Central NJ Woman Travels To Saudi Arabia To Help Launch Girl Scouts

MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NJ — A woman who works for the Central Jersey Girl Scout Council was invited to Saudi Arabia this fall to teach women in that country how to launch Girl Scouts there.

Natasha Hemmings is the CEO of the Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey. That means she supervises troops of about 12,000 girls and teens ages 5-17 throughout Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Somerset, Union, southern Warren and Middlesex counties.

From Oct. 31 through Nov. 5, she was invited by the U.S. State Department to travel to Saudi Arabia and share lessons and best practices with Saudi Arabian women on how to launch Girl Scouting there.

Currently, there are no Girl Scouts or Girl Guides (what the program is called outside the U.S.) in Saudi Arabia. However, Saudi Arabian royal Princess Sama Alsaud has a goal of launching the program in her country by 2025.

Through her participation in the U.S. Speaker Program, Hemmings traveled to the rural Saudi Arabian towns of Al-Jouf and Yanbu to training workshops for about 100 Saudi women.

The workshops focused on Girl Scout leader basics, the Girl Scout Mission, Promise and Law, positive values, volunteerism and professional communication.

She also talked about how to recruit and retain adult volunteers, and how to create, finance and sustain meaningful activities for girls. Hemmings also met with HH Princess Sama Alsaud, who told Hemmings that she hopes to grow Girl Scouting in Saudi Arabia to have 150,000 members over the next three years.

“Being involved with Girl Scouts is my passion, and I have seen firsthand that even the youngest Girl Scout can make a positive difference in our communities,” said Hemmings, who lives in Plainfield. “Naturally, I jumped at this unique opportunity to share my experiences with Girl Scouting, and demonstrate how it has bettered the lives of girls and young women here in New Jersey and across the globe.'"

"Our community extends well beyond New Jersey."

The U.S. State Department has 650 speaker programs across the world every year to foster mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of more than 160 countries to promote friendly and peaceful relations.

Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey believes in the power of every girl. They provide activities for girls and mentorship. They run two service centers, located in North Branch and Westfield, and operate three summer camps: Camp Hoover in Middleville, NJ, Camp DeWitt in Hillsborough, NJ, and The OVAL in Maplewood, NJ.

To volunteer, reconnect, donate, or join please visit www.gshnj.org.