Amalu (あまる) (Girl Scout Adult)

Amalu was born in Los Angeles. She moved to Hawaii when she was one. Her family moved back to Japan when she was five. They lived next to a American Marine base in Okinawa. When she was in second grade in 2002, Amalu joined the Girl Scout troop on base that was led by her younger sister’s teacher. Her goal was to learn how to knit, to meet new people and make new friends.
This was not a Japanese Girl Scout troop, but a troop for American girls overseas in the West Pacific. Amalu was allowed to participate in this Girl Scout troop that was mostly made of the children of Marine’s due to her American citizenship.

Amalu’s troop did all the traditional Girl Scout things: they cooked common American foods like peanut butter cookies; they had potlucks; and they also explored other cuisines (Amalu remembers a Russian pot dish they once made). When they were exploring food from around the world, they often couldn’t find the exact ingredients they needed due to the fact that they on an island in Japan, and the base sold a limited amount of food. Due to this, they had to make a lot of substitutes. When they wanted to have snacks for a meeting, they would often go off base to buy Japanese snacks like Pocky.  Sometimes, Amalu and her mother would make onigiri (rice balls) for the troop.

Her troop also went on camping trips. One of Amalu’s favorite camping memories was when her troop climbed Mt. Fuji together. They learned about the natural aspects, and a teacher from Tokyo came in and taught them about reusable resources and how they could be more eco-friendly.

When Amalu was a Junior, they did a program with charm bracelets. To get each bead for the bracelet, they had to learn a new thing. The new thing could be anything form leadership skills, to information on how to be green.

Amalu didn’t do her Bronze or Silver Award, but she did do her Gold Award. She got in contact with a local orphanage that was started by the US Marines after World War II. The orphanage had been losing volunteers for the last ten years, so Amalu started a program where volunteers from the church on the base would come in a few times a year to help them out with the things that were needed with yard work, and creating events for the children and volunteers.

When Amalu went to Girl Scout summer camp (around the month of June in summer), it wasn’t just a regular Summer Camp where girls would go horse-back riding, camping and snorkeling.  It was a place where West Pacific US Overseas Girl Scouts from Japan, Guam and Korea would gather. The main language used was English, but many girls came from mixed backgrounds like Amalu. An activity they did at camp that Amalu vividly remembers was making cages for the turtle eggs. Turtles are really endangered in the Pacific area, so the girls would make cages out of thin wire to project the eggs from ravenous creatures.

In later years, when Amalu helped young kids out, she used the leadership and communication skills she learned in Girl Scouts. She taught the children the songs she knew like Old Lady Leary, Squizi Hunt, Tarzan, My Momma Don't Wear No Socks and 99 Soda Pops (changed from beer to soda pop).

Amalu just got a life membership for Girl Scouts. She wants to remind other females that Girl Scouts is an option, and she wants to share the wonderful opportunities and experience it gave her with others. Her troop taught her how to be an independent woman and be confident. Her troop used to have women from the military come in as motivational speakers, and speak about what they did and their roles in life. If Amalu hadn’t been in Girl Scouts and she hadn’t gotten her view of experiencing the world, she may have never had thought or had the courage to come to college in the United States. It wouldn’t have been an option in her mind.

At the end of the Friendship Song that Amalu’s Girl Scout troop used to sing, there is an extra verse added that isn’t sung by mainland US Girl Scouts. The third verse talks about how even though friends may be overseas (her troop was unstable due to military kids moving every few years), their friendships endure.