International Reports

A Trip to Our Chalet | Gold 2004 in Thailand

My Trip to Our Chalet

Our Chalet Trip, 2004

I was chosen to attend a Leadership and Team Building Seminar at Our Chalet in Switzerland. I flew from Auckland via Hong Kong, London & Frankfurt to Zurich (the long way) and then took 2½ hour train from outside Zurich Airport to Fruitgen (near the Interlaken) and then had to catch a bus for ½ an hour from Frutigen to Adelboden and thankfully Sara, the Chalet manager, was there in the minivan waiting for me. I was one of the last to arrive at the Chalet as most of the 19 group members were there. Our seminar started at 6pm with a quick intro to the Chalet and then dinner. Our seminar coordinator was from Flagstaff (near the Grand Canyon), USA.

We learnt all about different leadership qualities and skills and participated in many team building activities and games. Each night and spare moment we each had to teach a song or game to the group of our country. I taught everyone a Maori stick game, which they all loved.

Everyone had a room and shared with one other person on the third floor of the Chalet with beautiful views of the valley and mountains with snow on the peaks. We went for a five hour hike (walk really) to a beautiful waterfall. On the way home, four of us managed to meet a local farmer who showed us where he kept his cows (wearing bells – like in the book Heidi) which he called the stables for 200 days a year and also his cellar where he makes his award winning 1000kg cheese each year.

Everyone who goes to the Chalet normally gets to visit the local woodchopper who has lots of wooden items both with local displays and guiding ones too. You can get jewellery boxes which play Edelweiss or the Our Chalet song.

It was great to meet the other group members from different countries and different walks of like. There was one representative each from Australia, USA, Maldives, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Denmark, South Korea, Czech Rep and a GUY from Greece; two reps each from Pakistan & Ireland and four from Canada. Some of the group members were still at College or University, one was a Guide Country Secretary, some were teachers (both of children and one was a teacher of adults that taught other teachers about AIDS, etc).

As this was the first Team Building and Leadership course that they had had at the Chalet, we were privileged to write in the Golden Book. The Golden Book is for special celebrations and seminars that are held at the Chalet. The first page has Lord and Lady Baden Powell’s signature. The last entry was 1½ years ago.

Thank you to Guides Auckland and Guides New Zealand who funded my course fee. My Pippins, Brownies and Guides who made little kiwis for me to give away as gifts. I also took necklaces with shells which I got made and badges and diaries and tikis and calendars. I would recommend going to an international event as this is my second (my last one was to a Guide Camp in Singapore in 2002). This trip has inspired me to visit the rest of the world homes. So always keep an eye out for the International page in Guidelines or on your email or in Te Rama.

Gold 2004 – Thailand

GOLD - Thailand 2004 (click for more photos)

What is GOLD 2004? The number of people who ask that question is remarkable and it’s the first question that I asked also. GOLD (Global Opportunities Linked with Development) is a project run by GirlguidingUK for its young leaders with great success. Selected young leaders organise, plan, liaise with the host country, implement then debrief a two to three week training to meet a developing Guiding country’s needs.

For three weeks in November 2004, I escaped Auckland and traveled through Thailand with two other Guides NZ members and three members of Girlguiding UK. We ran three day leader training sessions in Bangkok and Surin (an eight hour train trip northeast of Bangkok), four days in schools in Chiang Mai with 40 selected Bluebirds (Brownies) and Guides. We were also privileged to go to the Guide training centre in Wiang Pa Pao in Chiang Rai province to recharge our batteries and have some fun with the locals. During these three weeks, we were immersed in the Thai culture, treated like royalty and even had a little time to sightsee.

For three months prior to arriving in Thailand, we planned our trainings and sessions that we were to run at the request of the Girl Guide Association of Thailand (“GGAT”). On arrival in Bangkok, we got to know the United Kingdom girls and then finalise the planning prepared by all six of us.

In Bangkok, once we got over the constant traffic noise, the heat and grime, we got stuck into our first training. Although the trainings ran till 6pm, the shops and market stalls were open till late so we all did our best to help the Thai economy. We had dinner up the tallest tower one night and all we could see was lights for miles, there was no empty space anywhere.

The leaders we trained had come from all over Thailand and felt very privileged to attend the trainings for only 40 leaders. The trainings were run in English but translated and by the end of the trip I could count to 10 in Thai (and knew a few phrases). All conversations were held over the microphone so if you didn’t like the sound of your voice, you soon got used to it.

The sessions focused on life skills so this included topics such as teamwork, programme planning, communication, self respect and HIV/AIDS to name but a few. We also sang lots of crazy campfire songs with the leaders and got to know them all very well before it was time to fly to Chiang Mai.

In Chiang Mai we ran programmes in four schools, one day after the other – that was very tiring. Our first day was at a semi-rural school that we drove for over one hour to get to. There were very basic facilities and the Bluebirds there had a wonderful time. The looks on their faces as we drove away said it all – they had a blast and would never forget the time we had with them. Another school we visited was a private school with 2,000 Little Birds (Pippins), Bluebirds and Guides. Upon arrival the 2,000 girls were in the courtyard waiting for us to speak to them all – another impromptu speech.

And just when you were beginning to think we had no fun and just ran our trainings you would be wrong. Chiang Mai is well known for its elephant camps and rides (tick), royal palace (tick) and night market (tick, tick, tick). I think we went to the night market which was just down from GGAT every night – bartering was soooo much fun.

In Wiang Pa Pao we retreated to a bush environment, sleeping in dorm style accommodation with our very own mosquito net. Here we ran some fun round robin activities for the local children and spent some time with the uniform girls.

The uniform girls, as they are known, are a group of about 20 young women in their twenties who make the uniforms for a large part of GGAT. A huge task when you know that Guiding is school based.

The last stop on our trip was in Surin to run a repeat of our leader training in Bangkok (with a few modifications – more songs). In Surin we also attended the annual elephant roundup and watched 200 plus elephants run into the stadium to collect bananas and sugar cane. With horror we realised that our trip was drawing to a close and we would be going home in a few days time. We took the night train (not a lot of sleep was had) back to Bangkok where we got to do some sightseeing in Bangkok – Wat’s (Buddhist temples), the river and a floating market (yes more shopping). We also spent some more hard-earned cash before the most challenging part of our trip – fitting all our shopping into our bags for the trip home – without a breach of the weight restrictions. This was not an easy task and in the end GGAT requested an increase in our weight limits – granted by Thai Airways.

GOLD was an absolutely amazing experience that I will remember forever. For young leaders to be selected to go on a GOLD project (Girlguiding UK has about six on the go with each country receiving five year commitment) the opportunities are endless. For Guides NZ to have been asked at a late stage to take part and to have responded with such a strong team with various skills may have opened up another door for Guides NZ young leaders in the future.

All I can say is watch this space – you may hear more about GOLD yet.

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