Meet Sami Sanchild and the
Red Victorian B&B Peace Center
What does breakfast, good conversation and a red, Victorian, bed and breakfast have to do with Conversation Cafes? Lots! The Red Victorian Bed & Breakfast Peace Center in San Francisco 's Haight-Ashbury district near Golden Gate Park , founded by Sami Sunchild, is one of our CC Cousins!
She opened The Red Vic in 1977 and has hosted over 250,000 people from all over the world. Patrons of the B&B participate in the conversations along with invited guests and drop-ins. The conversations are free and a continental breakfast is available for five dollars. Prepared breakfasts and brunches are also offered. A glass fish bowl of topics is in the middle of the table to suggest topics related to personal insights and experiences acquired through travel or in the course of life.
Her hosting of conversations started about six years ago and has evolved into what it is today. A round "Conversation Table" is always prominent up front in the café and people are encouraged to invite strangers from other tables or somebody they met the previous day to join in the conversation. "We take "anybody God sends thru the door" They come from all over the world. Many times they come to stay in our Peace Bed & Breakfast and to experience our famed Haight Street , home to the Summer of Love in1967. We look for differences in culture, race, gender, age.
Sami Sunchild has been observing and studying the tourism industry in 50 different countries. She believes that there are many people all over our planet who care about taking care of it, and each other, but when they travel they have no way to connect and meet each other face to face. Her solution? World Conversations.
Sami finds that her greatest purpose in travel is meeting different people, cultures, ideas. She does not travel to be entertained as much as to participate. And learn. And exchange ideas.Almost always, at the beginning of the conversation, Sami encourages the participants to take stock of themselves noting "the richest people in the world sit at these tables week after week." She asks the conversation participants how many of them have passports and are privileged to travel and experience different ways of doing things? She adds that this privilege positions them to make a difference in the world.
"We all have passports and are able to experience varieties in lifestyles and beliefs and compare what works best, and how. If anybody is going to be able to make
differences in the world, it is not those without homes, without safety and security, without the ability to leave the place where they were born. It is the US This is the purpose of World Conversations, to involve people in taking on the responsibility themselves," Sami explains.
Sami notes that her greatest challenge is finding hosts for all the cities of the world. She also extends an invitation to new hosts to participate at the Red Vic and when they are ready, they can host their own World Conversations weekly at the Red Vic Peace Café. She has learned that between 4 to 9 people per table and a host at each table creates the best atmosphere for good conversation. But Sami states that the real key to her success is to just go up and invite people. "Lots of people are just waiting to be invited. I start by saying "Thanks for coming to our Peace Café" I say it to everyone, but especially if they are anyone who might feel uncertain of their welcome wherever they go.
Sami's life is dedicated to doing everything she can to make an equitable, peaceful world. She is an artist and visionary who works seven days a week on "creating rather than rebelling."
Needless to say, she enjoys people. The Red Vic Peace Center is a combination of self-supporting enterprises, the Peace Café, the Gift Shop of Peace Arts, and the Bed & Breakfast, all of which donate to the non-profit sectors.
The non-profit programs are the World Conversations (in house and on-line) and the evaluation and study of the effect of our designed environments on our consciousness and intentions.
One of the major offerings of the Red Vic is its café meeting space used by friends and groups who feature speakers, films, and events supporting a peaceful world.
Sami has also served as a volunteer host for Conversation Cafes at Bioneers, Green Festival and other events.
**If you live in San Francisco and would like to become a regular conversation host at the Red Vic Peace Center, drop in for the Breakfast Conversation Sundays mornings at 9:00am. After the conversation you can talk further with Sami about it. Reservations not required, just drop in a few minutes before 9:00am. The conversation is free and continental breakfast is available for $5.
Peaceful World Conversations also encourages hosts anywhere in the world who would like to welcome travelers passing through their town at a specific time on Sundays.
