Activities for
Rangers
This pin will be available through E-Shop Limited.
VSA Project Friendship Pin
Cost $5.00 each.
Code: B1311
GirlGuiding New Zealand
Email: [email protected]
Online shop: www.girlguidingnz.org.nz
Phone: 0800 22 22 92
VSA Project Friendship Pin has been jointly created by
GirlGuiding NZ and VSA
The VSA Project Friendship
Pin is an opportunity for you
to show friendship to those
in our global community. This starts with
learning and understanding.
An important part of the badge is to support a project
that makes a difference to people living in developing
countries: VSA Project Friendship. At the same time
you will learn about ways you can make a difference
in the future like volunteering overseas.
As an organisation, one of GirlGuiding New Zealand’s
values is commitment to cultural inclusiveness and
understanding our global connections. Working
together with VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) on this
project is putting our values into action.
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Te Tūao Tāwāhi Volunteer Service Abroad
Have you ever had something you wanted to achieve but
needed someone to share their skills and experience to
help you achieve it? Maybe it was a fundraising event, a
research assignment for school or a school production
or concert?
That’s what VSA is all about. VSA volunteers work
alongside people living in developing countries who
have a good idea or project to make lives better
for themselves and people in their community. The
volunteers share their skills and knowledge so people
can achieve their goals and take control of their future.
Did you know?
Sir Edmund Hillary was
our founding president
in the 1960’s and since
then thousands of New
Zealanders have volunteered
in the Pacific, Asia and Africa.
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By being part of VSA
Project Friendship
2011, Rangers are
supporting VSA
volunteers working
with youth in
developing countries.
Educating
oth
young peo er
ple
Selling $3 friendship
bracelets to family and
friends this August is a fun
way to understand our global
connections.
Working to
their
look after ent
m
n
o
envir
Money from each bracelet
sold supports VSA volunteers
working with young people
who are:
s
munitie
m
o
c
g
Bringin r through
togethend recreation
sport a
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Mattie Geary Nichol
VSA volunteer from Wellington
Youth Worker at Wan Smolbag Theatre, Vanuatu
Wan Smolbag Theatre is a non-government
organisation based in Vanuatu but operating
all over the South Pacific. Wan Smolbag
started as a group of 15 voluntary actors
in 1989; it now has around 100 full- and
part-time staff, and more than 400
volunteers.
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“I am lucky enough to be
volunteering with Charlie Johnson,
the Northern Care Youth Centre
supervisor in Luganville, Vanuatu.
I help Charlie with organising events
such as sports tournaments and
making sure the tutors of the
various clubs in the centre
feel supported.”
 Join Mattie on her assignment by
reading her blogs throughout August
on www.vsa.org.nz.
 For more details about VSA Project
Friendship, visit www.vsa.org.nz
 Order your VSA Project Friendship
bracelets through your District
Coordinator.
4
Complete four of the following
options to gain the VSA Project
Friendship Pin (Note: clause 1 is
compulsory).
Get out there with your Rangers group and raise money
to support VSA volunteers like Mattie Geary Nichol who
are working with young people in developing countries.
• Lead a discussion group with your unit to organise
what roles people will have for Project Friendship.
You need to decide who will work as a project leader,
who will sell bracelets and who will find out about the
work of VSA and inform your group.
• You also need to decide who will fill out the order
forms, and who will keep track of the bracelets being
sold and the money coming in. Remember you can
request more bracelets from VSA if you sell out!
“Our work aims to
give young people a place
where they can hang out,
learn skills and feel
comfortable to ask
questions.”
• Tell those you sell bracelets to what the $3 supports.
• Set a goal to challenge yourself and your unit to sell
a minimum number of bracelets each – such as 25
bracelets each.
• Remember that completing clause 1 counts towards
the Ranger Marketing Certificate.
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2
When you travel or work in a different country you need to look after
your health and understand the medication you have to take before you
leave and while you’re there. Find out about the following and share
what you have learned with your group:
• What happens if there is malaria in the country I am travelling to?
