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"We  cannot do great things
on this earth, only small things
with great  love"
- Mother Theresa

Life Changing Experiences Foundation
PO Box 530 Vaucluse NSW 2030

T 1300 553 629
F 1300 550 780

Email
enquiries@lifechangingexperiences.org

www.lifechangingexperiences.org

Our purpose:
To empower vulnerable teenage girls to make positive life choices for a better future

SISTER2sister News

Well it is Bootcamp again, this is my 3rd year and each year we get bigger and bigger! We are more ambitious about what we can cram in, how good it will be and believe that we are ready to handle anything. We were "organised with attitude" this year and had policies and plans for everything, we hoped!

Ten cars loads later, we arrived on location with everything except the kitchen sink and are all set up in anticipation for the arrival of the Little Sisters. Between us team leaders, we have started already, saying, "Ahhh.. they all look so cute and adorable", but pretty soon we are trying to pick out who is who and who will cause us the most grief…sorry…I mean set us the most challenges!

Day 1 and everyone is a bit nervous, no one more than I, because I not only have a new team of ten Big & Little Sisters to get to know, they all think I have all the answers which I don’t!!! But this year, I have a Little Sister too, the adorable "Miss Tori" who is so lovely and reminds me of Drew Barrymore in ET and I hope is going to be a little less trouble than Drew!

It is a glorious day and we all have fun getting to know each other with various games. Everyone tries to work as a team at my post (The Spiders Web) and find ingenious ways, some more creative than others, to get through. By the end everyone is starving, most of us have been up since 5am and all run to check if the food is any good, an important part of any camp. Fortunately, it is, and lots of it. I am amazed that some of the Little Sisters get through the mountains of food on their plates.

The afternoon just whizzes by with board breaking and soon we are all ready for Dance Mania. For this occasion, I have to become my alter ego "Miss Marsha" (I am not sure who has more fun out of this event, the Little Sisters or I), but "she" was impressed. She cannot believe how every year we find 100 wonderfully creative talented Big & Little Sisters who are prepared to give it their all to entertain us and Australian Idol struggles to find a dozen.

The next few days are just non-stop with activities: canoeing, rock climbing, cat-walking, jewellery making and prep for Skit night. Skit night, as you may know, is a big competition between my teams and Jess’s teams, over who will win on the night. Rehearsals at times were fraught with dramas and tears and the odd water fight! It turned out to be all right on the night by all teams, even though this year I lost out just marginally to Jess’s team (I think they bribed our judges Kath & Kim with dancing lessons). Lessons that the Little Sisters definitely did not need at the dance off!!! I am sure all the Big Sisters will agree that the dance off was just out of this world and we learned some new moves.

It is the last night and all the Big Sisters are exhausted and Little Sisters are hyper. I was defiantly in for a long night on sleep patrol. But, it is all worth it to see those sleepy heads transformed into beautiful young ladies, walking with elegance and poise and delivering some amazing heartfelt and emotional speeches about what Bootcamp meant to them on the last day. It is at this point, all the team and I know that all the planning, energy and sleepless nights that go into putting this unique experience together is worth every moment; and that we are going to have another wonderful year together: discovering new experiences, challenging ourselves, over coming struggles, learning, laughing and crying.

People may ask why I keep doing Bootcamp year after year. I can say that even with my lack of sleep during each Bootcamp, I always return to my life the next day inspired not just by the wonderful speakers but by having met an amazing group of women young and old, who can teach me, humble me and make me want to be better in all I do.

To view photos from Bootcamp click here

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