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Islands of Girlguiding South West England
Girlguiding gives many opportunities for new experiences and Yvonne Mundy, 41, Brown Owl with 9th Greve D’azette Brownies went on a South West Region trip to India to celebrate 100 years of Guiding in India. Meeting 47 other guiders from across the region for the first time was at departures at Heathrow airport. This started off a fantastic 3 week trip to the heat, noise, they constantly toot their horns, and vibrancies of India where we joined guiders from USA, Malaysia, Denmark and Australia.
The first 10 days were spent in Pune at Sangam, one of four World Guiding Centres. Here the guiders took part in a community project. Yvonne visited Anand Gram ‘ village of joy’ a Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre. The centre looks after 110 leprosy affected patients and 250 students. The children showed us their classrooms, dormitories, and playground, and we joined them in their English classes and with singing. ‘Trying to teach them about hail, when they hadn’t experienced any was quite tricky but was explained in pictures and mime!’
Later in the week we welcomed 20 of these children along with 40 others from community partners mobile crèche and Door Step School to Sangam for a fun filled day of activities. The guiders had come prepared with games and craft and went swimming with the children. Yvonne said ‘The children were very competitive in the games, noisy with the giant balloons and there was so much laughter in the swimming pool, which for some was their first time in a pool. It was lovely to see these disadvantaged children enjoying making streamers, windmills, caterpillars, decorating butterfly’s and trying out their parachute bunnies. It was an amazing day and the children were all smiles returning home with prized memories of a great day.’
Another part of the stay involved local cultures experiencing dance, craft, food, art and customs including buying saris, visiting a local house and family, painting Mehendi and experiencing a typical Maharashtrian dinner. And of course we celebrated centenary of Indian guiding with a party.
The local Guides visited Sangam and they organised stick dancing, Indian songs and games involving a lot of hopping and falling over. In return Yvonne took flavours from Jersey for them to try. Jersey fudge and Black Butter, which was very much enjoyed by all the group but especially the guider from America. The International element was part of a Challenge badge that Yvonne completed whilst as Sangam, and involved carrying out gardening, climbing a tower, a synchronised swimming display, drinking Chai from a street seller, decorating with Rangoli patterns, buying vegetables from the local market and setting up a geocache at Sangam. ‘I thoroughly enjoyed my time guiding in India and working with the community’, Yvonne said ‘becoming an adult volunteer opens up a whole world of opportunities that I wouldn’t have experienced anywhere else. I’ve enjoyed not only visiting 3 of the World Centres but also Czech Republic, and Italy with guiding, and there are also opportunities to lead international trips which our Guides and Senior Section girls are selected for.’ Click Here for the next part of the report
