Too Close for Comfort

Travel broadens your mind and opens yourself to new experiences.  As a whole this is very positive, but it also exposes you to risks and more than that, makes real of the news stories you hear of distant lands.

This photo was taken in New York on 10th September 2001. Yup. You can just make out the towers.  Less than 24 hours later and the world was a very different place.  Several days later, as I sat teary eyed on Eurostar, returning to good old Blighty, I listen to a family discussing the incident that had happened in a far off land.

My travels in India make news of events there seem so much more real to me than, say Malaysia, a country and a region that I haven't been to.  However, nothing brings that home more than when something happens in places I have been, or places my loved ones had been.  The coordinated attacks in Mumbai, November 2008 were too close for comfort.  The Taj Mahal hotel was under siege for days.  This is the same hotel where I had sent my parents for a few days on their own to experience Mumbai before flying home just a few months earlier. A place where I thought they would be safe.

I vividly remember standing in the kitchen at one of my Rangers house's looking at the photos in the paper. I had taken my Rangers to India the year before and as well as landing in Mumbai, we spent a night there and did a bit of sight seeing including the Taj Mahal hotel.  I turned the page to see an image of bodies lying on the ground inside Victoria Terminus station.  I looked at my Ranger and said "that was the station we arrived at". It was a station I had used several times myself.

Its not just terrorist attacks though - do you remember the hot air balloon that crashed in Egypt last year? Probably not, unless like me you had taken that flight.

And its not just international travel that has these risks.  I remember one Christmas in the 80s, my mum agonising over whether we should go to London to see the lights with all the IRA threats. My GCSE geography trip to Canary Wharf had to be altered as the IRA had detonated a bomb there just weeks before. As it was, a bomb was found in Trafalgar Square on the day we went.

More recently, the 7/7 bombings happened a year after I stopped working in London. One of the victims had been the head of my department.  A real person that I knew.

The news these past weeks have been full of flight MH17 that was shot down over the Ukraine.  First reports were full of this being another Malaysian Airways flight disappearing, but soon that changed as it was realised that that was just an unfortunate coincidence.

The real issue is why was that airline flying over a warzone? Apparently because that's what they do. They feel safe 6 miles up.  Malaysia Airways weren't the only airline to be taking that flight path, there were others Lufthansa amongst them. Lufthansa who I flew to Pune with in January.

Little Owl and I flew over Ukraine.

In January.

It could have been our plane.

It wasn't, and for that I am very grateful.

But it does mean when I look at the images, and listen to the news, it makes it real to me. More real than I would like.

Travel broadens your mind and opens yourself to new experiences.  As a whole this is very positive, but it also exposes you to risks and more than that, makes real of the news stories you hear of distant lands.

Easter Crafts with the Guides

Last week I went to help at a Guide Unit as they were short of a leader for the night.  Its been over ten years since I regularly helped at a Guide Unit so it was fun to be back with younger girls again.

This was their last meeting of term before breaking up for the Easter holidays so they had lots of Easter activities planned!  They were such brilliant ideas that I thought I would share with you.

The first was an Easter basket to collect all the eggs in. I was really impressed with these and excited to have a go!

1. You will need 13 strips of paper and one square. A 30cm (12 inch) ruler was used as a template for the strips and the square has to be the same width as 4 strips.
2. Weave 8 strips of paper together
3. Place the square over your woven strips to form the base
4. Fold the ends upright and then weave another two strips around the base
5. Repeat to form a second layer
6. Fold the ends over to neaten.  Obviously try to do this better than I did! Might be worth trimming them too!
7. DO NOT TAKE OUTSIDE WHEN WINDY!!!

Gutted.

Never mind there was chocolate to cheer me up. 

The girls got to make chocolate nests and a bunny egg holder for their Easter Eggs to sit in!

Too much chocolate?  Well there was a brilliant wide game to burn off some energy too!

The girls were given a grid of paper with a list of suspects (Peter Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit etc), a list of locations and a list of potential murder weapons (including carrots of course).   Clues were hidden both inside and out which the girls had to find.   Crossing of the clues as they found them, eventually they would be left with one suspect location and weapon.  What a brilliantly simple idea.

