What are Guides and What makes guiding special?
In 1910, a group of girls crashed a Scouting Rally and called themselves Girl scouts. Why should their brothers have all the fun and help in their community? After all girls though different were equally capable. And thus began the seeds of the Girl Guide movement. We like to call it a game, where we learn to live in our societies and be the best citizens we can be, all whilst having fun and making new friends. And over the past hundred or so years we’ve done just that. At the core of our programme is the guide law, which centers on honesty, serving others and our community and being the best we can be in all circumstances. We aim to change the world… one girl at a time!
In South Africa guiding is done within Girl Guides South Africa and our membership is about 40,000 girls. We are a member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and enjoy an international sisterhood of Guiding. Visit the Girl Guides South Africa website to find out more.
In South Africa Guiding in done in 5 branches:
TEDDIES
Girls aged 4½ to 7 learning and growing in confidence
BROWNIES
Girls aged 7 to 10½ learning skills and help others while having fun!
GUIDES
Girls aged 10½ to 14 enjoying a programme of adventure, activity and achievement
RANGERS
Girls aged 14 to 18 developing leadership, life skills and personal relationships in preparation for their role in the society in which they live
YOUNG LEADERS
Girls aged 18 to 30 taking the lead and responsibility for their lives and being role models
We are for all girls
We are for all girls and young women, whatever their background and circumstances, and are integrated to include girls with disabilities too.. We offer them fun, exciting activities and the chance to make life-long friends.
We give girls their own space
We give girls a space where they can really be themselves with other girls and share the experience of growing up as a girl in today’s world, and help them tackle through the programme, issues that affect today’s girl child. Research shows that being girl-only is one ot the things the young members cherish, like a secret club 🙂
We give girls a voice
We give the girls the confidence, skills and information to make informed decisions. We show girls how they can speak out and take positive action to improve their lives and the lives of others.
We change as the lives of girls change
We are relevant to today’s girls because we listen to them and constantly evolve and adapt what we offer them without losing what makes us uniquely us; with camps, holidays and trips that give girls the chance to try new adventures, from orienteering and abseiling, to geo-caching, canoeing, knitting, gardening and zip-lining.
