Servas profile, Daniel Ben-Sefer, nomination for treasurer
As far as I can remember, I have been a traveler. Whenever there was a school holiday, my parents would take me and my sister on amazing trips, either locally in Colombia, as well as various overseas locations. My late father, kept this tradition until his death at 92 in 2014, and now that I am retired (and also before that), I just continue my love for seeing places and meeting people and learning their cultures.
This is my international background:
- I was born in Bogota, Colombia.
- My father was born in Spain,
- My mother in Germany, (one of her grandparents moved to Germany from Russia).
- My sister married somebody from England.
- My ex-wife was born near New York.
- My daughter was born in Israel
- My son was born in Australia!
- My partner was born in Indonesia and grew up in Singapore!
I joined Servas as a traveler in 2014 and was fascinated by the experience of being privileged to see a Japan that few tourists get to see. An article describing that visit was published in the Servas International newsletter that year. Immediately after my return I became a Servas Host.
I have since visited Servas hosts in Spain, France, Germany, USA and in 2018 visited Japan for a second time.
I have hosted visitors from Austria, Germany, USA, Spain, Israel, Japan, Korea, Colombia, Romania and Perth.
The most interesting visitor was a young
lady from the USA, who, being the daughter of South Korean refugees to the
United States, decided to visit every country that participated in the Korean
war to thank the veterans that participated personally.
Out of 26 Servas hosts she communicated with, I was honored to be chosen to be
her host, guide, photographer and personal driver.
I am fluent in English, Spanish, Hebrew, German and I have been learning Japanese for the last 8 years.
On the treasury side, I have been treasurer
of my local Strata Body Corporate for at least 8 years.
I have corresponded with the outgoing treasurer, Ernie Catchlove, and I believe
I will not have a problem performing this task, and if not, I will kindly
accept his offer to help with the tax return or any other difficulty that might
come up.
Last year I served as acting NSW traveler officer while Craig Melrose was on a well-deserved trip and I helped Chloe Mason (Servas Peace Officer) with suggestions to the guide for interviewers she was working on
Before retiring three years ago, I was a professional programmer and in my early days in Australia I was head of computer studies at a business college. I am sure that I will be able to apply my computer skills to this job, if so needed.