Proud to be a 100: Beyond books and classroom lessons
On July 21, the 5th Colombo Girl Guide Company of Ladies’ College Colombo celebrated its centenary. The celebratory event was held online through the use of MS Teams, and several Guides of the company, both past and present, attended along with their teachers-in-charge.
The 5th Colombo Girl Guide Company was introduced to Ladies’ College in 1921, four years after the Girl Guides Association was introduced to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon).
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- A virtual celebration
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- Snapshots of the past: A 100-year-journey of Guiding at LC
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- Guiding activities before the pandemic
Chief Guest at the event, Emeritus Professor Savithri Gunasekera, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, said that throughout these 100 years, the 5th Colombo Girl Guide Company has served its school and the nation during some trying times. She spoke of their contributions made to help those affected by the 1983 riots in Colombo and the 2004 tsunami that swept the coastal areas, highlighting the Guides’ spontaneous response stemming from their values and determination to serve the community and country.
The 5th Colombo Company, she said, has been instrumental in shaping several empowered female leaders, such as principals and vice principals of Ladies’ College, hard-working academics and professionals, such as school teachers and lecturers and professors at state universities among them.
Much like the other Girl Guide companies around the country, the 5th Colombo Girl Guide Company prides itself on its community service projects.
Thanks to these productive community service and volunteer projects and much looked forward to fun-filled activities such as camping and hiking, the young Girl Guides of Ladies’ College have learned various skills and values that cannot be taught through books and classroom lessons. .
Unfortunately due to the COVID pandemic, most outdoor activities and gatherings have come to a standstill. But this situation has not dampened the spirits of the Girl Guides of 5th Colombo Company who has organised a virtual camp and celebrated International Women’s Day and World Environmental Day through the use of MS Teams.
To celebrate 100 years of service, the Guides also launched the “eco-brick challenge.” This is a project which seeks to put the 3Rs, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, into action, with the making and use of eco-bricks.
This novel concept is of a reusable building block – the ‘eco-brick’ created with a PET bottle which is tightly packed with other non-biodegradable waste such as polythene or plastic wrappers and styrofoam. Eco-bricks can be used to make furniture and even buildings and are proving to be an effective way to fight pollution.
The event was organised by the senior Girl Guides of the 5th Colombo Girl Guides group, and their teachers-in-charge, Shakuntala Senewiratna and Madhavi Amarasinghe. Marlene Dissanayake, Captain of the 5th Colombo Girl Guides and a stalwart of the Guiding community, was also present.