Ones a Girl scout, will always be a GirlScout

Hello steemians and to those Girl Scout of the World over there!

Sharing with you my picture with the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, taken in the Malacañan Palace during her reign in the year 2009.!

Maybe this could inspire young girl scout to live by the Girl scout promises and laws in their whole journey of life.

This is My Story

I can say that SCOUTING has the biggest influence in me which molds me to be who am I now. Maybe it has 60 to 70% influence on me. Yes, that was true.! Being a scouter for 8 years teaches me many things on how to drive your life independently. No wonder why now that me being in the college never felt being 'homesicked' from my family.

'I wanna share to you some of the most memorable experiences I had during those old old days.'

Have you guys, (girlscouts or boyscouts) tried being in the camp site when suddenly a typhoon came and hit your place? Well, maybe some of us experienced it. So here is my story during Elementary years.

We were fixing our tent on that late afternoon. We gathered bamboos, branches of big trees for the post and skeleton of our tent and dried woods to use in cooking our food. Me and my co-scouters managed to put up our tent by using those branches of trees and bamboos and straw to tie everything making sure that all the parts were secured. We have a door covered by a sac and curtain. All our bags where arranged at the corners and beddings where fixed ready for our first night of camping.

So evening came. Everyone were in a deep sleep. Suddenly, drops of water where hitting our faces. Strong winds and rain came. Everyone of us panic. We opened our flashlights to see everybody and checked our surroundings then our tent starts moving. Owww noo, that was everyone says. Then all of us picked our bags and we transfered to the rooms in the nearby school in the middle of the night. All our bags and things got wet. That was one of the memorable things during my junior scout.

Moving on to high school I didn't stop joining scouting. I joined the district level, provincial, regional and national camp . I love the feeling of meeting new friends, the adventures all over the course of camping and visiting different places.

Its through scouting that I was able to go to Enchanted Kingdom, Pamulaklakin Forest in Pampanga where you can see the natives who still use stones and woods to produce fire, visit Maria Makiling in Mt. Makiling Laguna, play golf and experiencing the obstacle course where the army is training in Pampanga and many more.

I tried being assigned as a leader in our troop. So being an ate to the younger scouters you are oblige to wake up at 4AM and cook food for them and be in the 'pila' to collect water(Maybe many can relate. Hehe). It is where I learned cooking different simple recipes like ginisang gulay with cornbeef, pinakbet, monggo with dilis, and others. I learned being independent, to rely on my own, to find my wicknesses and strengths, to discover new things about me and how to minggle with others with respect of indifferences and to stand as a leader.

Speaking about that picture, here it goes.

Those years nurtured me to see others need and be compassionate with people. So being that kind of girl, I initiated a project under the Chief Girl Scout Medal Scheme in the area of livelihood. The beneficiaries were the people in our Barangay. My project was about SOAP MAKING (including Fabric Conditioner, Dishwashing Liquid and Laundry Powder Soap). I studied first the procedure with the assistance of my Troop Leader, Gladys Buya-ao. Then I made a Demo to the indigenous people in my hometown. The Regional Executive Director of Northern Luzon visit our remote place traveling 10 to 12 hourse from Manila just to witness the demo and turning over of the livelihood project to the Barangay.

Why is my project under the Livelihood Area?
Because in our town the only source of income of the people is farming. We plant corn twice a year so we also harvest twice in a year. Being a farmers daughter, I know how difficult to earn money with this situation. People waits for 6 months to harvest their crops and that the only time they will be having income again.

That scenario gives me the thought of introducing another means of income which is to make a soap which they can make while waiting for the harvest and sell it to nearby Barangays.

So there it is. It was a SUCCESS. They continued the project and so the people generted an income out of it.

This was the reason why I was awarded. Honestly, all I want back then was to provide a help to the people in our place but the return was much greater.

I was able to bring my parents inside the President's Palace. It was the happiest moment and the greatest thing I am proud of myself.
When I was called infront so that Her Excellency will put my medal, I saw my parents seated on the chairs wiping away their tears. I can see in their eyes the joy they have for me. I believe that was a tears of Joy.

We were 4 awardees from the Province of Ifugao with the total of 340 awardees Nationwide.

That was my greatest achievement as a GIRL SCOUT OF THE PHILIPPINES.

Thanks for Reading

@sharaine