Just Go Straight – Mural Painting at the Local Scout Hall: Day 5 of #iProj14

By Olya Kozun – 1st Rivorton Rover Crew

The hallmark of the Rover program is to be of service to others. In our two Rover Crews, we have a chance to do this at home and abroad. Behind us (picture below) is the first project of our two week International Service Project trip. It is a building that will serve as one of the first Scout Halls in this part of Mexico. We were told that the local Scout Group usually meets at a park with no shelter or place for their equipment. Thankfully, with the help of our gracious host, Moises Rubalcaba Ceja from the Scout Association of Mexico, we have been given the honour to create a warm and cozy place for our Mexican Scout friends to meet.

There are five areas that will be painted with inspiring quotes portraying Scouting values in Spanish as well as a large mural in the main room representing the unity between Canadian and Mexican Scouts. The mural will portray some of the main Scouting activities from both cultures. So far, we are meeting our goals and have had just minor setbacks that would naturally occur in any project.

I have never been to any volunteering projects before and even experiences with Scouts Canada is fairly new to me. Even though I had no expectations of the project, I’ve been surprised on how organized and motivated the contingent is.

For me, having to work with so many fun and dedicated Rover Scouts has been a blast. Everyone is really hardworking and helpful.

Even though we have a lot to do, we don’t forget how to have a great time together. 8 AM morning bus rides are accompanied by camp fire songs and cheers, which sets the mood for the rest of the day.

It is not rare to have some karaoke time while working on our projects. All this makes time fly by and at the end of the day, most of us realize how tired we are so every spot can be a nap spot:

Most of the contingent are university students, working on their Masters or just young professionals, yet the biggest challenge of the day is to draw a straight line:

At this point I am very excited to see our finished product and have a warm feeling in my heart of the small but nevertheless valuable contribution that made this world a tiny bit better.

We will be posting a complete set of photos from our Scout hall service project in the near future; please stay tuned!