This post is part of a series for World Thinking Day 2016.
For our first World Thinking Day ‘Connect’ post, we have a “pen pal” letter for you between Troop Support Specialist Liz and Nazish, who was a Girl Guide in Pakistan and now works in a hospital in Karachi. Read on to hear the similarities and differences between what we do for our communities in River Valleys and Pakistan!
From River Valleys to Karachi, with love…
Hi Nazish,
Thanks for agreeing to connect with us about what we as Girl Guides and Girls Scouts do for our communities! In the USA, Girl Scouts love to help their communities. We complete Journey books to learn what it takes to be a leader. In them, we learn about the three keys to leadership in our Journey books: Discover, Connect, and Take Action. By learning how to be a leader, we can better help our communities.
We like to serve our communities by volunteering at nursing homes, animal shelters, at our schools and libraries. We can sing to people who are sick, pick up litter in a park, or collect food donations for a shelter.
Older Girl Scouts sometimes go to younger troop meetings and help out there too. There are leadership opportunities where we help lead younger girls to complete their own Journey books.
In Girl Scouts, we also learn how to make lasting changes in our communities. We might start a new after-school music club for kids who don’t have music class in school or start a new community garden in a neighborhood without a grocery store. Girls can also earn awards for creating a project to help their community and make lasting changes—these are called Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards.
We love working together and helping our communities! How do YOU help your communities?
Liz, Troop Support Specialist at Girl Scouts River Valleys – St. Paul, MN, USA
Hey Liz,
Hope you are doing well. Here are some of the things we do to help and uplift our communities.
Girl guides in Pakistan have three different booklets for Junior Guides, Girl Guides, and Senior Guides. These books have different components through which Girl Guides learn how to help their community as being a Girl Guide.
Girl Guides here work on project every year from the given list of projects, which includes health and sanitation, economic upliftment, promotion of peace, food and nutrition, adult literary, etc.
Girl Guides do different fundraising activities to raise funds and help who are in need. Girls go to old age shelters, women shelters, orphanages to donate funds and help them.
Girl Guides also paint walls and clean parks to make our environment better.
Regards,
Nazish, Former Girl Guide – Karachi, Pakistan
BONUS:
Want to make some more ‘connections’ with Girl Guides in Pakistan? Have your girls compare the similarities and differences between our Promise and Law and theirs (find Pakistan’s here) and check out their official Facebook page to see photos and posts about some of the great things they do for their communities, including activism for disaster relief, elimination of violence against women, and more!
