What a way to end!

It would have seemed almost paradoxical to travel all the way to Zambia without doing a little sightseeing, and it was for this reason that we spent our last week seeing the local wonders. Having been working in the community, we were keen to give something back, and so much of what we chose to do was supporting the community either financially or by giving time and resources.

We did a cycle tour around Livingstone, which included cycling through some very rural villages where the children would run after you and high five you as you went by, as well as through the National Park – as much as we wanted to turn the corner and find ourselves face to face with a herd of elephants, this didn’t happen ... probably much to our guide’s relief! We were given many fascinating facts and snippets of information about traditional rural life and the geography of the area, and it was, all in all, a superb tour.

Victoria Falls was definitely a highlight ... and why wouldn’t it be? The smoke that thunders, it is visible from miles away, and is the largest sheet of falling water in the world. Although warned that we would get wet, we weren’t quite prepared to get soaked through and this came as a surprise. The National Park is beautiful, and we enjoyed our visit immensely, and didn’t want to leave! The only thing that drew us away was the prospect of High Tea at the Royal Livingstone Hotel, which was even better than expected. A beautifully tranquil setting, we enjoyed the luxury of cakes, quiches and tea overlooking the Zambezi river. Hippos grunted in the water, and a zebra wandered past, the staff reacting as if this was an everyday occurrence, i.e. ignoring it whilst we’re all snapping away on our cameras. Having seen elephants by the roadside on the way to the hotel, we felt as if we’d already been on safari!

For our ‘real’ safari, we journeyed across to Chobe National Park in Botswana. This was indescribable, and quite simply unimaginable if you haven’t experienced it.  The park has between 40,000 and 60,000 elephants, and it certainly felt like we saw every single one of these – from the youngest calf to the oldest matriarch! The giraffes were also most prevalent, and quite striking with their long, elegant necks. We spent the night in the game reserve, and were treated to traditional songs and dances from our guides, which were hilarious. We were most fortunate on our safari, and altogether saw elephants, giraffes, impala, guinea-fowl, a honey badger, warthogs, Tawny eagles, White-Back vultures, baboons, Fish eagles, buffalo, lions, hippos, waterbucks, a Leopard-Faced vulture, mongeese, Kudu antelope, tree squirrels, Lilac Brested Rollers, Monitor lizards, a Marshal eagle, Sable antelope, Kori Bustards, Saddle-Billed stalks, a Black-Backed jackal, wildebeest, a Grand hornbill, Stenbock antelope, Velvet monkeys, zebra, crocodiles, a wild dog, Hammercops, Red Lechwe antelope and an African Rock python.

A sunset cruise down the river one evening was also magical – the skies in Zambia are mesmerising, and our viewing of them was made even better this one evening, as our crew cooked for us on a barbeque whilst we watched not only the sky, but also the banks of the river for wildlife. Another evening we were taken for a traditional meal, which was ... an experience! However, much to our surprise we actually enjoyed the majority of the food, even if we would never cook it ourselves. It was another chance for us to embrace ourselves in the local culture, and was really interesting. Yet another evening presented the opportunity to take part in a traditional drumming workshop which was highly entertaining. The instruments make such a sound that even those of us with extremely limited musical talent were able to produce a sound that didn’t make our audience of other travellers want to cover their ears! It was amazing!

Being members of WAGGGS (the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts), it would have seemed a wasted opportunity not to have met up with some members from across the globe. The orphanage we had been working at with the Book Bus had their own guide unit, and so we met up for a barbeque (we cooked what we would traditionally eat at such an occasion, and they cooked their own local specialities). Being guides, they were younger than us leaders, but this didn’t stop us having fun sharing games and songs from our own units.

We also spent a night on Bovu Island – a natural island in the middle of the Zambezi, occasionally home to a couple of hippos. This was a great couple of days spent making new friends and exploring the island, sleeping in open-fronted huts under mosquito nets and feeling almost entirely removed from the real world. Many of the people we met there came back year after year to work on a project they had set up in the local village just the other side of the river. They work at a local school, having raised funds to build two classrooms and two toilets so far, but with huge plans to do more, and the ultimate aim of receiving government funding. The work they had done so far was most inspiring, and the Book Bus left them with some resources to continue their good work and make a difference to hundreds of children’s lives.

Although the true aim of the trip was our work with the Book Bus, the sights we saw and activities we participated in drew us closer as a group and taught us about the local culture – meaning we could understand even more the potential for change that we could be involved in triggering. The trip was, however clichéd it sounds, eye-opening and a fabulous experience for us all! For more information, please comment on a post with your questions!

