Day One

A day of new friendships!

Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony was really grand with a march-in by the Girl Scouts of Philippines (they were really neat!) followed by a few speeches. What struck us the most was the keynote speech.

Ms Regina Gina Lopez was the keynote speaker, and through her short presentation, she shared with us her various efforts in helping to improve the lives of others. One of the projects is the cleaning up of the Pasig River, which would allow residents to have access to clean water. The project was so meaningful and the presentation was really very inspiring and motivating, and it inspired us to be like Ms Lopez and to initiate our own projects which can help the society and give back to society.

Mrs Lopez giving her inspiring keynote speech (:

Ms Jessie Tan, Mrs Mindi Peter of Girl Guides Singapore, with members of the Girl Scouts Philippines, taking a photo with performers who played wonderful music (:

Us with Mrs Loh Wai Fong, Mrs Mindi Peter and a member of the GSP with the adorable brownies (:

The stage with the impressive backdrop -- a kaleidoscope pattern!

Three girls leading some songs before the ceremony began

And finally, the renewal of the Guide Promise (:

Summit Sessions

During the Summit sessions, we learnt more about the Asia Pacific Region’s 40 years of history. Under the theme of “Coming together, Working together, Playing together and Planning together”, we were introduced to the different stages of the region’s history and gained a better insight of how the various Member Organisations (MO for short) were interconnected. Wow, we didn’t realize how big Girl Guides is as an organization!

Ms June Cameron (Chairman of Asia Pacific region) started Session 2 with a reflection on “Looking forward, looking backward”, before going into how the AP Region and the MOs could cope with the major challenges faced by Girl Guiding/Girl Scouting currently. We never knew Girl Guides faced such big problems until that session. Usually, we were only familiar with what happens in Girl Guides Singapore, but the session gave us increased awareness on the whole Asia Pacific region. We also classified the main problems in the AP Region, that is – Membership, Programme for Girls, Training for Adults, Effective Management, Managing Competition and Partnerships and Financial Management & Funding.

While the adult leaders attended breakout sessions among themselves, the Girl participants had a whale of a time with energizers and discussions led by Ms Febe Paat. The icebreakers were really cool and allowed us to know more about each other. The discussions also enabled us to learn from each other and understand the organization as a whole.

We got to know more about the problems of Girl Guides/ Girl Scouts that other MOs face, e.g. decreasing number of girls joining Girl Guides/Girl Scouts, lack of funds to carry out programmes and an ‘uncool’ image of Guides.

Welcome Campfire

This was one of the fabulous parts of the Summit. The Girls were part of the organizing committee for the campfire – there were emcees, song leaders, short messages and performances… all by the Girls! There was even the AP Top 40s Song Charts – we had a list of songs from which we could choose to play/sing during the campfire, and participants were asked to vote for 40 of their favourite songs. Why 40? That’s because 2009 is the 40^th Anniversary of the Asia Pacific Region!

There were also performances put up by the various MOs, and yes, Girl Guides Singapore had their own song and dance performance! We (Sarah & Xin Yun) wore a sarong kebaya and did a simple fan and ribbon dance to the song Singapura and Home, while the Adult Leaders were showing off their beautiful voices behind us (:

To sum it all up, Day One was great fun!

Day Two

Getting to know one another better!

Reflections

Every morning, a Member Organisation would conduct Reflections. It is a time for all to reflect and the Member Organisation would lead us by preparing various presentations. (This is something like Guides' Own, where we sit down and reflect before/ after the day's events.) Girl Guides Association of Thailand started Day 2 with their reflections, themed "Unity in Diversity", and shared with us how we are part of a diverse but united organisation. This is totally true and it's really nice that although the different MOs and Guides have different and diverse cultures and ways of doing things, we are all connected by WAGGGS and more importantly, the Guiding Spirit :)

Summit Sessions

Ms Mengfei Wu, Ms Grace Tam, and Ms Gloria Echaluce facilitated Session 4, which explored the resources and opportunities provided by WAGGGS. Issues covered include the Global Action Themes (GATs) which is in line with the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), centenary celebrations (check out our GGS website for information on this exciting event coming up this year!), advocacy, membership and retention, and WAGGGS’ six areas of concern that would help develop quality and quantity of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting.

Frankly speaking, we initially did not have a clue about these issues, but after a few Summit sessions, we gained a better understanding of what these issues are and what the Summit was about. The Summit was a time for us to review our programmes and structure etc., to find problems and to rectify them. It's to make Girl Guiding more fun for you and me and to expand our membership!
Thereafter, breakout sessions were conducted and adult leaders headed off to various sessions to discuss how members can make use of the resourses provided by WAGGGS. They also talked about the challenges their member organization faces and recommended solutions.

On the other hand, the girls participated in a separate session to brainstorm ways in which we could help to improve the Guiding programme.

This was followed by the next session where the girls presented their discussions to the adult leaders. It sounds scary, right? We were rather nervous at first and didn't really dare to express our views, but turns out that the adult leaders were totally cool with us being straightforward and frank about the problems. This turned out to be an interesting session as the girls had an opportunity to express their thoughts, while the adult leaders asked questions or contributed to what was said. They really valued our opinions! From here, we learnt that to rectify the problems faced, it's essential to get opinions first hand from the Guides themselves, to know how they feel, in order to propose new and effective solutions.

Excursion to Sonya’s Gardens

This definitely has to be one of the highlights of the whole trip! We had a break from the sessions and got to travel in a Jeepney - the most common form of transportation in the Philippines! :D It was great feeling the wind in your hair wihle traveling on the Jeepney. During the ride there, we made friends with 2 Girls - Anum and Simona from Pakistan :D

The Gardens were beautiful and the flowers were really lovely. There were many great photo opportunities too! Dinner after that was simply delicious. We ate till our stomachs threatened to burst (the dessert was kind of sinful but heavenly :D).

