“Great to be Unique”: SLGGA to hold camp in Jaffna
View(s):The Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association’s (SLGGA) Branch for the Differently Abled will hold an All Island Girl Guides Camp in Jaffna under the banner “Great to be Unique”. Around 250 differently abled and other guides will be camping at the Nuffield School for the Deaf and Blind in Kaithady, Jaffna.
Fun at the camp (file photo)
The camp will be declared open by the Governor of the Northern Province, Reginald Cooray, on Sunday, July 31.
The Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association is on the threshold of celebrating 100 years of Guiding in Sri Lanka in March 2017.
For many years and across many nations, the Girl Guides movement has been empowering girls and young women, helping them discover and enhance their true potential. The SLGGA established a Branch for the Handicapped (now known as the Branch for the Differently Abled) way back in 1924 in its efforts to be more inclusive. What resulted, was that those with physical and mental impediments were offered a space in the world of Guiding, opening many windows of opportunity.
A highlight of the camp will be a performance by the Differently Abled Guides of all the participating schools and institutions, called ‘An Evening of Song and Dance – Great to be Unique’ at St. John’s College, Jaffna, on Monday, August 1. Chief Minister of the Northern Province, Justice C. V. Wigneswaran, is the Chief Guest. The SLGGA has also invited the Army to give a guest performance.
As part of the camp, the Branch for the Differently Abled of the SLGGA will also hold a workshop for caregivers of differently abled individuals, on Tuesday, August 2 at Sivaphoomi School for the Special Child in Kodavil East, Kondavil. The aim of the workshop will be to educate and enlighten Guiders, parents, and caregivers of children with behavioural problems such as forms of Autism, Down Syndrome and those who are speech and sight impaired. Professionals in the relevant fields – including a behavioural therapist, speech therapist, psychologist, and sight and hearing impaired specialists – will address the workshop.
The Differently Abled guides will also participate in a crafts day culminating in an exhibition of their talents under the patronage of the Government Agent, Jaffna at Sivaphoomi School. Kondavil. The final phase of the Camp will include a tour of Jaffna and a closing ceremony with a campfire on August 3.
This is the last of the camps planned out from funding the SLGGA received from the World Scout Association on the recommendation of the Asia Pacific Regional members who visited in 2010 to promote Guiding in conflict areas, especially the North and East. It was during the time of then Director, Mrs. Marlyn Dissanayake, who acknowledged that the SLGGA had not been able to hold a camp in Jaffna, as it was soon after the civil war. It is now the Jaffna Guides who have been able to organise this camp.
Current Director of the Branch, Mahiya Abdul Rafeek, says that “It is a great honour for me to continue and be a part of this Branch as the Director. Our branch has now been operating for 92 years, and I feel so proud to have worked with them; the pioneers,– Sita Rajasuriya, Chief Commissioner and the first Chairperson of the Asia Pacific Region of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, and keep up the hard work of the wonderful women who founded the initiative and others Frances Jayawardena and Cynthy Mellaaratchchy, who dedicated much of their time, love, and their unstinted services towards these guides with disabilities.”