First Briefing

This weekend, we had our first briefing. The first time that everyone who has been selected to undertake a GOLD project in 2014 got together since INTOPs. There are 8 teams: Cambodia, Sri Lanka, The Gambia, Malawi, Guyana, Peru, Ukraine and, obviously, Latvia. There are participants from all over the UK, ranging from Bognor Regis and Plymouth (and possibly beyond) in the South, to Aberdeen in the North, with everywhere in between covered too. 

Map of UK showing where we all came from

With the support of Anna, the National GOLD Co-ordinator; Carly, one of the Events Co-ordinators for Girlguiding; and the two fabulous cooks, Cara and Marie; we dived head first into the tasks of getting to know each other (does anyone snore? who's accident prone? and what's your favourite gummy bear flavour?), making the first decisions for our projects (what colour hoodies should we have?), laying out our expectations for ourselves (shower) and our Team Leader, Alice (be Switzerland, and provide gummy bears...), as well as having so many other important discussions. 

The sun came out and so did we! Team Latvia 2014

Interspersed with these discussions, the Team Leaders of the various projects lead us through sessions on fundraising, culture shock, health and well being, the GOLD journey, PR, kit and packing, and group roles. Whilst some of it I knew from previous travels, it was all interesting and useful, and allowed both leaders and participants the chance to dispense knowledge, hints and tips from the wide experiences we've all had. 

It was great to learn so much, and for me, I learnt two main things. Firstly, the session on culture shock allowed me to put some theory behind what I've felt so many times before. I've felt it, I've experienced it, I've dealt with it, but I don't think I've ever really understood it, so it was awesome to be able to reflect on past experiences and put words to how I was feeling at those times. 

Secondly, I came to realise that, whilst GOLD is a guiding project, when it all comes down to it, it is a Community Action Project. It's developing youth organisations overseas, and I think when it comes down to me talking to the general public about what I'm doing, that's a clear way of explaining that this is not just another one of my guiding jaunts. It's through guiding, and it's developing guiding, but strip away all of that, and I'm going out to Latvia to help young people over there to have an organisation that they can be proud of. Like I'm proud of Girlguiding. 

Oh, and we also had a chance to have fun, with our first night of acting under duvets, and our second night of Winter Olympic themed chaos (including an appearance from Clare Balding - and a tweet from the ACTUAL Clare Balding!), it was great to be having so much fun with new (and old) friends! 

OMGosh - It's Clare Balding!!! 

(Photos taken by Anna - sorry I stole them!) 

Making A Difference

During my fundraising, I am always on the look-out for grants and awards to apply for, which will help me towards achieving my goal of £2000 for GOLD. These grants sometimes have the most simple questions (Name, Age, Describe your trip...), and sometimes, they ask for more complicated things. Today, I have been trying to fill one out which asked the question:

Please tell us how this grant will make a difference to you as a person

Well. That threw me. I'm not doing GOLD to make a difference to myself. I'm doing it to help other countries, and their Guide (and Scout) organisations - in my case, that's Latvia. I went to both India and Finland for myself, and whilst both of those opportunities did involve me helping other people (as staff in both instances), I purely did it because I wanted to go, I wanted to experience things, to develop, to change... The helping people was an added bonus. But this one, Latvia, this time, wanting to go is the bonus. It's not like I woke up one day and thought "Of all the countries in the world, Latvia will have the biggest impression on who am I as a person." It's not even like there's a cool camp happening there that I really want to be involved in, and I have to go as staff because I'm too old to be a participant. There's a project to help people, to help Guiding, and I want to help. I'm there to make a difference to other people, not to me.

But I know that at the end of the day, whatever your motives, everything you do in life makes a difference to you. But I don't know how. So I closed the grant form, and left it for another day... and then I had a flash of inspiration, and I wrote...

I have been lucky enough to attend a wide variety of Guiding events throughout my life, and each one has made a difference to me in ways that I never expected, and often don't realise until a long while after the end of the event. Sometimes it will be skills learnt and developed, whether leadership or teamwork, or practical (how to cook for and serve 3,500 hungry Scouts and Guides). Sometimes it will be future opportunities arising, getting more involved in WAGGGS, or the chance to help run the next event. More often than not, it will be friendships gained that become more important than I could have imagined.

Right now, I anticipate that GOLD will help me to develop my "transferable" skills - including organisation, time-keeping and in training others (useful for both my Guiding life and my career), and to allow me to experience new ways of Guiding and Scouting that I can bring back to the UK and use within my own local guiding. However, I have no way of knowing the full extent to which this grant will make a difference to me personally, but I am excited to make that discovery.

Unfortunately, the box on the grant form is too small for that answer, so I'll have to re-write it more succinctly, but I think it's important for me to remember that this will make a difference to me as well as Latvian Guides and Scouts.

PS. if you know of any grants/awards that may be able to help with my fundraising, please let me know - I love filling in their forms!

PPS. - if you personally want to donate some money towards my trip, my justgiving account can be found here.

Thank you!

I'd just like to post a brief, but heartfelt, thank you to Girlguiding Leicestershire for their generous contribution towards my trip. I arrived home from my non-Guiding travels to a totally unexpected, and rather large, cheque, and as always, a lovely letter from the County Commissioner.

Having grown up in Leicestershire, and under the wing of the incredible Leaders that this county seems to have in abundance, I am all too aware of the impact they have had on my life, and I am so grateful that they continue to support my Guiding adventures. 

Thank you so much to everyone!