Mi ta Pippa. Mi ta 26.
Mi ta un studiante i un yefrou di skol.
What is your name,
how old are you and where are you from?
I’m Pippa. I’m 26 currently but will be 27 by the time we
travel in the summer. And I currently live in Hull in the North East of
England. I’ve moved around a lot over the last few years and have previously
been involved with guiding in Sheffield, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and
Norfolk.
What do you do in
guiding?
Due to my other commitments and commuting to work, I’m just
an occasional helper with local units. But a few times a year I run Peer
Education trainings around the country to support more young women to become
peer educators and work on our programmes like Think Resilient (addressing
mental wellbeing) and Free Being Me (which looks at body confidence). I got
into training after becoming a peer educator myself 10 years ago and I’m now
starting on my guiding training qualification to be able to other subjects and
sessions to all volunteers.
What do you do
outside of guiding?
I have just started a new job for Hull 2017 UK City Culture,
though I am still also currently finishing off a PhD in Geography at the
University of Sheffield. I’m in the writing up stages of a research project
looking at the design and use of museums and I’ve set myself the deadline to
hand in before we head off to Aruba! Alongside this I have been a Tutor in the
study skills service at the university where I run workshops and individual
support appointments for students on everything from academic writing to
presentation skills, time management and mind-mapping. In my spare time I’ve recently
starting volunteering for a local women’s charity: Preston Road Women’s Centre
(also known as Purple House).
What are you most
excited about for our project in Aruba?
I’m really looking forward to getting to know the local
leaders and girls in Aruba. From our first provisional timetable for the
project, and as Aruba is a relatively small island, it looks like we will get
to meet a lot of the members there. I’m also excited about the possibility of
joining them on a weekend camp during our visit as the photos I’ve seen of
their previous activities online look like a lot of fun!
What role will you be
taken on in the team, and what does this involve?
Within the team I’ve taken on the role of Social Media
Co-ordinator and so I take the lead on our Facebook and Twitter accounts,
oversee this blog and generally make sure we’re telling the world about our
project. We’re sharing responsibilities though so that we all get a chance to
develop new skills and so the other team members will be writing posts and I’m
going to be deputising for our First Aider should we need it.
Is there an
interesting fact about Aruba that you’ve found out since getting a place on
GOLD?
Since getting a place on this GOLD project to Aruba I’ve
been trying to do a bit of research about the island. I’m fascinated by new
languages and always like to know a bit before I travel to a new place so that
I can be polite. English seems to be widely spoken in Aruba, but I’ve been
trying to learn a little Papiamentu before we go. It’s a mixture of Spanish,
Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, with some Arawak Indian and African
influences and is one of the few Creole Languages of the Caribbean that has survived
to the present day. You can find out more about its history and usage
here.
How is your
fundraising going – what have you done so far and how could people reading this
blog contribute?
My fundraising is going well and I’ve received support from
several organisation and grants towards my total. I also took on some extra
part-timework over Christmas which has contributed to the amount I need. If
readers would like to help, I’m organising a ‘Postcards from Aruba’ activity:
in return for a donation I will send updates and activities and the all
important postcard itself! There are more details about this on my Justgiving
page.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Pippa-Gardner-Aruba
