Maldives- Entry 1
Our adventure began on Friday 2nd July, with an early morning start at Brisbane International Airport. Jo, Lynne, Helen and I met up with Dallas and Marion Langdon where we proceeded to hand over excess amounts of luggage- gifts for the other countries in the form of Centenary booklets that we planned to distribute. The 8 hour plane ride passed quickly as we were occupied with several movies, however the 5 hour wait in Singapore gave us our first meeting with International Guiding: We came across a Girl Guide Leader from the UK who had been volunteering in Borneo with animal conversation work. Another flight landed us in the Maldives, where we were greeted with music, dancing, and hot hot HOT weather. The humidity was stinking, however paradise awaited us and the boat ride from Male to Paradise Island Resort and Spa was beautiful. A long process of check-in awaited before we were finally able to crash into beds and sleep. It had been over 24 hours since we had awoken in Brisbane.
Saturday allowed us to take it easy- we woke up and ate.... sorted through all our bags and conference material and ate... met up with a few other countries delegates and ate... had an afternoon sleep and then ate again before heading to bed- jetlag had definitely caught up with us!! Sunday more than made up for it though, as we started early with the Opening Ceremony and welcome by the Maldive Girl Guide Association Chief Guide, Laila Ali. The conference was officially opened by the envoy to the Maldivian President, His Excellency, Mr Mohamed Nasheed. This was followed by a performance by several Guides, who shared the story of Baden-Powell and Guiding through music and interpretive dance. For some reason, Australia was sitting at the back--- we decided that this was where the rowdy lot is normally placed, so we weren’t too put out. Despite the sweltering heat, I was brought to goosebumps when over 300 people sang the World Song- several in their own languages- and we were given the opportunity to renew our promises, also in our own languages.
Following the Opening Ceremony we had well-organised photos of all the delegates, where Australia- being the adventurous lot we are- were made to stand on chairs and smile. Easier said than done when you have sweat dripping off your face and down your back. We were allowed to eat again, because we hadn’t eaten enough by this point, and then made our way into the Business Meeting, where we moved from the back to the well-positioned place of directly underneath the air-condition in the very front of the room. We heard the nominees for the AP Committee speak- we have the opportunity to speak to these further during the week before voting- and we listened to the Triennial Report, covering the achievements and challenges for the AP Region over the last three years.
Following this sessions, the really hard work began. We were forced to remove our shoes, pull up the jeans and frolic in the crystal-clear water, while watching the sunset, posing for photos and drinking mock-tails. (Photos still to come!!) This gave us the opportunity though to mix with our new friends and socialise with the delegates from the other countries. Dinner (yes- more food) followed as well as a gathering of the Chief Commissioners and Under-30 Representatives, where we discussed Guiding both in our Member Organisations and the AP Region over the next 5 years and where we thought our energies should be focused. It was interesting to hear the similar problems that are faced around the AP Member Countries, in particular the desire to be recognised by the governments as leading organisations for girls and young women. For the rest of the delegates and Friends of the AP Region, karaoke was on offer... Unfortunately I have not been able to get a report from anyone brave enough to sing in public... That’s it for now--- time for bed... or more food.
Maldives- Entry 2
Monday brought a very full-on day of sessions and discussion points and we all went to bed exhausted yet full of ideas and international cheer. The day started with reflections from Hong Kong and we were all given electronic rubber bracelets- a prototype for families where a member is overseas involved at war to allow them to always stay connected. The bracelets buzz once they are programmed wherever the person is in the world, to give family members that moment of connection.
The first session of the day was a global presentation that covered the results of the Vision 2020 project- and it was found that we all have the same goal of wanting to see Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting grow stronger around the world and be recognised both within society and by the country governments as being THE leading organisation for girls and young women. Vision 2020 found that we as Guides want to make a global impact and be seen as relevant, visible and influential. This will be especially prominent in 2012, as the UN has declared it to be both the Year of the Volunteer and the Year of Youth- giving Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting a double whammy to show how vital we are in today’s society.