Can you believe the Guides squeezed all of this into 2 hours!

Happy Easter!

World Aids Day

Sunday 1st December is World Aids Day.

Aids is something we have heard talk about for many years, but for most of us in the UK, the nearest we have knowingly come to it in our lives was watching Mark Fowler in Eastenders - but that's been over 10 years now!

Back in 2010, I was ask to take a group of Senior Section girls aged 14-17 to South Africa.  Its was part of the centenary celebrations of Girl Guiding, and 100 members from London and the South East travelled to South Africa over the summer and between us we built a house for a local family in the Kwa Zulu Natal area just north of Durban.  The materials for the house were paid for by fundraising in the UK, all the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides helped.

We were helped in our quest by an organisation called Gods Golden Acre.  They describe their work as "Supporting and caring for orphaned and vulnerable children whose lives have been devastated as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, poverty and violence."  You see, its not just those living with HIV who are affected, its their families too.  Gods Golden Acre recognises this, and doesn't differentiate when it comes to helping those in need. 

In recognition of this year's World Aid's Day, I have been asked to host two guest posts by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.  I hope you stop by to read them.

The first is Momina's Story, a young brave woman and mother who has had to make enormous sacrifices in order to provide the best for her children.

The second is the upbeat story of a dance troupe called Addis Beza who are using their youthful energy to create a safe environment for HIV to be discussed.  Its a happy story.

Knitting Fridays

My needles are empty.

This is sad.

As you know in last week's Knitting Friday, I had starting knitting a jumper for Little Owl which I had been excited about for a long time.  But the reality of the jumper wasn't matching up to the image on the pattern.  I plodded onwards but the jumper was beginning to look a bit on the large side.  I measured the length and while I was still going on the pattern of the main body, I should have started decreasing for the arms. 

My knitting was too loose.

For the first time ever, I am going to need to knit a tension square.

I'm not even sure if this is what it is called.

The idea hasn't appealed.

And neither has the thought of taking a weeks worth of knitting off of the needles.

I am a slow knitter.

I might have to knit several squares to get the tension right.

And so I haven't started.

I haven't however been totally off of the needles.

Last night my Rangers took part in The Big Knit.

Most of them had never knitted before.

Two hours is the perfect time for even a beginner to knit a very small hat.

So here is our collection.

Now back to that square...

Sangam Cup 2013

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.

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!

FoS Gathering 2013

The Friends of Sangam gatherings are designed to remind you of why you love Sangam.  They do so in many ways...

After a 6 hour journey (which should have been 4), in the pouring rain with a tired, hungry and screaming toddler in the back for the last hour, the sat nav directing me down a 'road' (or bridleway) which had a sign saying no cars, I'm beginning to loose my nerve on whether I had entered the right post code for the venue I am heading for...

When the sat nav tells me I am near my location and I spot the Friends of Sangam banner I briefly think to myself that never before have I been so relieved to see the Sangam sign... but this isn't true...

Eleven years ago, near enough to the day, I arrived in India.  This wasn't a trip that had been planned for months, in fact it wasn't even a month from being told I was heading to India and getting on that plane, and I was in Mexico at the time.  Ten days back in the UK was long enough to book a flight, get a visa and any jabs I needed, but not to look into finer details of the trip. Anyway, I digress...

I arrived in India having taken full advantage of the drinks on my flight and was beginning to feel a little hungover... I clocked a man with a sign containing my name and said "Sangam". He wobbled his head, turn around and walked off.  I tried to keep up with him and he led me to his car.  Mumbai by night is pretty full on at the best of times, but during Ganapati the darkness is sometimes replaced by a shrine to the pink elephant god - I began to wonder how much I had had to drink...

Actually, I was no longer sure that the driver of my taxi was the same man who had held the sign with my name... figuring there was nothing I could do, I wrapped my arms through the straps of my rucksack and fell asleep.

It was daylight when I woke, and I noticed that we were no longer moving. I opened my eyes to see where I was and I saw a man with a GUN! Before I had time to think, the door opened and the driver got back in the car (where had he been?) and we continued on our way.

