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International Experiences Uganda Experience with Girlguiding UK It's Never Too Late to Have an International Experience 
I've taken Brownies on Pack Holiday, I have taken Guides to Camp, I joined the local Rangers on a trip to Switzerland and I have been part of an adult team introducing Girlguiding to a region in Russia, but because of family and work commitments I have never volunteered to take lead girls on an International trip. Then I retired and the wider world began to open up for me again. Gill our County International advisor invited me to help with an International weekend which made me a little envious of what the girls were enjoying but Gill quickly made me realise that I too could get more involved and so I applied and went on a selection weekend at Pax Lodge last October and from that was offered a place as part of a team to visit Uganda. WOW! I joined a team of four leaders
and seven Anglia Senior Section members aged between 14 and 19 years.
We were working alongside the Watering Roots Charity to support
the needs of the village of Busembatia and another nearby village
in Uganda. The charity was set up by Rachel Butterfield who, as
part of her Queens Guide Award discovered and fell in love with
Uganda and decided to make a difference. Rachel set up Watering
Roots has been involved with Busembatia for around three years,
supporting the community and the school in achieving some of their
dreams and improving their living conditions, it is only recently
that they have involved group visits During our two week visit we worked alongside many of the local people, building permanent latrines for the less able people, and making them stands for pots and pans. We also delivered beds and bedding, provided through the charity to the most needy who were generally elderly or disabled people. This involved carrying everything between us over a good few miles to get to the village, under a very hot sun, but what made the journey worthwhile was the delight and appreciation of the recipients which was quite overwhelming for some of us. We also spent time with a lot of the children in Busembatia, teaching them simple crafts, singing songs and playing games. I have never ever seen such delight on so many faces when we took out a parachute game, the laughter and excitement was just so enjoyable to see. We worked in Busembatia village school making blackboards, varnishing teachers' desks provided by the local carpenter and making reusable resources by painting and drawing diagrams and charts onto plastic sacks that could be washed and hopefully not eaten by the termites. The charity had arranged for us to take some children on an excursion, firstly to a hotel swimming pool which was a two hour drive away and later on to Bujugali Falls on the Nile. Most of these children had never seen the Nile nor a swimming pool before. Though at first very cautious, they were soon, with some encouragement, splashing around safely in the pool in rubber rings and armbands. Some of the supervising African adults braved the water too, what fun to see a grown man happily trying to swim in Barbie armbands. Some of the older children were really confident in the water and if we had had more time I think we could have had some swimming very quickly. Many were also overawed at the Bujugali Falls and the Nile, never having seen so much water in one place and stood and stared for ages. We learnt a lot about the way of life both in the village and also in the nearby trading town, which always seemed full of sellers but not many buyers. We were invited to an African party where we sampled lots of African food and were entertained with spontaneous song and dance by some of the children. We attended a lively and enthusiastic church meeting and we spent an afternoon, in two's or three's with individual families, getting to know them, hearing about their daily routine and learning to cook African style. We had taken a lot of donated items from toothbrushes, books, puzzles and stationery to clothes and cuddly toys. We spent some time sorting them for specific families with a definite need and also took a tour of the village giving small items out to the many, many children who came to greet us. Having the opportunity to mix with and talk to so many different people has truly enriched my understanding and appreciation of their, often very simple, way of life. The community that we met were very hardworking and as resourceful as they could be considering what little they had. They made us aware that they were not wanting hand outs but wanted the right to have the opportunities, resources and income that they needed to improve, or make changes for themselves and for their children. My visit to Busembatia was a beautiful experience leaving me with so many memories and some lovely new friends. Maybe I will return one day... I certainly hope so. 22nd World Scout Jamboree
2011 On 29 July, we travelled to
Rinkaby just outside Kristianstad, where the Jamboree itself began!
