A Quarterly Newsletter from Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania
FALL 2015 EDITION
Connections t u o c S Girl goes global
TOVE SA
LIVES
Ambassador Girl Scout Shreya Thakur, 17, from Hummelstown, Pa. didn’t let over 6,000 miles or a language barrier stop her drive to provide rural students in Bihar, India essential lifesaving skills. She saw it as a challenge, which inevitably earned her the most prestigious and highest award in Girl Scouting, the Girl Scout Gold Award. “Although I knew that it would be hard to create a Gold Award Project so far away from home with unfamiliar people speaking an unfamiliar language, I knew that nothing was impossible if I believed that what I was doing was beneficial and important to people,” said Shreya.
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Read more about Shreya and other amazing Girl Scouts on GSHPA’s News page at www.gshpa.org.
And it is important to the people of rural Bihar, India, where hospitals are far away and hard to access while injuries happen frequently. “If someone falls unconscious or severely injures him/herself, it takes approximately 28 minutes, if not more, due to traffic and availability, for an ambulance to arrive. In that much time, a severely injured or unconscious person can possibly die.” “Communicating was the biggest challenge,” said Shreya who collectively taught First Aid and CPR to over 1,000 students at eight schools during a three-week span over the summer. “I connected with the village community and the children I taught because I laughed with them when I made
Meet mistake in my Hindi and we formed a sense of friendship.” Shreya taught CPR and First Aid to address issues like choking, external bleeding and/or broken bones, head injuries, heat stroke, and dehydration. “I hope that the students realized that they have the power to save peoples’ lives,” said Shreya, “I hope the knowledge they gained inspired them to make a difference in their communities. • Read more about Shreya and other amazing Girl Scouts at www.gshpa.org.