Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9501060045
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
- Margaret Meade
When a group of ambassadors from New Zealand came to the Roanoke Valley recently, they weren't greeted by dignitaries or surrounded by fanfare. They were met by people like themselves - local residents who were also ``citizen ambassadors,'' members of the Friendship Force.
During their stay here, the New Zealanders visited the customary places - Mill Mountain, Center in the Square, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Smith Mountain Lake.
Their real interest, however, was not in the places, but in the faces.
They came not just to see, but to understand. They came not to sit on buses while knowledgeable guides point out the window at local sites, but to live day-to-day with people who could tell them that, although they live worlds apart, their concerns are all pretty much the same.
At a governor's conference in 1977, then-President Jimmy Carter proposed the idea of creating world peace through friendship.
Friendship Force clubs now number 330 in 43 states and 52 foreign countries. In 1993, the Friendship Force was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The clubs' purpose, ``to bridge international barriers through the force of friendship,'' is carried out through exchanges. Travelers stay in the homes of other members, who provide housing and transportation for them. Most importantly, they provide friendship.
``You make lifelong friends,'' said Roanoker Connie Pullen. She and her husband, Paul, have been in the group for five years. She spoke fondly of her ``adopted'' Japanese granddaughter, whom she met during an exchange visit to Japan. She was instrumental in the child's receiving surgery for an eye problem.
``To live with the people, that's the important part,'' said Vivienne Watson of New Zealand. ``You feel so much a part of one another in just a few days.'' Watson and her husband, Graham, grow orchards on the Bay of Plenty.
And plenty there is - plenty of rain, plenty of farmable, fertile soil, and a large port to aid the area's exports of kiwi and other tropical fruits and timber products.
Despite their homeland's dense woods, though, it was the Roanoke Valley's trees that fascinated the visitors. ``Where we live, most of the trees are evergreens, and no one has trees near their homes,'' said Louise Hart, a retired sheep farmer. ``The houses are out in the open.''
Vivienne Watson chuckled when she spoke of seeing the statues of deer, sheep and bunnies ``all painted up'' in people's yards here. ``At home, we have the real things.''
The Bay of Plenty area is a farmer's dream, where cattle roam freely with no need for barns, and supplemental feeding is necessary only sometimes during the winter months of June, July and August. Snow dusts the mountains half a dozen or so times a year.
House construction includes wider eaves to protect from the wind and rain. There is a variety of styles - with bungalows standing next to two- or three-story dwellings - and of bright colors. The visitors were surprised by the sameness of subdivision homes here.
Despite different outward appearances, people in New Zealand are concerned about the same things as their faraway neighbors - health care, education needs, the economy and social problems.
``All people are so much alike and have so many of the same goals in life,'' said Anne Skelley of Roanoke County. ``If you can know a person individually and governments stay out of it, we can influence what happens.''
Skelley studies Berlitz language tapes before traveling on an exchange. But ``laughter breaks through the barriers,'' she said. She and her husband, Jack, recently returned from an exchange to Russia.
Despite the common English, colloquialisms created some humorous language problems. When Tom Wilson, a retired builder from ``Down Under,'' asked to get the trolley from Anne Skelley's boot, no one was quite sure how to react. Translated, he wanted to get the luggage carrier from the trunk of her car.
There is no doubt in Tom Wilson's mind that ``if there were enough Friendship Forces, the world would change.''
For more information on the Roanoke Valley club of Friendship Force, call 774-6672.
by CNB