The London girl trip was a trip to inspire young girls that have leadership potential to stay within the movement to understand what it to be a girl, to learn about self confidence, international issues and to take part in the world wide movement celebration called World Thinking Day. To a lot of girls that we left with, this was also an opportunity to network with people that are part of this world wide family and also to see what they can learn from other girl guides around the world.
My trip to London became one of those life changing experiences you only get to experience once. The day I left with 9 girls from the office was filled with confusion, doubt, stress and panic as for the first time it finally hit me that I was on my way to a country I have never been to before and on top of that was one of the leaders for 15 young girls who had all their trust in 3 leaders. On my way to the airport my mind was buzzing with different emotions and feelings but upon my arrival at Pax Lodge and after a short introductory to all the girls I felt calm and I knew that this was going to be a great 4 days.
My trip to London became one of those life changing experiences you only get to experience once. The day I left with 9 girls from the office was filled with confusion, doubt, stress and panic as for the first time it finally hit me that I was on my way to a country I have never been to before and on top of that was one of the leaders for 15 young girls who had all their trust in 3 leaders. On my way to the airport my mind was buzzing with different emotions and feelings but upon my arrival at Pax Lodge and after a short introductory to all the girls I felt calm and I knew that this was going to be a great 4 days.
The first 2 days were filled with different program activities and even though the sun was shining in London we all knew we were here for something bigger than that. I meet the most extraordinary group of young girls from different parts of Norway who were just as excited to be part of the World Thinking Day celebration and to be in London. The theme for World Thinking Day was girl guides around the world say stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases and as the group of Norway our own theme was being a scout girl in the world. With this being the theme I was able to do my HIV/AIDS presentation workshop which was a huge success with the girls and which turned out to be an informative session that was packed with good discussions. I also had a workshop about being a girl in the world, and was able to analyse to the girls that steriotyping women and not realizing that you are just a lucky generation that already had a group of strong women to fight for your rights is not only unfair but also a bit arrogeant.It was after these workshops that I finally was able to see that we were on a trip with well informed, mature, reflected and eager to learn young group of women. The sessions that were conducted but my fellow leaders were just as informative and opened up discussions about what is it to be girl and what it means to be a scout.
We were in an international environment at Pax Lodge and the girls were able to meet girl guides from countries such as the UK, Benin, South Korea and the United States. The day we spent at Pax Lodge attending the different world thinking day activities gave our girls an opportunity to see how different scouts around the world do scouting and an opportunity to learning about different countries. We also attended an international campfire that was a fusion of songs from all he different countries that were represented during world thinking day. During this time the Norwegian guides were included in the program and got an opportunity to teach the other scouts a Norwegian shout.
The trip to London can be summarized as a trip that was extremely important for the girl guides in Norway as it was an opportunity for them to witness first hand just how big of a movement they are part of and also to meet their fellow guides. It was also an opportunity for them to look outwards rather than inwards. It gave them an opportunity to see the differences between scouting around the world, thus making them more appreciative of what they have here at home. The girls got to not only see London a beautiful country but also to learn and appreciate being a girl scout. But most of all the girls got to feel special and were able to make new international friendships. The group of girls we had in London are definitely the cream of the crop, they are the girls that are going to lead the scout movement one day. All the girls I meet have such great potential and I am eager to see where they will be in the next 10 years.
For me personally this trip reminded me of the importance of speaking and grooming young minds at an early age. It made me realise the passion I have for youth development and making a difference in people’s lives. It thought me responsibility in a big magnitude, but most of all it made me fall in love with scouting even more.
The best trip any leader could ever wish for and working along side a great team of two leaders Maja and Marianne. So i am guessing none of the other GoCy just like me can believe that we only have 2 months left in the places we have called home for the past 7 months. I know i will treasure all my memories of Oslo and Norway for as long as i live whethere good or bad and i am hoping that we all come out better, stronger, more ambitious people that are driven by making a diffrence on other peoples lives.
We were in an international environment at Pax Lodge and the girls were able to meet girl guides from countries such as the UK, Benin, South Korea and the United States. The day we spent at Pax Lodge attending the different world thinking day activities gave our girls an opportunity to see how different scouts around the world do scouting and an opportunity to learning about different countries. We also attended an international campfire that was a fusion of songs from all he different countries that were represented during world thinking day. During this time the Norwegian guides were included in the program and got an opportunity to teach the other scouts a Norwegian shout.
The trip to London can be summarized as a trip that was extremely important for the girl guides in Norway as it was an opportunity for them to witness first hand just how big of a movement they are part of and also to meet their fellow guides. It was also an opportunity for them to look outwards rather than inwards. It gave them an opportunity to see the differences between scouting around the world, thus making them more appreciative of what they have here at home. The girls got to not only see London a beautiful country but also to learn and appreciate being a girl scout. But most of all the girls got to feel special and were able to make new international friendships. The group of girls we had in London are definitely the cream of the crop, they are the girls that are going to lead the scout movement one day. All the girls I meet have such great potential and I am eager to see where they will be in the next 10 years.
For me personally this trip reminded me of the importance of speaking and grooming young minds at an early age. It made me realise the passion I have for youth development and making a difference in people’s lives. It thought me responsibility in a big magnitude, but most of all it made me fall in love with scouting even more.
The best trip any leader could ever wish for and working along side a great team of two leaders Maja and Marianne. So i am guessing none of the other GoCy just like me can believe that we only have 2 months left in the places we have called home for the past 7 months. I know i will treasure all my memories of Oslo and Norway for as long as i live whethere good or bad and i am hoping that we all come out better, stronger, more ambitious people that are driven by making a diffrence on other peoples lives.
PEACE OUT!!!
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