Looking back, I think we must have been at a toll booth on the Mumbai-Pune highway.  I sat in the back on the taxi, eyes wide open taking in all the sights (I can remember seeing girls walking to school in their blue dresses and red ribbons at the end of their plaits, and women in saris carrying pots on their heads). The longer we drove, the more I worried that I hadn't got in the right taxi.  I hadn't taken my mobile with me so there really was nothing I could do.

Eventually, driving along quite a busy road, the driver pulled over and stopped to open a gate, and there on the gate was the Sangam logo and the World Trefoil, truly the relief was overwhelming!

Back to 2013, the UK and my arrival at the Elim Centre near Worcester.  Although it felt like the middle of the night it was in fact not yet 7 o'clock and that meant we were in time for dinner. We were rushed upstairs to the restaurant where we were greeted by a sea of faces, all women, dressed in a mixture of western and Indian dress (although the western had a slight tendency to blue t-shirts and fleeces).  Many of the faces were familiar, some from that first trip to India 11 years ago, others from subsequent trips and more still from these annual gatherings in the UK. Finally I could relax, I was surrounded by friends, and Little Owl couldn't be happier, she had a plate full of food and a room full of people to entertain!

The gatherings are held in a different place every year, September has seen me travel to Northumberland, Isle of Wight, Peak District, Edinburgh, Lancaster and York. Always a bit of a challenge on a Friday evening after work! I have been lucky since having Little Owl that I have been able to make the journeys during the day.

Despite the different locations, the programme for the weekend follows a familiar pattern.  There are meetings for the trustees, the AGM with a letter (email) from the World Centre Manager (we had hoped for a live Skype message this year but it wasn't to be), a vast amount of children turning up expecting to be entertained and the Indian meal for which we all put on our finest Indian clothing. This year we even had entertainment from the local guides!

The arrival of 100 Brownies and Guides used to take me by surprise but I now expect it.  The same would happen at Sangam, you would be quietly sat working at your desk when 100 Bharat Scouts and Guides from Mumbai would turn up for a tour round Sangam.  You would think with a 5 hour drive that they would call ahead!

The Brownies and Guides at the Elim Centre got more then just an Indian Experience.  Long before the Elim Church took over the building, it had been a girls boarding school where the two Baden-Powell daughters had attended.  Lord Baden-Powell once went to visit his daughters and stayed overnight.  

He chose this 'shelter' in the grounds which seems rather odd but then you must remember he was terribly famous and staying in a building full of girls might not have been such a good idea.  Besides, he loved to sleep outdoors.  He always chose to sleep on the veranda at their Hampshire home Pax Hill (its a wonder they had any children) and whenever he was at Foxlease in the New Forrest he would sleep on the balcony.

Little Owl, exhausted by the journey and all the excitement of the morning had a two hour nap after lunch (why does she not do this at home?) and so we missed most of the fun with the Brownies and Guides but this is what we saw:

The Indian meal is always a highlight of the weekend.  Its a chance if you haven't  done so already to wear your Indian clothes.  I decided that a Sari wasn't practical with Little Owl tugging at me so borrowed a pretty blue Punjabi Suit from my mother.  Little Owl was lucky to have been given a beautiful outfit as a gift earlier this year so we were all set.

At Sangam, the Maharashtrian dinner is also the highlight of the event.  By then the tailor would have returned all the saris and blouses, and the afternoon is spent in preparation, getting mehendi and learning how to tie the sari.

Once dressed, photos are taken before entering the dining room where all tables and chairs have been removed and you take your place on a mat on the floor.  Dinner is served on a plate made from banana leaves and the food is wonderful.  

After dinner there is some entertainment, which could be a professional dancer performing a traditional dance with amazing skill, or the local guides showing you their best moves to the latest Bollywood hits. Each is equally good.

Sundays at the gathering, are a mixed day.  In the morning there is another trustees meeting to welcome the new trustees elected at the AGM, and plans are made for the year ahead.  Other guests head out to explore the local area.  We all come together for lunch before heading off home.

Another year, another gathering.  See you all next year at Waddow!


***Friends of Sangam UK is a UK charity which raises funds and supports Sangam World Centre, one of the four world centres belonging to WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) ***