Don’t forget they’re Scouts

Abdullah Al Fahad, CEO of Saudi Scouting has worked closely with the leaders of the Boy Scouts of America to bring their Scouts together to build mutual understanding and the results have been outstanding. Sometimes things aren’t quite what they seem … At the BSA Jamboree in July, a troop of 40 Scouts from Saudi Arabia unloaded their gear from the vans, were divided into four patrols, and made their way to the assigned camp sites. Each patrol separated from the others. The Scouts - many of whom had only basic English - sat around in their tents on arrival, and to their American hosts, it seemed they might not budge.

Faced with the prospect of a sullen and reticent ten days like this, US host leaders left the site. They made their way to the BSA’s international team headquarters to see if they had any tricks that might prise these “shy” Scouts away from the safety of home-base and get them to interact more with their peers from the USA and elsewhere. Roger, Dan and Kent listened to the host team and worked through the programme of the camp, looking for opportunities to motivate their visitors … Together, the six leaders strolled back to the site.

The  sun had set and Roger had offered to buy pizza for everyone to celebrate their arrival. Approaching the camp, Joe, one of the host leaders, set off running - “Oh Dear, what are we going to do - they’ve all gone! Maybe they have left the site and tried to go home! What will their parents think?” Musa, one of the Saudi leaders, arrived on site, and quickly noticed that, of course, they hadn’t left! All their kit had been neatly unpacked and laid out in their tents … but where were the boys? Kent, who had walked on towards what seemed like a photo shoot -such was the number camera flashes going off - called the others ... “Over here, guys - look!” To their delight, here was a circle of American, Mexican and Saudi Scouts - with Abdulrahman from Mecca dancing on his hands …“I don’t think Pizza will be needed", said Musa, “I think the boys will fit in pretty well without it! They’re Scouts after all … we just forgot that!”