"The best time of my life!"

Although back from Zambia, this is far from the end of the journey for all of us who went. The experience was unforgettable, and I am sure has made us all more empathetic, helped us to understand the extent of the poverty in Africa and provoked us to continue raising awareness of the dire situation, of the work of The Book Bus and of how everyone in our own society can make a difference, however small, in their own way.

It is difficult to express the true value of The Book Bus and its efforts. The children we worked with were so inspirational, full of hope despite what little they had. Many struggled to read, although were competent at speaking English, and it was a real challenge to help these children with literacy skills, but also to give them confidence that they have potential! Some children we worked with told us they only came to school when The Book Bus was present, as this was a highlight for them, almost definitely because we brought resources the school could not otherwise provide – paper, glitter, colouring pens and pencils, stickers, and of course, brightly coloured fact and fiction reading books. This could not demonstrate more clearly the importance of the work of this charity. After one session, a little boy told his fulltime teacher that it had been “the best time of his life” – if this isn’t a reward for all our time and hard work then I don’t know what is! Our sessions were focused around the book, more advanced groups using fact and fiction books both together, supporting a fictional story with information from a factual book. Once we had read through the book, which could sometimes take almost the whole hour, we embarked on an activity related to it. Normally a craft activity, this was equally valuable in teaching children to use scissors and glue and perfect for encouraging their creativity and imagination! Activities ranged from making glittery stars, pop-out penguins, stained glass window elephants, masks (monkeys, ‘wild things’, aliens etc.), puppets, diagrams of the human body, drawings of wild animals, hats, sparkly fish and 3D giraffes, to acting out the planets of the solar system and learning a number of new songs and dances.

The children all came from difficult circumstances – situations that are simply unimaginable in our own culture. One little boy told me of how he had been rejected by his father at birth, and his mother had died just a few years later. He now lives with his grandmother and siblings, but it is a struggle, and at only 11 years old, he has to miss school to help out at home. Although the work of a charity like The Book Bus cannot resolve this situation, it can certainly help. Volunteers can stimulate this child to become interested in reading, a skill that will undoubtedly help him find employment in the future, and brighten his day by engaging him in a fun game, song, craft activity or dance. Children like this need help, and we like to think that however small the impact we had, it was enough to give these children hope.

One of the aims of The Book Bus is to provide the schools with the means to continue providing the children with the chance to read from a range of books. As a result, when it came to leaving the school and orphanage that we had been working at, we, as representatives for The Book Bus, left a variety of books behind, with the hope that these can be used in lessons or even to create a library. The appreciation of this donation was clear on the faces of the teachers, and it was a wonderful feeling to think that even after we left, our contribution would continue to make a difference.

To donate directly to the Book Bus to help support the incredible work they do, please find details on how to donate on their website which can be found using the links on the homepage of this blog. Thank you!

I've finally started preparing what I need to take ... and as part of our work with 'The Book Bus', we are invited to take some storybooks. One of our initial ideas for engaging stories which we could base a number of different and exciting activities around was this:

And indeed, on our test runs with other senior section members, this was the first book they suggested that we might have fun with! Everything is finally starting to feel so real!

Nearly time to go!

With just over 50 days to go until we head off on the experience of a lifetime, a few members of the team got stuck into a little group fundraising - and although standing at a London tube station for hours on end doesn’t seem like the most interesting way to spend your Saturday, it was certainly productive, those generous enough to donate helping us to achieve our goal!

The Sunday after was a whole team meeting, and altogether much more fun! Even the sun shone for us! We met outside the Science Museum, and even Sarah, who had just been on a delightful if unintended ‘tour’ of London made it, only 5 or so minutes late ;) It being such a beautiful day, we were tempted to walk up to Hyde Park for our meeting, and this turned out to be a lovely idea. Here we divided our team badges between us (yes, they came at last - and I must say, they are looking spectacular!), and after covering several important issues, we headed back to the museum as it was beginning to feel a little chilly. Our discussion was abruptly ended here by the presence of a number of school and cub/scout visits, but thankfully we had just about covered everything. Lizzy had even got our guidelines made up into bookmarks which we can take with us to Africa, and they look amazing, so thank you!

