Scoutmaster podcast #86: Kontiki and World Jamboree interview

Clarke Green from Pennsylvania runs a fantastic resource for adult leaders at Scoutmastercg.com. I recently spoke to him about my trip to the World Jamboree, as well as Scouting here in South Africa, concentrating on Kontiki. You can listen to the podcast, which is out today and available here.

Here are links to some of the things discussed on the podcast:

South Africa:  9th Benoni is my home group. Phoenix Rover Crew has a website here. Here is the blog of Joy Hutchinson, our Cub Pack's Akela. This is the South African Scout Association website (and Twitter account) with a special section on South Africa's contribution to world Scouting.

Kontiki: this is my raft category at Ropes and Poles, and this is the official Gauteng Kontiki website (here is the Western Cape one).

22nd World Scout Jamboree in Sweden: here is the official site. I kept a blog for the Drakensberg troop here, and the South African Contingent Management Team had a blog here.

Finally, if you're a new visitor to this site, welcome, and you can subscribe for email updates here, or to the RSS feed here. Likewise, if Clarke's blog is new to you, you can subscribe to email digests here, the podcast here, and the RSS feed here.

Dutch / Flemish method for round Lashing

Round lashings seem to be tied with many different methods. According to the Dutch Scout wiki, this is how the Dutch speaking Scouts do it - with turns that run around the poles in both directions and are bound with a reef knot. Earlier this year I posted about the German round lashing, which uses a simple-lashing-like binding to join two poles, and this is yet another variation. The lashing itself is explained like this (please excuse my rough and ready translation):

• In the Netherlands it's customary to begin with a clove hitch around both poles. In the Flemish Region, the middle of the ropes is just laid over both poles.
• Take one of the ends (a) once around both poles, after that, take the other end (b) over the end and around until it comes out next to the other end (at c).
• After this, continue alternating between the two ends.
• Arrange the ends so that the crossings happen between the poles (on the 'flat side') and there are only single ropes (with no crossings) on the side
• 6 to 8 turns are used
• End with a reef knot tied with the two ends, on the side of the two poles

Sourced from the Dutch scoutwiki (English Google translation here)

22nd World Scout Jamboree - Pioneering report back

Main gateway at the 22nd World Scout Jamboree, Rinkaby, Sweden

As mentioned in the last post, I recently returned from the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Rinkaby, Sweden. I was travelling as the Troop Scouter of Drakensberg troop, in the South African contingent. I had a fantastic trip, and in between looking after my troop (made up of Scouts from all around South Africa), trading badges, and meeting new Scouts from around the world, I got some time to take a few photos of pioneering projects.

The main gateway was an impressive structure, and shines out because of it's simplicity- a hypar gateway made with 15m long pole cut from the forest on site, and made using yellow and blue rope to pick out the shape of the Swedish flag. This is a great idea that would work for any of the Nordic cross flags, the St George's cross or the Cornish flag. Probably wouldn't work on our South African flag...

Many countries had food houses on the main square, with iconic structures from their home countries. The French food house had this Eiffel Tower gateway, the Dutch had a pioneered windmill, and the English food house was inside a castle!

Our troop camped in Autumn town, and at the centre of our town square was this pioneered Apple basket, representing the harvest in autumn.

A Finnish troop in our subcamp (facebook link) built this 6m high observation tower, which gave a great view of the surrounding campsites.

...and this 40m high tower gave a view of the entire campsite. It was built using four rooted trees as the corners, and had a scaffold staircase all the way up to the observation deck.

Most troops built simple campsites, because there were many places to explore, people to meet and activities to try out. This is my troop's campsite, with a simple gateway in the shape of Table Mountain, and two flagpoles.

A quick search on Google or Flickr will reveal thousands of photographs of the Jamboree, so there is plenty to explore. If you went to the Jamboree, I'd love to see your photographs, too.