Fiji: A Guide Camp to Remember

Every week for the past month I've been coming into town to help plan Fiji's Girl Guide Centenary Camp with the other leaders on Ovalau Island. Over the weekend the camp finally happened and was the culmination of a lot of meetings where I didn't understand a lot of what was being said (fast Fijian discussions!), so I was a bit apprehensive at first(!), but the camp turned out to be a spectacular event which I'm so, so pleased I could take my girls to.

This is the biggest Girl Guide Camp to ever happen in Fiji and girls battled through severe flooding in Suva and travelled for hours from many other islands to get to Levuka, Ovalau. It's been a very exciting experience for the whole of Fiji and girls have been on the radio talking about their journeys to the camp.

On the first night of the camp myself and the other Lattitude volunteers on Ovalau and Moturiki were invited to the VIP Dinner with the British High Commissioner (His Excellency), the invited guest speaker for the camp. It was such an exciting evening and very, very cool to be invited to a.... diplomatic dinner! Drinks were on Her Majesty and I was able to eat pasta for the first time in a month (with lobster and chicken also on the table!). I can't imagine me having that opportunity anywhere else but Fiji!

Saturday started with a very early wake up call before going on a march around the colonial town of Levuka. After this there was another ceremony and speeches from Fiji's Chief Guide, The British High Commissioner and other important officials. After this, there was some traditional Fijian entertainment before a talent display from the girls. I'm really proud of my girls who put on a play on how Guides began, which included them dressing up as Boy Scouts! My girls have been practicing dances (mekes) and this play for the past few weeks almost every day after school. I'm really proud of them and they did brilliantly in front of all the crowds.

It was my job to organise all the games for the camp.... games for 300 girls from across Fiji for 2 hours! This was the part of the camp I was most stressed about - gathering equipment, leaders to run the games, teaching the leaders the games, putting the girls into groups, timing the games... etc etc.! But the games went brilliantly which made me so so happy! Ten stations were set up and the girls rotated around the field to try out each new game, with active games interspersed with more relaxed games. At my games station I taught the girls some silly camp songs from the UK and it was so great for me to wander around the camp and hear snippets of my songs being sang by all these girls.

At the closing ceremony I was asked to get the girls to sing the song I taught them again and it was such an amazing experience having 400 girls and leaders singing "It was a crocodile...." at you at the top of their voices in Fiji. Another amazing thing is that I was asked to sit next to Fiji's Chief Guide during the closing ceremony which is such a great honour and a guiding experience I won't forget!

I'm so glad I could celebrate 100 Years of Girl Guides in such a special place, what an experience! I hope I can come back for another of Fiji's Girl Guide Camps in the future and I hope my girls are leaders and rangers there by that time.

After the camp ended and the girls from other islands had left to get the ferry, I got a text from a friend I'd made during the camp. She said the whole ferry was singing the song I taught them. I think you can imagine the smile that broke out on my lips!