Over the first few days the fields were transformed into a mini
world with pioneered gateways and national flags representing 160
countries. The weather was rainy, but it stayed dry for the opening
ceremony where we heard Bear Grylls and saw many performances about
the history of Sweden including fire eaters and ABBA tributes. The
scale was phenomenal as all 40,000 Scouts and Guides came together,
making it the 4th biggest city in Sweden! Planned activities at
the Jamboree included Dream which we did in the early hours of the
morning after the opening ceremony, a chance for reflection and
activities about life. We were in the Sarek camp within
the Autumn sub-camp; one night within Sarek we rotated for dinner
and ate with a variety of countries. My patrol went to the Netherlands
along with Slovenians and Spaniards, a great chance to make international
friends! On another night, we cooked roast dinner for our unit and
20 international guests. A 13 hour ferry journey then
took us to our home-hospitality in Finland where in small groups
and pairs we stayed with families. My family lived in the countryside
outside of Turku and were lovely and welcoming. We had to use a
phrase book and hand actions to communicate, but this didn't stop
us having fun visiting Turku castle and its sites, high roping,
blueberry picking and relaxing in their Finnish Sauna! The trip was absolutely fantastic with once in a lifetime experiences and a brilliant and fun group of friends. Thank you to the leaders and the Scouts and Guides and also all my sponsors for making it possible. I would recommend anyone to take part in the 23rd World Scout Jamboree in Japan in 2015 - see you there! Sophie Ben Taïeb Diversity/Bedford Division Rangers World Conference Edinburgh July 2012 Back in May I noticed in the
Brownie e-newsletter from CHQ that there were 50 tickets available
for members to attend the opening ceremony of the WAGGGS World Conference
in Edinburgh. I applied and was really surprised when I was allocated
one. After a bit of quick planning I managed to find another couple
of people who were going from Anglia Region and quickly booked flights
and a hotel room. This turn out to be a massive ex-quarry that had been roofed over and turned into a stunning venue. On arrival we were serenaded with bagpipes and greeted by very enthusiastic local Brownies and Guides waving flags. It was really exciting seeing at the delegates from around the world arriving. So many different, uniforms and languages but everyone happy and smiling, chatting and taking photo's a real party atmosphere. The opening ceremony commenced
with pipers, including a young Guide lone piper standing high on
a rock. Guides and Senior Section then climbed up the massive rock
faces to unfurl banners. Gill Slocombe, the new Chief Guide welcomed
all the delegates and guests and then we were entertained by dancing
from Scottish, Brownies, Guides and Senior Section members. The
event really focused on young members and several spoke confidently,
in several languages, to introduce speakers and explain topics.
The evening finished with more dancing, climbing displays, indoor fireworks and streamers all set to great music. We certainly all left on a real high. The next day Sue and I managed
a bit more sightseeing in Edinburgh, taking a bus tour, visiting
the Scottish Guide HQ and Cannongate Kirk ( venue for Zara Philipp's
wedding), before heading back home on the evening flight. Gemma Johnson - Leighton
Buzzard Ranger & Young Leader with Brownies at Eaton Bray My adventure started in November 2009 when I went on a selection weekend at Pax Lodge in London. We were given challenges to complete and I got to know some of the other girls. A few months later I was told that I'd been selected to go to Sweden with 9 other girls from Anglia Guides and the 27 Scouts from the Greater London Middlesex West Scout Unit. I spent the next 16 months fundraising the amount needed and attending the pre-Sweden camps with my Unit where we learnt about pioneering, orienteering, open fire cooking and loads more. The camps also provided an excellent opportunity to make friends with the people we would be living with for nearly 3 weeks! The UK Contingent held a pre-event in Copenhagen and the 4000 Guides and Scouts certainly invaded the city! We stayed in youth hostels along with other Units and acted like typical tourists exploring the city. We were also lucky enough to have a trip on a speed boat, try out new sports like Body Combat and Zumba and visit a theme park - Tivoli Gardens, which was amazing! On my 3rd day in Copenhagen the UK contingent organised a huge party for everyone and the Danish group Alphabeat performed along with many tribute bands with was incredible. Sweden was an experience that I'll never forget! The sheer size of it all was mind-blowing: we were living among 39000 members of Guides and Scout; the site itself was 4 miles wide; there were more countries attending the Jamboree than the amount that attend the Olympic games; 3000kg of popcorn was eaten, along with 68tonnes of carrots, and if you were to line up the butter packets from the Adult food house it would stretch 25km! The site was split into 4 sub-camps - Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring which was just for IST members. Each sub-camp was then split into smaller sub-camps and I was on Sarek in Harvest but we were free to visit the entire campsite so I went on an early morning walk to try and visit as much as I could - it was incredible! Some of the activities that I did include rock climbing, ice climbing, bungee trampolines, water zorbing pioneering on a huge scale and fake snowboarding. There were also modular activities that you did in patrols called Quest, Earth, Dream, People and Global Development Village. All of these activities helped us to grow within ourselves, get to know other people better and learn about how we can change the world, one step at a time. Everywhere that you went you could meet new people from an entirely different culture to your own, who could teach you new things - crafts, games, languages and more. It was so much fun to hear songs and chants from other countries, but there was one chant that everyone knew - "Ogy ogy ogy"! I also got to experience a camp in camp which was 24 hours long and, for me, was hosted by a Swedish Scout group. This was a completely different experience because we went along with only our Patrol as opposed to our Unit and there were no gas cookers, no flushing loos, no showers and no lightweight, nylon tents. But we got to experience a Swedish camp fire, take part in crafts, meet Swedish scouts, go kayaking and…make friends with a small lizard who slept on the outside of our tent! After the Jamboree, the UK contingent organised Home Hospitality for each participant and my Unit went to Finland. Me and my friend stayed with a Finnish family whose 3 girls are all in Scouting. We were made to feel incredibly welcome during the 4 days that we were there and were shown around Turku, the old capital city of Finland, as well as swimming in the Baltic sea, having a sauna every day, meeting with other Guides from my patrol and their families and watching a film with the new friends that we made. It's so sad to think that my experience is very nearly over, we just have one last camp left in a couple of months to report back and share our experiences. I've made friends for life and had an experience of a lifetime! Thank you so much for making this experience possible :) County International Weekend
March 2011 Mexico: Ultimate Get Away
To Our Cabaña Day2: 29th July 2010 - Tour
Bus day! Day3: 30th July 2010 - Chapultepec
Park and Our Cabaña day! Day4: 31st July 2010 - Exploring
the Centre Day! Day4: 1st August 2010 - Tepoztlan
Day! Day5: 2nd August 2010 - Vamos
Day! Day6: 3rd August 2010 - Taxco
Day! Day7: 4th August 2010 - International
Day! Day8: 5th August 2010 - Service
Project Day! Day9: 6th August 2010 - Xochicalco
Day! Day9: 7th August 2010 - Mexico
City Day!
