Subiaco Stories....Florence Couper, Overseas Volunteer Aid (1950).
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Western Mail, 19 October 1950.
Guiding in Germany
CARING for the welfare of displaced persons in the British zone of Germany was the work of Miss Florence Couper, of Subiaco, who is a member of the Guide International Service, an organisation of voluntary workers for the Girl Guide Association. She returned to Australia last week after an absence of three years.
One has only to speak with her for a few minutes to see how enthusiastic she is about guiding and her work of helping to solve the numerous problems of those unfortunate Europeans with no country of their own. Many of them hoped to migrate, but there were difficulties such as having to leave older relatives behind because the age limit for migrants is generally around 45 years.
Then there were large numbers of suspects and sufferers of tuberculosis whose position was hopeless because they could not be accepted for migration and who would probably have to spend the rest of their lives in a camp or hospital in Europe. In Miss Couper's opinion the only solution was to allow at least some of them to migrate. Sweden had taken the lead in this, she said, by accepting 150 of them.
Working with a team of seven other guides of whom five were English, one Canadian, and one other Australian, Miss Couper made regular visits to camps and hospitals, mental homes, and homes for children and the aged. They distributed stores sent to them by the guides and other organisations, and Miss Couper also taught English in the camps. At the camp schools the standard was surprisingly high considering how difficult it was to obtain books.
Altogether there were about 30 members of the service working in Germany, and another West Australian mentioned by Miss Couper was Miss Desma Cohen, who is now in England. In Germany there has been a change, the welfare of displaced persons being placed largely in the hands of the Germans, and only 13 guides have remained there.
Miss Couper represented Australia at the World Guide Conference at Oxford recently, and was only in Perth for one day last week before she left for Melbourne to attend the conference of the Federal Guide International Service, and the Federal Girl Guide Conference. However, she is looking forward to returning home after a week in the Eastern States.
