Why Guiding is the ULTIMATE Choose Your Own Adventure

There’s nothing like a Guiding trip to empower girls to see the world – and themselves – in a whole new way. Bonus – it’s a pretty awesome way to find your global girl squad, too. With applications closing Monday, October 30 for our 2018 nationally sponsored trips, three girls share the impact a Guiding trip has had on them:

My passport to adventure

My passport has taken me on some of the best Girl Guide adventures of my life – the best by far was Mexico. The day I arrived with 10 other girls from Canada at Our Cabana – a WAGGGS World Centre – is a day I’ll never forget. As with anyone venturing to a new place, I was filled with excitement, wonder, and a slight sense of insecurity as I didn’t know what to expect. However, the Our Cabana team welcomed us into their centre, which shortly became my home away from home.

I met so many different girls from different walks of life and made everlasting friendships that still thrive, though we are millions of miles apart. At Our Cabana we learned to be very thankful for what we had, the food we ate, and the friends we made. This lesson became very real to me during one event where we invited an orphanage to Our Cabana to participate in activities with us. During our activity we made paper bag puppets with the children and they loved it! It seemed like such a simple craft but it really opened my eyes to what little these kids had and overwhelmed me with joy to see them become so excited over what we had done with them.

This is an adventure I will forever cherish. Years from now I will look back on the impact I helped make because of Girl Guides and the person I have become because of my experience in Mexico.

Kaitlin

Setting my sights on the world

My trip to Ireland and the IGGNITE camp had endless adventures and I love that I got to participate in every single one. The biggest adventure of all might just be all the amazing girls I met. And it turns out that swapping and trading crests proved to be the ultimate way to meet other members of the global Girl Guide squad. I loved being able to trade with so many girls and I got to know many of them well. I am pretty sure every time I went to my tent or the washroom there would be someone hollering my name up and down the rows of campsites trying to find me to trade. It was cool getting to meet so many girls from around the world, and sharing a bit of Canada with them.