Girl Guides Association Seeks Volunteers

• Renaldo HansenThe Girl Guides Association of Namibia, an organisation that has helped many young girls become confident and strong women, is looking for volunteers to teach in their upcoming training sessions.

The association, which is similar to the activities of girl scouts worldwide, believe that dedicated volunteers are their backbone. With this in mind, they are seeking those with a passion for teaching and taking care of children for the training session which takes place on Saturday, 28 November.

Girl Guides is a Ministry of Education approved organisation that provides non-formal but educational activities. Adult leaders are required to teach budding guides many useful skills.

The guides are trained to become well-balanced citizens, while exerting their knowledge to those in need.

“We want the girls to be good citizens, resourceful and independent,” Foibe Uahengo, one of the leaders of the Girl Guides, said.

The group annually goes on camping excursions around the country such as the Narrec Bird Farm close to Brakwater, under the theme ‘Free Being Me’. This is where the leaders help the girls by teaching them basic survivor skills in the wild.

Guiding is said to encourage development intellectually, socially and spiritually. Other than the non-formal activities, the leaders regularly motivate the guides to commit to their formal education and prepare them for their future professions.

Anyone can volunteer to be a leader as long as they have leadership skills.

“You will be dealing with little children so you need to be friendly and love teaching,” said Lya Mthoko, another adult leader. Some of the girls in the group are as young as five years old.

The Girl Guides Association of Namibia is located in Vancoller Street, Klein Windhoek, but is also based in town such as Tsumeb, Rehoboth and just recently Swakopmund.

If you are interested in the association’s activities and would like to assist young girls to become strong women, you are welcome to visit their headquarters. Alternatively, contact Mabel Odonkor at 085 612 1807 or mabel_odonkor@yahoo.co.uk. Lya Mthoko can also be contacted at 081 392 5061 or via email at lya.rtk@gmail.com.