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 :)