By Cl. Ethan Fortes and Ms Vaishnavi Kadu for BISMumbai

In honour of the birthday of Baden Powell, the founder of Scouting, Don Bosco High School & Junior College Lonavla along with Auxilium Convent Lonavla organized a scout week that commenced on 20 February 2023. The theme for the event was ‘Together Heal Our World, Heal Our Future’. During these days, Scouts and Guides from Classes 6, 7 and 8 were divided into different troops and were taught many scouting skills during the camp.

Fr Velasli Bandya, the Troop Leader, addressed the scouts and oriented them into the importance and significance of the Scout camp. Fr Joyston Machado, the assistant Camp Chief, animated a prayer service for the scouts for each day of the camp. The campers were trained in participating in a flag break, understanding and exercising using the six exercises proposed by Baden Powell. Br Alfred Menezes along with the scoutmasters and guide captains of the two schools conducted the basic informative sessions regarding scouting. 

On 22 February, the commemoration of the birthday of Baden Powell, the campers moved around the town of Lonavala in a peace march, shouting slogans and walking with posters promoting the message of protecting the Earth, our common home. The children were also taught how to perform first aid, one of the basics of Scouting. Ms Vaishnavi Kadu, taught the students how to read and use Morse Code and hand signals. The campers also learnt to make their own woggles during their spare time using the macramé threads given to them. Apart from using their creativity during the spare time activity, a quiz was also conducted by Fr Machado on the basics of Scouting and Don Bosco.

The highlight of the camp was the visit of Mrs Surekha Jadhav, the president of the Lonavla Municipal Corporation, along with a few members of the Municipal Corporation on 23 February. They were felicitated with a scarf and a momento. On the same day, the children’s parents also visited the camp site to see the various things on display in the various tents. 

The camp came to a close on 24 February with a grand campfire organized by the Troop Leader along with Cl. Menezes and Cl. Ethan Fortes. The various troops had to present a skit on the theme of the camp while also showcasing their dancing skills.

At the close of the camp, many of the children were left contented with all that they learnt at the camp. Ms Darshini Shelke, one of the students from Auxilium Convent Lonavla, said that the camp was very memorable and enjoyable.