We split into three sessions- Helen and I went to succession planning, Jo was at WAGGGS logo and Lynne went to Fund Development. Helen and I discovered that all Member Organisations have issues with succession planning, however all for different reasons. With that in mind, I personally feel that GGA’s opportunities for young people are something that we should be proud of and, in spite of often feeling like the teams that I have worked with are not given a fair chance, I was forced to admit that we are, in fact, given a chance to begin with and have many people out there who believe in us and want to help us to succeed. While we in GGA tend to take a different approach to succession planning than some of the other MOs, it gave me some ideas to share with other leaders and in particular advisers- however more in particular with myself as I am constantly being challenged to pass on a few of the many hats that I wear! WAGGGS logos focused on the appropriate usage of the Logo and Jo reported that it clarified the correct use and the importance of colour and positioning to effectively gain the most recognition. Lynne found Fund Development, which included the discussion topic areas of raising money, developing fund strategies and the 6 steps of fund raising, to be informative and very easy to develop to our own needs in Australian Guiding.
Following lunch we had our next set of three sessions and I made my way to the Global Advocacy Campaign. While I have already developed a growing passion for the MDGs, this session brought even more ideas and if possible, an even greater passion for everything that WAGGGS is doing to change the world. More details will be coming, however WAGGGS will soon be launching the Global Advocacy Campaign to ‘End Violence Against Girls’. MO’s identified that there were several related issues that were of importance to them, including domestic violence affection the girl child and the prevalence of youth suicide and sexual assault. Lynne attended the session on Membership recruitment and retention and commented that Australia’s current strategies in these areas are in line with several other MOs successful plans. Jo and Helen attended the Strategic Alliance session and once again were able to report the progress that GGA had already made in this area.
Monday evening consisted of our International Bazaar- music, dancing, international food, sales of different countries product and lots of laughter. The Australian store was set up with several items that had been donated by Australian Guides, however by far the most popular products were the Chain of Campfire candles and the Fantales. Not sure why but no one wanted to buy the vegemite... The night ended with almost $3000 being raised for the AP Region- although several people kept dancing well into the late night.
Maldives- Entry 3
Tuesday proved a little harder to get out of bed in the morning, as Lynne in particular stayed up late finalising Australia’s presentation for the GAT. However before that session, the delegates from Brunei shared reflections and we spent the larger part of the morning in small groups covering the Operational Plan and various actions that the APR and MOs can take to help get these goals fulfilled. The Australian delegates contributed productively and led their groups in the discussion- we are certainly getting our voices heard and making an impact.
Speaking of making an impact, the next session heard presentations from Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Thailand- the GAT Champions for the AP Region- on the voices of Girls and Young Women. Lynne shared everything that GGA has been partaking in over the past 18 months, from Girls’ Celebrate to Taking the Lead and Be the Change and covering COP15, Clean Up Australia Day and the International Service Challenge amongst others. I believe that we, as members of GGA, have a lot to be proud of, as we are really leading the way in getting our young members and the community involved in speaking out, educating and doing. The other GAT champions spoke about specific projects that they have been working on and of note is NZ’s research and education of breast cancer awareness. The NZ Delegates were encouraging those present to donate their bras to the pink star challenge- an attempt to beat the Guinness book of World Records longest bra chain--- I should mention that the world record is currently held by a group of Australians and GGA has already promised to reclaim the title if the Kiwis are able to break it!
Following lunch there was a guest speaker who spoke with passion about why he believes in Guiding for girls. He has a daughter in guiding and his message that we need to convey to the wider community touched all- why is Guiding important to him? Because it’s important to his daughter. This was followed by one of the highlights of the conferences, where the AP Conference delegates, observers and Friends of the AP Region travelled to a nearby reclaimed island to plant 100 trees. This included a performance by local Guides, Little Maids and Stars as well as a guard of honour by all of the students and teachers of the nearby school- they will be continuing to take care of the trees as they grow.