Day10: 9th August 2010 - Return
Day! Sophie Ben Taieb Langford Guides - Italian Adventure in the Aosta Valley 
In August 2010, 20 guides, 4 leaders and a baby set off for Villeneuve - a sunny, medieval town in the Italian Alps. The Aosta Valley is a superb venue for outdoor activities, with beautiful mountain countryside, glacier fed rivers, winding valleys and plenty of fresh air. The programme for the week was a busy mix of adventurous and teambuilding activities - within 20 minutes of arrival at the campsite and lunch the guides were attempting a variety of silly challenges as part of the introductory games. Still reeling from the good news that the tents were already up when we arrived with no requirement for pegging or untangling guys, the guides started to acquaint themselves with their surroundings for the next 7 days and made their introductions to centre staff. The first morning found us making a steep ascent to the climbing site used by the centre - 'real rock!' as one guide exclaimed. Slightly puffed out by the time we got to the top, we kitted up and spent a fun couple of hours climbing and 'squeezing' - a bit like caving but over ground - conquering previously held fears of heights, ants and tuna sandwiches. That afternoon it was the gorge walk. Sounds tame, a pleasant stroll in the countryside perhaps, until you realise it involves manoeuvring through a series of waterfalls. And did we mention the water was fresh off the mountain, barely hours from its previous life as snow! Tuesday will always be fondly remembered by the guides as RAFTING DAY - YAY! The highlight of the week for the adrenaline junkies in the unit, we spent the day learning to white water raft on the river which was fantastic fun. And yep, you guessed it ... the water was on the cold side again! Good job we had our slightly unattractive but very functional 'cags' on over our wetsuits. Wednesday's programme included abseiling from scary heights (more real rock - watch out for the lizards girls!) bouldering and a hill walk. Well a sort of walk; more of an extended games session up the mountain. The game 'Predator' is the new 'corners' in our unit. On Thursday we took the bus into Aosta, a beautiful Italian town, for some all important shopping. Introduced to the wonders of the Italian ice-cream shop, the guides were the quietest we've heard them for a long time! That afternoon we took a leisurely walk, via the park for a picnic, to the outdoor pool in Villeneuve. Friday came around far too quickly and realisation dawned that it was our last full day of activities. We trudged across the local golf course to the canoeing lake, and spent the morning messing around in canoes and kayaks. Great fun, and the brilliant instruction meant that by the end of the session the guides were nearly able to get about without going round in circles! We barely even noticed the rain. After final team challenges on Saturday it was time to clamber back onto the bus for the overnight trip home. Exhausted, but happy, we waved farewell to Villeneuve. We all agreed that we would recommend this sort of trip to everyone (this is our unit's second international trip). The centre staff were fantastic, and the campsite was well equipped. The programme speaks for itself and all the instructors were extremely patient and supportive. With an enthusiastic approach to fundraising - £5,000 over 3 years - we managed to keep the costs very reasonable. And camping at altitude is certainly recommended for those leaders who dread the nightly battle of getting the guides to sleep -we barely heard a peep after 9 each night! The guides have returned as a really close unit after such exiting shared experiences - as a teambuilding experience a trip like this is like nothing else. As for the leaders, we had an amazing time too - well worth all the hard work fundraising - and we're secretly really pleased that the guides are already asking about our next international adventure! katies experience working
at Our Cabanna In Mexico Two successful weekends held
in 2010 - look out for 2011...where in the world will we go next? A taste of Russia comes to Bedfordshire During March and April 2009
international weekends were held at Woodcroft and Mollivers giving
Guides of 12 years old and over the chance to find out a little
about Russia and Guiding internationally We started by blowing eggs
- a bit messy for some! and then decorating wooden spoons. We also
had a 'speed dating' session so that we could get to know each other
better. The next day we painted the eggs and decorated them. We
also made Russian biscuits, international keepsakes and played Russian
games. The food had a Russian theme with a chance for everyone to
try something new. At campfire the girls were encouraged to produce
an entertainment for an international camp. On the Sunday we held
an Olympic Games of sorts...and the girls made up a piece of rhythmic
gymnastics Last updated 12 October, 2011
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