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PAST PROGRAMS
Sister-Hermana
Ok, you know what a
Sister is, but what does Hermana mean? It's sister in Spanish!
This program was developed by an organic farmer in Camden (way down
at the Michigan State line in Hillsdale County), named Dean Wilson.
Mr. Wilson was an engineer and in his retirement he has taken up
farming and raises organic vegetables, chickens, cows, sheep, and
pigs. His family lives in the houses nearby and they all pitch
in to run the farm.
Mr. Wilson and his wife travel
extensively, especially in South America, and instead of sitting on
a beach somewhere being waited on, they live with the people in
villages and small towns to get to know the culture. They also
volunteer in schools and often find themselves singing songs like
Old MacDonald Had a Farm with children who have no idea what
Eee Eye Eee Eye Oh means! Mr. Wilson met with Vicky
Cuartas, the President of the Guide Scouts of Colombia, the
Colombian version of Girl Scouts, and they hatched a plan to bring a
group of girls here to live on his farm for a few weeks. They
were kind enough to invite our girls to join them. That's how
the Sister - Hermana program began.
We had a hard time finding girls who had the time and energy to
raise the $400 it cost them to participate. That fee had to
cover the cost of renting vans for transportation, feeding all the
girls and adult supervisors for two weeks, staying at the Girl Scout
Little House on Lake Michigan, going to Michigan Adventure and a
Lansing Lugnuts game, visiting the Impressions Five Museum and the
Capitol building, seeing a movie at the
Michigan Theater, and eating out on several occasions. We cut
costs as much as we could but that was as low as we could go without
giving up the trips and we wanted our guests to see a bit of
Michigan. The girls from our council who participated in the
program had a car wash, bottle drives, and worked for Uncle Bill's
Pony Rides to raise their registration money. They also
received scholarships from the council.
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