Thursday -the journey of the frog

Our morning started with reflection and we learned of ‘the journey of a frog’ and how we often need to close our ears to negativity which may put us off course in our journey.

WAGGGS Chief Executive Mary Mc Phail led the sessions on advocacy. Advocacy, for many of us, was a new concept in Guiding and Scouting. We examined the meaning and how is used within our organization. Following this first session we were energized, full of hope and enthusiasm for our future role in advocacy.

Girls worldwide say “together we can change the world”. This is WAGGGS theme for the next six years and we learned of how this theme was developed. The theme will focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In regional groups, we had a chance to apply the eight steps to achieving advocacy, in relation to a Millennium Development Goal. This gave us a greater understanding of the process of advocacy and an opportunity to work out examples of how to turn a Millennium Goal into an advocacy issue. This gave us a different outlook on our own countries.

It was then time to get active outside Our Chalet. Through the moving gallery we had the chance to “meet” influential world figures and discover their contributions towards changing the world and how we can learn from them.

International Night

After dinner we had the unique journey around the world with our International night. Each region was represented in different forms of song, dance and national costume, often joining many countries together to become one. The tables were laden with food, drinks, nibbles and gifts from the four corners of the world. While we are typing this, the party still goes on with lots of laughter, songs from different parts of the world.

Elbrus Patrol 
Rachel (Ireland), Marta (Hungary), Chihiro (Japan), Naa (Ghana), Toyin (Nigeria), Rachael (U.K.), Ida (Sweden), Samah (Sudan) and Stephanie (Peru)

Key learnings

• Sometimes we can hear negative advice, but it is up to us to decide whether or not we take it on board
• Advocacy is a systematic conscious process
• We can change our world through advocacy
• We discovered a new world of knowledge in how to motivate other people to follow us in our paths
• We discovered the advantage of a positive celebrity status
• We discovered the importance of networking and team work