THE Tamborine Mountain Girl Guides have once again been bringing joy to the residents of Roslyn Lodge.
“We had a great relationship with them until COVID hit,” Sam Abel guide leader and district manager for Tamborine Mountain Girl Guides said.
“Reconnecting with them has been amazing. A few of the girls don’t have any grandparents and some of the residents don’t get visitors. It’s lovely for them to hear the stories from the residents and they make craft and flowers to take to them. You can see their faces light up. It’s makes all of us very humble.”
The Tamborine Mountain Girl Guides has been teaching young local women independence, leadership and life skills in a safe all female environment for many years.
Sam said the connection and life skills they provide is more important nowadays than ever, as children’s lives are often consumed with technology and mobile devices.
“We don’t have mobile phones and have open communication and can talk about anything they have concerns about,” she said.
“Many of the things they learn are being lost. We do old school camping, which many of them have never experienced, and they have to learn how to work together.”
They have two age groups – a junior group, from prep to year five and senior group from the end of year five to 17 years old.
“We have just had three girls turn 18 and they are now running the junior unit. One has been with us since she was six, the other one for 11 years and the third for 10 years,” Sam said.
The girls decide on what activities they will do for the term which includes cooking, hiking and exploring, craft and maintenance of their hut in Yulong Road.
In November they have a water day with kayaking and a sleep over in the guide hut at Tugun and in January a big camp to Mon Repo to see the turtles.
The senior group meets Tuesdays 6-8pm and the junior group Thursdays from 4:30 to 6pm.
