Servas mini gathering in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Published on 2025-11-04

Servas mini-gathering in Kandy, Sri Lanka!

Vipul Shaha from Servas India @mindful_being_india recently had the opportunity to travel to Sri Lanka for International Intensive Training in Nonviolent Communication (NVC) developed by Marshall Rosenberg.

He was kindly hosted by Ken and Visakha - who have been Servas members since the early 70s from their earlier decades living in Japan. They both are originally from the US and have been living in Sri Lanka for over 20 years. They run 'Buddhist Relief Mission' and do some incredible work around the world to support relief work for refugees - including the Rohingyas who are currently in Sri Lanka. (https://www.brelief.org/)

They also introduced Vipul to Sylvia and her family - she has been a Servas member (originally from Austria) - living in Sri Lanka.

It was a beautiful dinner evening with some of their local Sri Lankan friends joining them. The hospitality felt so warm and welcoming that Vipul decided to cancel his plans to go to the Sri Lankan beaches and instead chose to spend a couple of extra days with Ken and Visakha. It turned out to be the most meaningful and inspiring time for him - learning more about their lifelong service work and some deep conversations and practices centered around Buddhist philosophy. He hopes to return to Sri Lanka and volunteer with some of the community work they are involved with. All thanks to Servas International for making these connections possible!