After dinner there were presentations of OBPS and Four World Centres, with the aim of promoting the benefits of membership, in particular for the young people to take the opportunities to attend any overseas events are possible. Personal stories were shared about how these opportunities have impacted and changed their lives and these individuals would love to see these stories continue. A long day had us all crash into bed early.
Wednesday morning started with Reflections by Singapore and we dived straight in to success stories from 6 of the MOs in different areas. Japan shared their tips on succession planning and Bangladesh and Taiwan spoke about the retention of members. India shared their community development project and Korea spoke about their success with organising their Girls Day. However all of the Australians were particularly impressed with the story of the Philippians success with their Adolescent Female Health Development. This is focused on the peer education of its members in the areas of adolescence, health education, gender and sexuality, STI/HIV/AIDS and Violence against women and children. We were shown various videos that have been used in their project and we all came away with several ideas for MDG and Youth related projects.
Following lunch we were given a bit of a break and broken up into small groups to do some story telling and painting. We were given a scenario to finish and as a group we had to decide what happened to the girl involved. Between the groups, we discovered 3 cures for breast cancer, a cure for HIV/AIDs and several girls grew up to have chairperson positions at a National, Regional or even WAGGGS level- obviously we all passionately believe the impact that Guiding can have on a young girl.
The sessions finished with the topic of WAGGGS’ voice and we started with a guest speaker who shared his passion with climate change and the impact on the Maldivian environment. This was followed by a World Board member who focused on the types of voices that WAGGGS has recently had, including an opportunity for myself to share the Australian experience of COP15 and everything that my friends who attended had shared with me. It made me especially proud of the 4 who attended to share the challenges that they had given to GGA and I particularly enjoyed pointing out my friends in the photos that had been displayed.
We finished Wednesday with a free night and we FINALLY got the chance to swim in the Indian Ocean... only to decide after 5 minutes that it was waaaaay to cold and that we would try again tomorrow when it was daylight and warmer!
Maldives- Entry 4
Thursday, the last day of the Conference went by in a blur. We met our waiter friend Mohammad, who had been looking after us all week, at breakfast and presented him with the official koala thankyou pin. Jo made the speech and I’m not quite sure how crazy he thought we all were, but he smiles and accepted it all the same. Much different from the first day where we got in trouble for moving the tables around. I think he got used to us.
The last of the sessions looked at Monitoring and Evaluation and we put this into practice by completing several evaluations on the last week and the sessions included. This was followed by the most stressful of the sessions with the voting of the proposals that had occurred as well as the election of the new Asia Pacific Committee. The three current committee members that stood for re-election were accepted, as well as new members from Singapore, Thailand and New Zealand. Lih Jeng Low from Singapore was elected as the new chairperson for the committee. After a lot of celebration and excitement, we finished the conference with the official closing, including presents and certificates. We had a slideshow of photos that had been taken of all of the participants and organisers and once again there was a lot of celebration and excitement. And singing, a bit of dancing and a lot of photographs.
We had a little bit of free time before dinner and campfire, so Lynne, Helen and I ventured back into the Indian Ocean- it was much warmer this time- and enjoyed the beautiful waves and sunshine. It was over too soon however and we had to get ready for campfire, which was led by myself and several other young people. Australia got the show started and everyone joined in singing ‘Cuddly Koalas’ and ‘Boom Chicka Boom’- two of my favourite campfire songs. The night finished with a BBQ dinner, even more dancing, talking and photographs, and eventually we made our way back to our huts to start packing.
It’s been an absolutely amazing week and I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to attend in the future! Tomorrow we are going on a short tour of Male before we split up- Lynne, Helen and Jo will be staying on a couple of extra days with a home-stay, while I will start the journey home tomorrow night.
2010 is the Centenary of Guiding and the Year of the Girl Guide. To celebrate, why not try our Centenary Challenge?
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