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| Our pair group from Orientation |
Yesterday at the
WAGGGS World Conference, we started off with orientation.
As we run through the protocol, it's
amazing to see so many different people come up to speak to our
delegates, speaking in so many languages. At all times, speakers are
being translated into English, French, Spanish and Arabic. The
diversity at the World Conference is inspiring!
During Orientation,
we were asked to turn to someone near to us and introduce ourselves.
We then were asked to pair up with another two groups. Amazingly, I
had the good fortune of being paired with someone from
Dove, Sangam,
and the 5th World Center! It was amazing to be in the company of such a
powerful team and amongst women making such a difference. The
opportunity to pair with them was unbelievable!
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| Over 600 people at the Conference! |
New members into the
organization were voted in. Countries like
Cameroon, South Sudan, New
Guinea, Mongolia, and the Cook Islands, to name a few, were voted
into WAGGGS! It was powerful to see the triumph of the women at WoCo
representing their initiated countries and to know that in these
countries where girls are in great need of leadership, sisterhood,
and support, WAGGGS, it's support network, and its resources will be
there.
Princess Mabel van Oranje of Denmark (pictured left) spoke to the Conference as well, addressing the issue of child marriage world wide. Girls who experience child marriage are more likely to experience domestic violence and rape and permitting the practice to exist undermines global efforts to eradicate poverty, said Princess van Oranje. Girls who give birth under the age of 15 are also five times more likely to die in childbirth than women who give birth in their twenties.
“In too many places, girls are not seen as equal to boys,” she exclaimed-- a truth many of us know all to well. You can check out more info about Princess van Oranje's call to advocate from girls suffering from child marriage at Girls not Brides.
Other orders of business that we ran through were the goals, methods,
and budget for the next triennium, all of which will be voted on for approval later on in
the conference.
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| Connie Matsui at the GSUSA Welcome Reception |
At 6pm, Girl Scouts USA hosted a welcome reception for those of us
from the US! It was great to see the number of Americans who were
there to support Girl Scouts worldwide and the missions of the
WAGGS and GSUSA. We also had the opportunity to hear from
Connie Matsui,
an American running for the World Board (more to come tomorrow on all of the candidates!).
At 7pm, dinner commenced. During dinner we had an
astounding amount
of traditional Chinese food. The courses were brought out, as we in
the US know it as, “family style”-- a large plate was brought out
for the whole table to share. The is the traditional banquet style in
China. Thankfully, a young woman from Hong Kong named Fonnine sat
down next to me and explained all of the different dished.
Interestingly, the rice and noodles come at the very end of the meal
(the end being about 2 hours later!).
Throughout the dinner, we also got
to watch some amazing
traditional shows, such as a one where a man
danced around and swapped off these masks he was wearing. During this
one, the masks moved so fast, I thought it was an electronic mask or
something. But at the end when he swapped off the last one to show
his face in the same manner as all the other masks I realized that
these were actual masks on his face and somehow, as if by magic, he
was flipping between them! Two
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| Korean singers serenade Princess Benedikte |
young girl guides from Hong Kong also
gave a great Chinese opera performance-- at the end I ran up to see
them and was amazing by the amount of makeup and costume they had on!
There was also a troupe of beautiful and costumed young girls doing
what seemed to be a Chinese form of ballet, using sailing fans and
clomping castanets. We also had the chance to watch one of the famous
lion dance (though I always thought they were dragons!), which
reminds me of what I would image to see at the Chinese New Year. And
we wrapped up with this amazing Korean acapella/opera group. They
sang pop classics as well as some opera favorites. Their voices were
unbelievable-- I couldn't imagine such full, strong voices coming
from these young men!!
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| Me with Hong Kong Girl Scouts! |
Overall, dinner was amazing and very reflective of the experience at
the World Conference so far. Women from New Guinea at our table
cheered and ran to the stage when they were recognized for being
voted into WAGGGS. I helped to translate for a group from Sierra
Leone who wanted to tell Mary Jane from our UN NYC Team about the
African Federation they were proposing. One woman at our table was a
candidate for the World Board. And the District Commissioner and
International Commissioner from Hong Kong sat at our table, helping
to answer our questions about China and explain their traditions and
customs. Such an amazing opportunity to sit with people from all
corners of the globe over dinner!
Be sure to follow the World Conference live at #35WoCo on Twitter!
