Campfire and the Scouting Spirit

Campfire was fun, especially when Pinky Au, Kevin Li, Clarice Fu and Brandon Ma got pulled up in a skit thinking they were to be recognized for their contribution only to find out it was a big joke by Scouter Henry Hutalle. We sang our standard Paddle Song/Land of the Silver Birch medley, and watched pop song and impressive traditional dances by the Philippine Scouts.

Talking to a couple of the Rover Scout girls who are extremely active in the Davao City Council, Emily found out about a program called “Ticket to Life” that they run on a weekly basis. Ticket to Life is a Scouting program specifically tailored towards street youth. The girls put a lot of time walking around neighbourhoods to talk to street youth and encourage them to join Scouting. To the youth in the program, Scouting was a way out, a way for them to find purpose and guidance in their lives. The girls talked about challenges, like how it was sometimes difficult to find a reliable meeting place in close proximity to where street youth hang out. They also talked about rewards of the program, for example when they see how much the youth value Scouting and how much they enjoy it. It was also a sharp recall to the Neighbourhood Scouting meeting hall that we visited earlier on in the trip where we gave out toys to drop out kids. It seems like Scouting is almost like a safety net to catch youth that have fallen through the government social programs.

This made us reflect on what Scouting means to us in Canada. To the 180th Pacific Coast Scout Group, even though we had higher goals in terms of personal development and leadership in mind , Scouting was mostly a recreational activity. In the Philippines, it could be a matter of turning around a young teenager’s life.