Q: What is Girl Scouts?
A:  Girl Scouts of the USA is the world’s preeminent organization dedicated solely to girls—all girls—where, in an accepting and nurturing environment, girls build character and skills for success in the real world. In partnership with committed adult volunteers, girls develop qualities that will serve them all their lives, like leadership, strong values, social conscience, and conviction about their own potential and self-worth.

Founded in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low, Girl Scouts' membership has grown from 18 members in Savannah, Georgia, to 3.7 million members throughout the United States, including U.S. territories, and in more than 90 countries through USA Girl Scouts Overseas.


Q:  What is the Girl Scout Gold Award?
A:  Girl Scouts have three major awards they can complete in the time they are Girl Scouts. The Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards are very honorable awards to achieve, and all are based off of the service projects the girls do. The Gold is the most intensive and only senior girl Scouts can attempt to attain it. It involves over 60 service hours and a community service project that must be approved by the Girl Scouts Council. This award forces the girls to learn leadership and is closer to a leadership award than a service award. Currently we are working on our Gold Award, and that is the purpose of this service/leadership project.

Q:  What are Girl Guides?
A:  Girl Guides is the equivalent of Girl Scouts, found in countries around the world.  Girls in places like England, Pakistan, and India all take part in it.


Q:  Where is Kashmir?
A:  Kashmir is a region with highly disputed borders, between India and Pakistan. After the split of the two countries in 1947, the region remained a disputed land, along with Jammu. Both are places of great beauty and natural wonder. Kashmir lies on a fault in the plates of the earth’s crust, and is prone to earthquakes and natural disasters. This has left the region in need of aid. Along with the political dispute over borders, the poverty in the region leaves the people with fewer opportunities.

Q:  What is a BoGo light?
A:  A BoGo light is a solar-powered flashlight that uses LED lighting. The concept of “Buy One Give One” came from Mark Bent, who began the SunNight Solar organization. This organization allows buyers the online opportunity to not only purchase a light for themselves, but subsequently give a flashlight to a nonprofit organization of their choice. The lights are highly useful in places where batteries are hard to come by, and lighting is scarce.

Q:  What is LED lighting?
A:  “LED” stands for “light emitting diode”.  LED lighting is better for the environment and for the economy. The New Years Ball in New York for 2008 used LED lighting for the first time. For more information on LED lighting see http://www.sunnightsolar.com/ledtechnology.html.

Q:  Why are flashlights important to Kashmir?
A:  The electricity in the region is unstable, and often homes are left in darkness. Being a mountainous region, the sun sets soon, and since it is an agriculturally based economy, farming is crucial. People of all ages have to help in the fields, so children have less time to study. Therefore, it is important to give solar-powered flashlights to students in Kashmir so that they can increase their productive hours into the night past sunset, and learn to read and write for a better future.

Q:  How are you getting the flashlights to Kashmir?
A:  The BoGo Light foundation has a factory in China, where they will ship lights directly from China to the port in Karachi. From there, the lights will travel via The Citizen’s Foundation to Kashmir, where schools are being built right now.

Q:  Who will get these lights?
A:  The students in the schools built by The Citizen’s Foundation will receive the flashlights, one per student, in order to provide them with more lighting to extend their studies.

Q:  Why did you chose Kashmir?
A:  Kashmir is a region between Pakistan and India. Satvika is from India, and Sarah's father is from Pakistan. As Girl Scouts, we wished to do something for our community, and having both come to love our countries of origin, Kashmir is a place that is near to our hearts. Being long time friends, the disputes between our respective countries has bothered us as we have grown older. Additionally, in this day and age, many groups across the world focus on different regions that need aid. We feel that we must focus on the Kashmir region and help the people of the region deal with the poverty and lack of education so that they in turn can better their future.

Q:  Who’s Mark Bent?
A:  Mark Bent invented the BoGo light and founded SunNight Solar. He lives in Houston, but over the years has been a U.S. Marine, a diplomat, and an oil company executive. His wife and daughters have been involved in Girl Scouts.

Q:  What is The Citizen’s Foundation?
A:  The Citizens Foundation (TCF) is a Pakistani organization that is working to build schools in Pakistan and Kashmir that are affordable for everybody. For more information see http://www.thecitizensfoundation.org/main.php.

Q:  What is the political and/or religious affiliation of these groups?
BoGo has no religious or political affiliation.  To our knowledge, TCF does not either.

Q:  Are girls allowed to go to this school?
A:  Yes, TCF schools are different than many schools in Pakistan concerning this fact in that close to 50% of their students are girls. In fact, their staff is predominantly women.