Movie Screening

An optional activity was held in the evening during which a movie of the history of Guiding was screened. There were even packets of popcorn given out and an ice-cream cart that sold cheese and macapuno (a coconut variety) flavoured ice-cream. The ambience was really fantastic that night. The girls also met up to teach on another a few action songs that we intended to use as energizers the next day. We had a great time and this also served as a bonding session :)

Day Three

Working together to form ideas!

Reflections

Day 3's reflections were conducted by Australia, entitled, "Together We Can Change the World". They also sang a lively song they composed on the Global Action Themes.

Summit Sessions

The girls led a session comprising of an action song - Making Melodies, and the room was filled with laughter as we did funny actions.

Thereafter, adult leader attended a talk by Ms Deanie Lyn Ocampo, Executive Vice President of Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran Foundation, Inc. on how effective NGOs operate. She shared her experiences as a mover in a non-governmental organization, as well as the many challenges that her foundation is facing. She imparted three important lessons: valuing inter-generations in an organization, investing early in succession planning and moving courageously and creatively to new beats in response to the needs of the time.

The next session on the factors hindering Member Organizations' effectiveness was facilitated by Ms June Cameron. During the session, the lack of courage to change, lack of clear vision and mission, element of fear, lack of clarity in roles and internal conflict were identified as the factors.

In a separate session, the girls had a dialogue session with Ms Mengfei Wu, Regional Director of the Asia Pacific Region. We got to know more about her personal experiences, such as how she became the director of the Asia Pacific Region and some of her goals.

This was then followed by an activity, where we chose our favourite shapes. We then explained why we liked that particular shape. For example, some of us liked the circle, as it represented a never-ending journey. Our facilitators then explained to us how these shapes could represent our personalities and working styles.

The next session was a very enjoyable one for the girls as we got to have a taste of what it was like to be participating in a Peer Education Programme. The programme was conducted by five trained Peer Educators from the Girl Scouts of the Philippines. Each of them specialises in one of the five topics relating to adolescent health. Regine focuses on Adolescence, Angelica on Fertility Awareness, Teesha on Gender and Sexuality, Kyla on STI / HIV / AIDS and Michelle on Violence Against Women and Children. They shared games, videos and presentations with the girls and everyone had a great time. We were also amazed by how well they knew about their topic and by the fact their commitment to this programme as when we were told that they travel throughout the Philippines to conduct this programme.

The last summit session of the day was on building a vision. Adult leaders and girls formed groups to carry out discussions. However, besides discussing and writing down ideas, we also searched for photos using magazines, and used them to represent our ideas. At the end of the session, each group presented its vision and the components that were pieced together to form the vision.

Market of Ideas

Day 3 ended with the Market of Ideas. It was a great opportunity to exchange ideas with other countries on our programmes and what we do to tackle the 6 major problems that Guiding is facing. Each Member Organization set up a stall to "sell" their ideas. Many even used creative marketing strategies such as distributing samples and showing videos! At the end of this activity, there were lots of singing and dancing to the song, "Nobody". This was led by the Girl Scouts of Korea and the atmosphere for brought to an even higher level with GEPSIE, the mascot of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines!

Day Four

Committing ourselves to our goals!

Reflections

On the last day of the summit, Taiwan led the reflections session using the theme, "Kaleidoscope". They shared with us their thoughts on how we could contribute to society, and sang songs such as "What a Wonderful World".


Summit Sessions

Day 4's summit sessions were started of with a session where we thought about what we have learnt throughout the summit. Thereafter, we classified statements that were raised during the summit into three categories - Commitment, Suggestion and Affirmation. It might sound easy, but the participants spend quite some time thinking through each statement and deciding which category it should belong to. We even edited some of them so that they represented our views as accurately as possible!

As a conclusion, each Member Organisation were given time to come up with their own statement. This statement comprised of what we envision and our commitments after the summit, when we return to our own countries.

Closing Ceremony

The summit officially ended with a simple outdoor ceremony. Each Member Organizations stuck its statement behind a giant jigsaw puzzle piece. These puzzle pieces were then placed on the ground, forming a kaleidoscope pattern, sumbolic of how we are all working together as one.

After a wonderful message by Ms June Cameron, certificates of participation were given to all participants. The closing ceremony ended with Colours and the participants were then dismissed.

Asia Pacific 40th Anniversary Dinner

Dressed in colourful traditional costumes, participants went to the scenic Taal Vista Hotel and celebrated the Asia Pacific Region's 40th Anniversary. Besides amazing performances and a sumptuous dinner, there were also inspring speeches and an auction to help raise funds!

As the night slowly came to an end, we filled the stage and dance floor for some dancing! From cha cha to "Nobody", everyone had a great time grooving to the beat and we certainly wished we could have gone on all night.

Greatest Takeaways (in no particular order)

What we have gained!

1. Increased awareness of WAGGGS and the AP region: In school during CCA, we only know about Girl Guiding in the school level. After the AP Summit, we now know more about WAGGGS and AP in more detail. It really is interesting and cool to know that you’re part of the world’s biggest female organisation and that you have a part to play too.

2. Increased understanding of Guiding in different countries: There are so many different practices and how they run Guides in other countries. The image of Guiding is totally different in different countries too, like some might find Guides uncool and lame, while in other countries, it is the opposite. The market of ideas was a great opportunity to exchange ideas with other MOs. Even though we might have different programmes and run Guiding differently, it’s nice to know that we’re all working towards a common goal.

3. Friends! We had so much fun getting to know the other 24 girls from 12 different countries. Each night, we would meet up to talk, sing and even dance! It was certainly a great experience learning about different cultures and forging friendships.