A girl in baby blue pants, a beige shirt, a scarf, a sash
and a hat with a name pin and troop number. That girl in uniform was Sanna from age 7 to
around 14. Sanna was a Swedish Girl Scout in the late 70s and early 80s.
Sanna was part of a 30 to 40 person CO-ED troop with 3
leaders and a lot of parent volunteers.
Shocking as this may seem, it is how it was back then where she lived. Her troop didn’t sell nuts or cookies and
was funded solely by the member’s fathers and mothers.
Sanna’s troop did community service, camping, survival
backpacking and more. They traveled out of their city to the countryside to do
their camping. When they went camping, it was “primitive” in her words. When
she and her daughter’s troop go camping, they bring lots of pre-made stuff and
wood. When Sanna’s troop went camping it wasn’t always on designated campsites.
The tents would have 6 to 8 people per tent and an adult.
They would hike and backpack the whole day. They would also gather wood for the
fire, discover natural foods and catalog tree leaves.
When they went camping they learned about nature. There were
plenty of trees and they would often find new leaves to place in their books.
They each carried a book in which they collected crushed leaves. They would
identify what tree each leaf belonged to and learn a bit about it.
Back then they didn’t have the awards or Journeys, but they
did have patches, songs and campfires. Girl Scouts helped Sanna learn how to
forge bonds. She compares it to her daughter’s troop which started with seven
friends in Kindergarten and grew from there. Sanna still has friends in Sweden
from her scouting days. Since 2005, she has been the leader of her daughter’s
American Girl Scout troop.
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