Our second meeting in April was spent earning the Going Global Service Bar and learning more about education and Fair Trade. We started the meeting off by filling in physical fitness logs for the week, followed by our usual opening and an active game.
The first activity was called Picture Your World and comes from the Right Now! resource book from Girlguiding UK. The Guides were divided into 3 uneven groups and given supplies to draw pictures of their favourite parts of Guiding. Group A had 2 girls, 2 sheets of paper and a box of new markers. Group B had 4 girls, 2 sheets of paper, and a mixture of markers and pencil crayons (some not working well). Group C had 10 girls, 1 small sheet of paper, and a mixture of markers and pencil crayons (most not working well). The groups could look at what the others had, but couldn't borrow items or get supplies that they weren't given. We ended the activity with a discussion where the girls shared how they felt with the supplies they received and what they observed about the other groups. We also discussed the differences in education around the world.
Our next activity was to Assemble School Kits from the supplies that were collected at Thinking Day. Supplies, including notebooks, pencils, erasers, rulers and pencil crayons will be sent to the Mennonite Central Committee for distribution around the world.
The rest of the meeting was spent on an activity called The Trading Game, also from the Right Now! resource. In this activity, the Guides were divided up into 6 groups representing 2 wealthy countries, 2 middle countries, and 2 poor countries. Each country was given supplies to make bracelets. The wealthy countries received 3 colours of beads, string to make one bracelet, tape, ruler, scissors, and 6 bank notes; the middle countries received 1 colour of bead, a different type of bead, string to make two bracelets, tape and 4 bank notes; the poor countries received 1 colour of bead, string to make many bracelets and 2 bank notes. The countries then had to start making bracelets that met the game requirements (25cm in length, 3 different colours of beads). The Guides soon realized that they would need to trade and/or purchase supplies from each other in order to complete their bracelets and began coming up with strategies to get the supplies they needed. We ended the activity with a brief discussion about Fair Trade and how the bracelets they had made will be donated to Sangam, where they are sold for $0.20 to $0.25 in the shop to raise money to support community programs.
