– Marco Carvalho
Three Pioneers and one of the leaders of GELMac – Lusophone Scouts Group of Macau – are among the 45,000 scouts from around the world that took part in the 24th World Scout Jamboree. The largest scout meeting on the planet started on the 22nd of July and ends this Friday at the Summit Bechtel Reserve, in West Virginia.
An opportunity to “learn to work as a team” and “to contribute to the common good.” This is how the leaders of the Lusophone Scouts Group of Macau (GELMac) described the participation of four of its members in the world’s largest scouts rendezvous.
The SAR Catholic Scouts rejoined once again – and for the second time in a row – the Figueira da Foz Maritime Scouts, a Portuguese group that took to the 24th World Scout Jamboree a total of 29 scouts and four leaders. The two groups had already joined forces four years ago, when the World Jamboree was held in Japan.
The initiative was attended by eight hundred Portuguese youngsters, affiliated both with the Catholic oriented National Scouts Corps (CNE) and the Portuguese Boy Scout Association. Dedicated to the theme of sustainability, the 2019 edition of the World Scouts Jamboree had the motto “Unlock a New World.” The young men and women that took part in the meeting were given the opportunity to “explore new horizons and to develop physically and intellectually”, accordingly to the official website of the event.
The three Macau Pioneers that took part on the event had the chance to participate in activities such as mountain biking, tree climbing, diving, hiking and slide and exchange experiences and opinions on the so-called “culture day,” dedicated to the promotion of cultural exchange between the youngsters of the 167 countries and territories that were represented in the initiative.
For the leaders of the Lusophone Scouts Group of Macau, being part of the world’s largest scout meeting was a unique opportunity to explore new skills and take on new responsibilities: “These twelve days, they had to survive with their peers, they had to organize meals, to organize the activities of the day, take part in events and so on. They had to learn how to live and to work as a team and to contribute to the common good,” explained a GELMac leader in a statement to O Clarim. “They had the opportunity to learn new skills and competencies. They had to live with Scouts from other latitudes and cultures, all united by Baden-Powell’s ideal: to make the world a better place,” the same source says.
The World Scout Jamboree takes place every four years and “brings together young people from around the world to promote peace and mutual understanding,” it was claimed at the official website of the event.
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