I have now been in Switzerland for a week, I think, maybe…possibly. It’s hard to know what day it is as there’s work to be done at the Chalet 7 days a week and we started training on a Wednesday. There are six ‘Vollies’ or volunteers at the moment, we are expecting our 7th at the end of next week. There’s Gaenor and I from the UK, Cata from Costa Rica, Mary from Tassie, Anna from Finland and Brooke from the US. Considering we’ve only known each other for about 4 days we seem to be getting on like a house on fire! But then again, that’s hardly surprising seeing as we all come from a Scouting/Guiding background. Most of us have lead units, all of us have been on international trips and like hiking, climbing and being outdoors. There was also a lot of excitement on our first day for the snow that was falling - to the extent that during lunch we took the sledges out in the grounds.
Our training so far has been in house, which is the usual stuff like making beds, cleaning bathrooms, and washing up. We’ve also had the more creative task of making posters about our selves and writing about ourselves for the website, making paper snow flakes…very much like a week at Guide camp! Training continues for another week, (we have catering and programme to learn about!) and then our first Guests start to arrive. We are also having a Christmas party for the locals (and Jon the Scone and LongJon who will be my first visitors) where all the kids get to sleep over in the Main Chalet attic.
Our other sessions of the week have been WAGGGS (the structure of which still baffles me) based. The most eye opening thing I’ve learnt is about just how influential they are. WAGGGS sit in on UN meetings and WAGGGS representatives are currently at COP17 where all countries who signed the Kyoto Protocol will be discussing their progress. WAGGGS's involvement in all this is focused on how climate change affects girls and young women. In developing nations, global warming means that the land is getting drier meaning water sources are becoming more scarce. This means not only having to walk further to find a clean water source, but also that simple things like fire wood and crops are harder to find and farm. For girls and young women in these countries they then spend more time collecting water, for example, and less time in school. For people like this, WAGGGS provides a platform for their voices to be heard. (Yes, Guiding is pretty big in Africa)
In developed nations, WAGGGS provides non-formal education of global issues such as climate change. Guiding provides the opportunity to learn things that aren't taught in school and for Guides to be pro-active and take an interest in the world around them. One of our activities along those lines ('cos lets be honest, we're hardly walking miles for fire wood!) was to make a video sending a message of support to those at COP17. I still don't know enough about climate change to be able to form my own opinions, or to know if I really 'believe' in climate change, however these past few days at this WAGGGS World Centre have definitely brought the matter to my attention.
Apart from the sessions on WAGGGS, one of ways in which Our Chalet is taking action against climate change is with its recycling. The Chalet has an extensive recycling programme including a large compost pile for all raw foods and a heating system which burns wood pellets that produce about a bucket of waste product a year. On a very basic level, for example, this means that the bin men have to drive up to the Chalet less often equalling fewer carbon emissions. Our lights can hardly ever be left on, too, because they're all on timers thus saving electricity when the forgetful Guide doesn't turn the light off!
In summary, that's what we've done this week! Oh, and the skiing - just one of the highlights of living in a world class ski resort...it's a hard life!
Bis zum nächsten Mal :-)
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