Bundaberg District Scouts and Guides have had an active month, with local youth enjoying the outdoors and adventures that come from being involved in these organisations.
Nine local scouts, guides and leaders gave up a week of school holidays to attend a special camp in Brisbane called Agoonoree.
The focus was not so much on participants just enjoying themselves, but on ensuring that themselves and a guest with a disability formed bonds and shared experiences that are like nothing else.
Agoonoree is a scouting term for a camp for young people with special needs.
The Queensland Agoonoree is a camp that gives special needs children from outside of Scouting and Guiding the chance to experience the fun and excitement of these two long running movements.
Emma Stack from Bundaberg Girl Guides has now completed two Agoonorees and said it was a little different to a normal scout or guide camp.
“It is more focusing on helping them (the guests) do stuff,” she said.
“It's about them having experience that we as guides and scouts do more often.
“It's probably the first time they’ll ever get to do them if they ever get to do them after these camps and its really fun to help make that happen.”
This camp takes the young people out of their comfort zones.
Kit Bradfield from Gin Gin Scout Group has now completed his second Agoonoree and believes that the ability of the scouts and guides to work in a team environment made a big difference to how much they and their guests enjoy the camp.
“If you can work together and even out the jobs – my patrol and I found that splitting the responsibilities like showering, base duties and supervision was the easiest way to accomplish the activities,” Kit said.
“We took part in aquatics and rock climbing and even had one of our guests experience abseiling despite the fact that he was in a wheelchair”.
Meanwhile Bundaberg District Scouts camped out in the scrub of Wyper Park last weekend to join with more than two million other scouts from around the globe with the Jamboree of the Air and Jamboree of the Internet – known as JOTA-JOTI.
This event engages the youth in educational activities using the internet and amateur radio.
They undertake a variety of activities that build teamwork, cross-cultural understanding, and skills for the future.
Bundaberg’s annual camp gathers in scouting groups from Gin Gin and Childers with groups from Kepnock, Millbank and Moore Park Beach.
It's open to all Scouting members from the youngest joey scout right through to adult leaders.
These scouts communicated with other scouts from across Australia and around the world thanks to the Bundaberg Amateur Radio Club and learnt about how scouting and other young people have as many similarities as they do differences.
While on camp, activities that explored other methods of communication like switchboards and dial up telephones and specially created and moderated internet chat rooms were also used to help create more memories of the experience.
Abseiling, camping out in tents and preparing food on site were also part of the weekend’s fun.
Scouting and guiding is thriving in Bundaberg and as such more Volunteer Adult Leaders are always welcomed to assist in creating memorable experiences.
To find out how you and/or your children can become involved check out www.scoutsqld.com.au or www.guidesqld.org
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