Written by Anathi Ndobondi, 2019 Scouting-in-Schools intern

“I started my journey with Scouting-in-Schools in January 2019. We first did the training. We hiked to the Scout Mountain Hut from Constantia Nek and we visited the Sea Scout Base. The hike wasn’t easy but we were trained how to deal with all the challenges that we faced.

The training continued the whole year and it wasn’t child’s play. But we managed to pull it through. Although we lost some friends and colleagues during the year, the journey with its challenges didn’t stop us as we kept going…

The journey of Scouting-in- Schools is a tough experience, but at the end it is worth it! Along the way you learn from your mistakes. Like my journey as “Anathi”. When I entered the programme I was an introvert and had low self-esteem. Scouts taught me how to gain my confidence and that really helped me a lot. As I said before, the journey was not easy , but worth it at the end…

Scouts made me experience things I never thought I would experience in my life! There is a saying that says “In life you have to walk rough patches to get through the hardness.” The journey of Scouting-in-Schools comes with a lot of pressure, but you must always find a solution for the next move that you are about to take.

Scouts taught me that in life not everything can be fought with “anger”.  But that there is Law that says “A Scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties.” That kept me going throughout the whole year and everything I did in Scouts was because of that Law.

When we meet at the Friday meetings our Scouting -in-Schools coordinator Mr Ahmad Solomon always says to us, before we start our meeting we must “reflect” on what happened during the week. What was our highlight for the week? That helped me a lot. I felt like I’m part of a big organisation all around the world. Even now at the end,  while I write this, I sit and I reflect on everything I did and that’s very important to do as a person. Reflect after you have done so much because it helps you to see your journey going forward.

The end of the year camps was the most difficult time of my life because it was my first time to be the “Assistant Camp Coordinator”. It was a huge step to manage a camp and I was under pressure but i managed…because “A Scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties”! That helped me a lot and also *A Scout is loyal”.

I was the “Camp Coordinator” for the camp from 27-29 November 2019. When I reflect on that camp, I see that I managed and got through the week. I was the “Camp Coordinator” and that was a huge responsibility because i had to manage the interns, my colleagues who have different personalities and some don’t want to be told what to do .. But my Scout Laws helped me a lot. When I was stressing and when we were behind the time with the things that were on the programme, Mr Ahmad Solomon And Athenkosi Qwelana said to me “don’t worry, things will work “. But I was stressing on my side and in the end we made it and I couldn’t believe that we did it!

When I reflect I see that the road of Scouting-in-Schools is not an easy journey, but it’s worth it. The journey prepares you for life and difficulties in life. ”

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