As almost a celebration of the end of our pre-trip meetings, and of course of the fact that it was only 50 (ish) days to go, we went for a meal out in Giraffe. With lovely company, lovely food and lovely surroundings (even if the kitchen does look suspiciously like the entrance to the toilets), we had a lush afternoon. We’re now all very excited for our adventure, which is looming ever closer, and although in the past week we have had a number of obstacles to overcome, I’m sure we can look beyond these and make the most of what promises to be a life-changing journey!

Our new badge:

I’m gonna sing, sing, sing …

It may have seemed bizarre to go camping in March … but not for members of Girlguiding, and least of all, the adventurous XXX’s (yes - we have now established a team name, I’m just wary of publishing it online!). However, this did highlight some crucial things for us - like how cold camping can be, and how some of us may need to invest in some more substantial sleeping bags before we head off to Africa! Steaming porridge and eggy bread in the morning was therefore a welcome breakfast!

We arrived Saturday morning, buzzing with excitement for the activities ahead - least of all putting up the tents. However, being involved in guiding is what it always was, and we were incredibly successful in putting up our tents! From this point onwards, activities and events become rather in disarray as my memory fails me, but it is safe to say that the weekend was, in all honestly, a grand success. Nobody can deny now that we are a true team!

In preparation for working with ‘The Book Bus’ in Meheba in Zambia, a key part of the weekend was testing some of our book activities with some younger members of senior section guiding. We had 3 different activities, each repeated 3 times - which, instead of being monotonous, led to some serious improvements - least of all in confidence in running these sessions. We each first of all told the story, before launching ourselves into singing, dancing and acting (ignoring the lack of talent!), a dramatic bear hunt and an exciting and new version of ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf?’. Feedback from our eager participants was positive but also highlighted some areas for improvement; overall the activity was indeed very useful.

Interrupting our fun and games, and rather candidly dare I say ‘team-building’, were some team meetings - but, instead of being dreary as an outsider may expect, these filled us with anticipation and excitement! We discussed money matters, uniforms and badges, and health concerns, amongst other areas. Furthermore, courtesy of Amelia, our ‘meal organiser’, we enjoyed some delicious camp food throughout our weekend, and Anne even introduced us to a method of making ice cream without having to freeze it (perhaps we’ll leave out the salt next time, but it’s the thought that counts surely?!).

A camp with members of Girlguiding wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory camp fire, and Kate, our extremely well-appointed ‘entertainment advisor’, led us into an evening filled with songs, dances and acts, not forgetting the marshmallows that finished the evening nicely. It is safe to say that even hours later, I for one was still announcing to the world that I was ‘gonna sing, sing, sing …’ and so on!

Being nearly Easter, our Easter egg hunt and the quiz involving naming 20 well-known bunnies was a much-appreciated regression to our younger years, although being slightly older now, this didn’t help us to find the bunnies any quicker! I am somewhat apprehensive to explain what our last activity, ‘Jungle Mission Impossible’, entailed, as I am almost confident that anyone outside guiding would fail to see the merit in counting out baked beans from a tin (twice I may add!), shouting spontaneously ‘I am truly mad’ or hunting for a leaf from a ‘Lava Tree’. It was however, I have to say, a particularly wonderful exercise, and one I may find myself replicating with my own unit!

Next time we meet, will, rather excitingly, be our last group gathering before we head off on what promises to be the trip of a lifetime. I don’t think there is a team member amongst us who has any regrets in applying for the trip, particularly now friendships have formed, indeed, friendships which am sure will continue to thrive and develop long into the future!

Wintry Weekend Away!

Since our last group meeting, there has been a lot of discussion about all the different and exciting aspects of our trip. Getting to see each other again was, then, as you would imagine, very exciting! Despite chaotic schedules, we all managed to stay for at least one night of the weekend, and subsequently we got a lot done - including getting to know each other better! Giving an hour by hour description of everything we did would end up being tediously dreary, and so this is merely a review, bearing in mind that the order of events is very much untrue!

Over the weekend, we were visited by Seth, a friendly and incredibly useful volunteer from the Book Bus! We bombarded him with questions, all of which he was able to give us answers to, and he told us a lot more about our trip, through the use of videos, presentations and an example of what he would take with him. His being there made the trip seem all the more real; it was a shock, be it a thrilling one, that we would be going away in just over 6 months!

Our ‘cultural advisor’, Lizzy, also gave us a terribly interesting and informative presentation on Zambia and the areas we would be visiting, including the history, geography, and social and behavioural guidelines. This was reassuring, knowing a little more of what to expect and having a greater understanding of what the refugees that we would be working with had perhaps been though.

