My name is Lily Raper, and I have been a member of Girlguiding Edinburgh since the age of 7. This year, I have been learning about leadership by participating in the 2024 Juliette Low Seminar. This is a leadership programme run by The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) which aims to inspire and empower young women to create positive change in their communities. The highlight of this experience has been an in-person event, which I was lucky to attend at Kusafiri World Centre in Ghana this October.

It has long been a dream of mine to visit Kusafiri, and it was incredible to be driven up to their beautiful green gates and enter the Girl Guide Training Centre, which is hosting Kusafiri at the moment. The word “Akwaaba,” a common Ghanaian expression which translates to “Welcome,” can be spotted at the reception desk at Kusafiri, and it fits not just with the warm, hospitable Ghanaian culture but with the centre itself, which instantly felt like home. Our in-person event was a mixture of workshops and training sessions alongside cultural and community day trips; during our stay we danced with locals, met the village chief, lost each other in endless street markets and paddled in the Gulf of Guinea at dusk.

As well as exploring local culture we had the chance to share our own; I handed out shortbread and caramel wafers at international night, and I took the opportunity to show off my tourist-shop kilt (and became a popular photo opportunity in the process!) At campfire night, I introduced Ye Cannae Shove Yer Granny Aff a Bus to a baffled audience, and the song had to be translated twice – into French and into “standard” English. “Let’s Get Mooving” Highland Cow swapsies have been passed to girls from every corner of the globe, and the badges I received from my new friends in exchange will keep me busy sewing until well into next year!

In addition to myself, 2 other attendees were present to represent Girlguiding Edinburgh at Kusafiri; one a wonderful Kusafiri volunteer who led us in a moving Think Resilient Peer Education session, and the other a brilliant member of the WAGGGS team who guided us through an empowering workshop on smashing the patriarchy. It was incredibly inspiring to be able to represent my country alongside these wonderful fellow Edinburgh leaders, and I was proud to see my city and country so well represented so far from home and among so many other nations. Thanks to their help, Kusafiri now has a tartan neckie among its collection- so make sure to look out for it if you ever pass by the centre yourself!

My work for JLS 2024 is not yet over, and now I have returned from Ghana I am working on my 100 girls project- a community action project in which JLS participants put their new leadership skills to use to help young girls in their area. I am excited to be teaching units in Edinburgh about the WAGGGS leadership mindsets and using my experience at Kusafiri to inspire more girls to look for similar leadership opportunities in the future. Above all, I hope to impart upon them a sense of the core beliefs of Kusafiri, as sung in the Kusafiri song:

You are not alone,

Clap your hands, come on,

Make Kusafiri your philosophy,

And together and forever, we are sisters!