Yesterday I took part in a competition called the Sangam Cup hosted by Sangam which is a World Centre belonging to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
The first challenge was to get a team together and choose a 3 hour time slot in which to compete in the Sangam Cup. Sounds easy but when I put a call out on Facebook asking for people to join me I had a team from all over the world!
Eventually we decided that 1pm UK time would suit everyone best and as the time go nearer, I began to get quite excited! It was an odd feeling though, getting ready for a team challenge when I was home alone.
Then it was time... Ping... An email from India landed in my inbox and I quickly forwarded it on to my team - the Bandar-logs before I opened the document to have a read.
The challenge was a mixture of a scavenger hunt and a quiz. It was split into four sections, Sangam, India, WAGGGS and Silver to Gold (Sangam is preparing for its golden anniversary in a few years time and this challenge is part of Sangam's birthday celebrations this week).
OK this was do-able but where was my team? Quick check of Facebook, there was Tina in Essex - she had her nephews with her but they soon got into the spirit of it creating a warli art birthday card and playing musical chairs (one of the tasks). Silver to Gold became Tina's section.
Eventually we decided that 1pm UK time would suit everyone best and as the time go nearer, I began to get quite excited! It was an odd feeling though, getting ready for a team challenge when I was home alone.
Then it was time... Ping... An email from India landed in my inbox and I quickly forwarded it on to my team - the Bandar-logs before I opened the document to have a read.
The challenge was a mixture of a scavenger hunt and a quiz. It was split into four sections, Sangam, India, WAGGGS and Silver to Gold (Sangam is preparing for its golden anniversary in a few years time and this challenge is part of Sangam's birthday celebrations this week).
OK this was do-able but where was my team? Quick check of Facebook, there was Tina in Essex - she had her nephews with her but they soon got into the spirit of it creating a warli art birthday card and playing musical chairs (one of the tasks). Silver to Gold became Tina's section.
Within 5 minutes Hilary came through on Facebook. Hilary was in Texas and was going to work through the WAGGGS section and set to work on recording herself singing the various songs we were challenged to perform.
Next a text came in from Canada. Rachel had a busy day ahead but had got up early to help out. She took the lead in the India section and had great fun creating more warli art, making chai and counting to 10 in Hindi.
Then there was Suzanne sat in a hotel room in Columbia with only her phone available. Not much help for surfing the internet and little in the way of resources but she did manage to find 47 hair grips in her handbag for another challenge.
An hour in and Lizzie joined us, she was just down the road from me in Sussex but when the internet let her down at home she took herself out to a local café! Not able to sing or dance in the café, she set about helping Hilary with the WAGGGS questions.
By half time I had completed the Sangam section and set to work compiling the other sections - a much bigger job than I had imagined!
There was constant chat happening on Facebook, some sections involved everyone in the team doing something like signing up for a webinar (my first) or following Sangam on Twitter. Other tasks involved us making contact with Sangam through Skype and Facebook.
It was frantic but fun!
As the end of our 3 hours was coming to a close the pace stepped up another notch - everyone desperately sending their last minute tasks through while I tried to compile them into one document - the team started giving me a count down on Facebook - 14 minutes - can anyone do a yoga pose? - 10 minutes - photos posted to Facebook and Sangam Skyped about the videos - 6 minutes - more warli art - 4 minutes - an answer for Silver and Gold #8 - 1 minute - "I've done the world survey" then SEND.
That was it, game over.
As quickly as it had begun it ended.
We hung around on Facebook, chatting for a while, congratulating each other on a job well done saying how we'll be better organised next year then said our goodbyes and got back to our lives where ever they may be.
In Sanskrit Sangam means "coming together". The Sangam Cup did just that, for 3 hours I chatted laughed and worked with friends that I don't get to see all that often, but the Spirit of Sangam brought us together.
Thank you Sangam!
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