Our first meeting of December was spent working on the Say No to Violence Challenge as part of Girl Guides of Canada's 16 Days of Action Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign. As the girls arrived, they were asked to draw and cut out their handprint on white paper for an activity later in the evening.We held our usual opening, followed by an active game. The girls had been asked to bring items to donate to a women's shelter, including brushes and combs, shampoo, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Before moving into the evening's activities, we had a discussion about "What is violence against women?", "What is a Women's Shelter?" and "What is conflict?" to familiarize the girls with the terms and topics we would be addressing.
Our first activity was from the Instant Meeting - Defining Conflict. We had a poster of a girl and asked the Guides to share examples of violence, conflict and bullying and added them to the poster, showing their impact on a person. This led into a brief discussion about experiences the girls have had or observed.
The second activity we did was adapted from the Girl EmPower Challenge - Taking the Temperature. We had a series of slips of paper with examples of actions that could indicate a relationship is healthy or unhealthy. The girls split up into their Patrols and we had a relay race to place the slips onto a thermometer (red or hot for unhealthy statements and blue or cold for healthy statements). Once the statements were in place, we reviewed them and discussed what made each statement healthy or unhealthy.
We then moved on to Conflict Resolution Skits (based on the Conflict Resolution activity in the Instant Meeting pack). Before beginning, we reviewed assertive communication and asked the girls to use the tips in their skits. The girls divided up into 5 groups and made skits on the following:
- A friend calls you a mean name.
- Your cousin plays a game and doesn't let you join in.
- A classmate makes fun of you because you didn't do the craft properly.
- Your sister or brother breaks something and then blames you.
- A teammate doesn't want you on their team because she says you aren't good at that sport.
Our final activity was also from the Instant Meeting pack - Dove Handprints. The girls glued their white handprints onto coloured paper, added features to make a dove and then underneath, wrote ways they could stop violence or promote peace at home, at school, or in the community.
- Stop animal abuse.
- You can stand up for your friends.
- Don't exclude others because they aren't good at a sport or you don't like them.
- Don't tell rumors about people.
- Stand up for women having trouble.
- Stop bullying before it happens.
- Stick up for people that are bullied. Include people. Don't call people names. Help hurt people. Don't hurt each other. If someone's calling people names, tell them to stop.
- Be truthful.
- Don't call people names.
- Be a lover, not a fighter.
- Don't Lie.
- Always tell the truth.
- Treat people the way you want to be treated.
- Peace. Be nice.
- Don't pollute the water.
- Peace on earth. Help out by caring for others.