In our many discussions over the weekend, we covered some crucial areas, including fundraising, and also team roles and guidelines. This led on to the more exciting area of team identity. We discussed ideas for a badge (of which we now have two final ideas - both looking amazing!), for our group uniform and for a team name. All our suggestions are being kept a secret for now … but watch this space!

Despite the clichéd and overused term, team building is essential for a group who, until a few months ago, didn’t know each other, and who, in another few months, will be sharing everything. Putting up tents can be difficult at the best of times, (yes, even for members of GirlGuiding!), and therefore putting up tents in the cold with one person blindfolded, one person not talking and one person with their hands tied behind their back was always going to be a challenge. I think, however, that our success proved our potential to be an unbelievably close team!

The crate challenge was another activity enjoyed by all members of the group. The preferred pose adopted to achieve success was wonderfully amusing - and you never know, maybe ballroom dancing is the perfect activity for our reunion! A campfire one evening, led by our ‘entertainment advisor’, Kate, was enjoyed by all - despite the significant lack of fire! But member of guiding will always enjoy singing and dancing, despite the what-felt-like arctic temperatures!

We are now beginning to feel like a team - indeed, we can all just about name each other - and are looking forward to our next team meeting!

Backtrack

So what’s happened so far?

There were two separate selection events to choose the team to go to Zambia in July 2012, and a proportion of the group was chosen at each. Both events consisted of a variety of activities relating to refugees and asylum-seekers, and the causes and effects of their situations. We also discussed how we could make members of GirlGuiding aware of their existence and hardships, including activities appropriate for rainbows, brownies, guides and senior section. Later after the events, we were informed of whether we had been selected to go.

We were first united as a group, including team leaders, at a GirlGuiding event known as LaSERio. At this event, all the other members of GirlGuiding UK going on a LaSER organised trip in 2012 were present, and we participated in activities relating to the qualities we would need, our expectations and simple ice breakers. We also watched presentations of international trips that happened in 2011, which, although weren’t in Zambia, gave us a small taste of what was in store. Our group also ran an activity for the younger participants relating to global trade, designed to raise awareness of the existence of more and less economically developed countries, and the disadvantages that the latter are subject to. The weekend was also the first opportunity we had to find out some more about our trip and discuss our itinerary - very exciting! Fundraising was also brought up, and we shared ideas on how each of us could raise money to subsidise this incredible trip.

Our first “official” team meeting was in December 2011. We each brought a “Christmassy” item to share for a picnic lunch, which we had after discussing our trip. Amongst other things, we considered team roles, the kit list, the group charter, fundraising and finally team identity. All ideas on this are to be confirmed at our next meeting. After lunch, to get to know each other better, we went into London and to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, where we had a wonderful time ice skating. This was such fun, and a good way to relax after the important discussions of the morning!

We are looking forward to our next team meeting, which is happening later this month!

Zambia 2012 - What’s this all about?

London and South East Region GirlGuiding are in the process of organising a trip for 12 members to go to Zambia in July of this year. There are ten 18-26 year old members and two leaders who all got selected after completing a detailed application form and attending a couple of selection days. This blog is designed to be a record of their actions.

We will be in Zambia for just over three weeks, and for the main part, will be working in a refugee camp known as ‘Meheba’. It is a home for refugees from all states of Africa, with a current population of over 16,000. Over 5,000 of these are children. Most refugees do receive some sort of primary education, even if this is just for a year, but very few can afford secondary schooling - or even if they can, the schools are too far for them to walk to. Some children walk to up to 2 hours each way, to get to over-crowded, under-resourced classes. The charity that we will be working with is known as ‘The Book Bus’ and strives to improve this situation as much as possible.

Giving children the ability to read can ultimately change their lives. Education allows them to break the vicious cycle of poverty so that ultimately, they can earn a living from their skills and be able to provide their own children with the necessary education and healthcare. As The Book Bus say,

“books impart knowledge, fire the imagination and open up new horizons; they are also a tremendous source of enjoyment”.

Our work with ‘The Book Bus’ will consist of visiting a different one of the few schools in the camp each day, where we will work with the children, reading singing, dancing, acting, doing crafts, playing sport and other enriching activities focused around books. It promises to be a rewarding time, and I am sure that it is unlikely to be just the children who reap the benefits from these sessions!

After our time spent in Meheba, we are spending a few days sightseeing in this incredible country, where we will experience some of its wonders, and see first-hand what it is really like to live in both rural and urban Africa.

We are all very excited to be given the opportunity to go on this eye-opening journey, and are ready for all the preparation and fundraising to begin!