Our Cabana is located in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Mexico is in North America, south of Canada and the USA. Mexico is not an island. Mexico shares a border with Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

 

Pax Lodge is located in London, England. England is in the United Kingdom which is in Europe. If you traveled east on the Atlantic Ocean in a straight line from Newfoundland you would find two islands. Ireland is the smaller island and the United Kingdom is the larger island.

 

Sangam is located in Pune, India. India is in the middle of southern Asia on the Indian Ocean. India is a large country and has a small island off its South coast called Sri Lanka. 

 

Our Chalet is located in Adelboden, Switzerland. Switzerland is in Europe. Directly south of the United Kingdom is France. France shares its borders with Spain to the south, Belgium and Germany to the north, and Switzerland and Italy to the east. Italy is a large country shaped like a boot, Switzerland is a small country only half the size of New Brunswick.

 

World Centres

The four WAGGGS World Centres give Girl Guides and Girl Scouts from around the world the opportunity to learn more about other people, other cultures and other countries, as well as about WAGGGS.

At a World Centre, visitors can participate in programs and activities and work with local communities, sharing their culture and experiencing their lifestyle. The oldest World Centre, Our Chalet, marked its 70th birthday with special celebrations on July 31, 2002, commemorating the opening of the centre by Lady Baden Powell in 1932.

 

In 1946, a group of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts was at a training event in Havana, Cuba. During the conference, the idea of a World Centre in the Western Hemisphere developed. After much discussion and work in the region, a country, site and name were selected. More than a decade later, in July 1957, Our Cabaña opened.

 

Sangam opened in 1966. Like the idea for Our Cabaña, the idea of a World Centre in the Asia Pacific Region grew from a meeting of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts members, in this case of International Commissioners in New Delhi.

 

By the 1980s, Olave House was no longer large enough to facilitate activities. A site for a larger building was located and by 1990 the new facility, Pax Lodge, was open for business.

For several years, the possibility of a fifth World Centre, in Africa, has been discussed. The decision to go ahead with it must be made by delegates at a WAGGGS World Conference. At both the 1999 and 2002 World Conferences, it was decided to defer any further action until a later date. The current focus is to maximize the use of our existing World Centres, before committing funds to the development of another one. Discussions on a fifth World Centre will not be reopened until at least 2005.

Instructions:

 

1.  Look at the map and follow the clues to find the countries where the 4 Guiding World Centres (Our Cabana, Our Chalet, Pax Lodge, and Sangam) are located.

 

2.  Blow up your balloon.

 

3.  Draw your own world map on your balloon. Don’t forget to include each Guiding World Centre in the country where they are located.