• How should I treat snakebites?
• What is the best way to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes?
3
VSA is all about volunteering to share your skills and experience with
others. Think about the skills and talents you have and how you can
help someone else by volunteering your time. The possibilities are
endless.
Have a look at our list of ideas available on the VSA GirlGuiding NZ
page to get you started, then set yourself a target of volunteering at
least three hours of your time to help someone.
Share what you did with your Ranger unit and how you helped improve
the life of someone else. If you enter the VSA volunteer challenge to
find New Zealand’s best young volunteer you could be in to win an iPod
touch.
4
How hard was it to stick to your budget? How did you
feel watching others buy whatever they liked while you
were so restricted?
5
Preparing to depart as a VSA volunteer involves
careful packing. Usually you have a 20kg limit for your
baggage on airlines. What will you take and what
will you leave behind? Remember you are going on
assignment for two years!
• Team up with a friend and pack a bag as if you are
preparing to work as a volunteer in a developing
country. You can take a total of 20kg.
• Think about the climate and conditions you will be
living in.
• Think about the type of work you will be doing
each day; is it physical, outdoors or in an office?
• Use the ‘To bring or not to bring’ resource that is
found on the VSA GirlGuiding New Zealand page
of our website to help you.
6
Automatic washing machines and dryers are a luxury
that most families do not have in developing countries.
Living in a developing country you often have little choice about the
food you can eat due to unavailability of produce or not being able to
afford what is for sale.
Using only a household bucket, cold water and bar
of Sunlight soap wash your bed sheets by hand and
hang them on the line to dry.
To understand what this is like, take a trip to the supermarket with your
unit and in small groups buy the ingredients for a meal for four people
using a budget of $5. In your groups prepare and share your meal. Talk
about what the experience has taught you.
Share with your group how you found this
experience. What would it be like if you had
a whole family’s washing to do this way?
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7
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Wan Smolbag, the Non Government Organisation (NGO) Mattie
is volunteering with, uses drama to help share messages about
making healthy decisions around relationships, diet and exercise and
developing a positive attitude towards gaining qualifications that will
result in employment opportunities.
• Design a performance that shares positive messages that would
be appropriate for a Pippins, Brownies or Guides group.
• Be creative with your presentation – use music, drama and dance.
• Arrange a time to visit a unit
in your area and share your
performance.
• Run a workshop afterwards
and get the girls to come up
with their own skit that has
a positive message, and get
them to share what they
have prepared.
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Shelter is very important for everyone. Often families in developing
countries struggle to find a warm, dry, safe place to sleep, particularly
in times of conflict or natural disaster.
This badge is designed for Ranger units to participate in as a group
to gain deeper understanding of the often fragile living conditions of
many young people we work with.
• In preparation for your Shelter Challenge night,
research as a unit the living conditions for
families in developing countries and in postdisaster and post-conflict situations.
• Plan as a group the materials you can each
bring from home that will help make a shelter,
such as large cardboard boxes, tarpaulins and
matting. (Tents do not count!)
• Plan the food that you will bring for a simple
dinner and breakfast that does not need to be
heated.
• Plan activities that you can participate
in during your shelter challenge evening.
• Make sure that everyone brings warm clothing
to sleep in including coats, woollen hats, scarves
and gloves.
• Make sure that all members have outdoor quality
sleeping bags. (Bags can often be borrowed by
talking to friends and family who have outdoor
camping equipment)
• Make sure you take pictures of your unit to
send to VSA and to national office of GirlGuiding
New Zealand so we can publish them on our
websites.
• As a group, arrange to build a temporary shelter in the grounds
near where you meet, and spend the night in it; but be sure to get
permission first and you must have adult supervision.
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VSA, 32 Waring Taylor St
PO Box 12246, Wellington 6144
AOTEAROA / NEW ZEALAND
www.vsa.org.nz | 0800 8728646
Te Tūao Tāwāhi Volunteer Service Abroad Inc
is a registered charity (CC36739) under the
Charities Act 2005