting in Uganda, I decided to attend it. This event took place in a Conference Center just outside Kampala and I got the chance to meet Servas from all over the world. I was extremely proud to represent Portugal and to communicate and interact about issues that concern the life of Servas all over the world. How Servas is expanding in some countries in Africa, as well as in Portugal, how important it is to have meetings and work towards achieving understanding and respect amongst the various nations, cultures, religions, etc...In Kampala I was very happy to stay with Sarah, a very nice woman who was a perfect host and helped me having a very nice first impression on Uganda.

It is my deepest belief that staying with a host gives you the oportunity to get to know better the country and also see things that no other tourist would ever see. In my case, I had the nice surprise of being invited to a wedding, went to a secret beach, to a secret party...

I am currently finishing my degree on Communication Nettwork in Lisbon, Portugal.

And from now on I also want to travel around the world and increase the number of young members in Portugal.

Carl Kristensen, 21 years old