Scout Camp

March in Thailand signals the end of the school year and a long break until mid-May.  Prior to the end of the year 5^th and 6^th grade students participate in a Scout Camp, which in my community was a 2 day overnight event at a military training site near my community.  All the students met at one of the local schools, dressed in their scout uniforms.  Some of the local military personnel were on hand to escort the students to the camp site and set the tone for the camp.  After a few introductory chants and role calls, the students marched off toward the camp site, separated into lines of boys and girls. 

As the teachers headed to the camp site, the students went off on a hike of the surrounding area and arrived a couple hours later.  They went through more of the call and response routines before lining up to participate in an introductory routine including some of the following:

After everyone was finished and the students were arranged in their linear formations, the staff proceeded to talk through events of the day and other scout-related business.  A few of the students became very affected by the heat and standing in the sunshine and were brought over to a shaded area to sit down.  I offered my bottle of water to one of them and took out a collapsible fan I had in my bag to help cool the students down a bit.  Within a few minutes at least 20 other students had either fainted or been carried over to the shade by other students or a teacher.  The uniforms the students were wearing were made of polyester, and standing in the sun after hiking around for a few hours with no break and little water was wearing on them.  As I tried to help by grabbing glasses of water for them, I couldn’t help but become frustrated at the reaction (or lack thereof) of the teachers and nearby adults.  Many of them laughed as they commented on how hot it was that day as a few others pulled out their ‘sniffing oils’ (usually used for a ‘pick me up’ in the same way that people use an afternoon cup of coffee) and making the kids smell them.  A few nearby parents bought some pop or other sugar-filled beverages to offer to their kids.  I tried to lead by example, taking ice cubes out of the water and showing the kids how to use them to cool off, and passing out water to everyone I could.  I also tried explaining to the nearby adults why the kids were feeling this way and what could be done to help them.  As kids were dropping like flies and headed to the shade, the camp leaders kept on going as the rest of the students continued to stand in the sun. 

Finally it was break time, and all the students made a beeline for the shade.  I encouraged them to drink water, almost positive that none of them would heed my advice.  I still couldn’t believe the adults had acted as they did, essentially not responding to the fact that so many students were becoming so affected by the morning’s activities.  This was the first time I had such a strong internal reaction to something here and made me really think about our vastly different cultural backgrounds and how they impacted our responses to this situation.  It was hard to make peace with this at the time, give that the health and safety of the students was potentially at-risk.  However, part of this whole experience is cultural immersion and exchange and, even though it’s hard sometimes, I have to look at things from a much different perspective to be able to even begin to understand them. 

The rest of the scout camp included an obstacle course full of activities, giving the students a chance to test their strengths. 

The evening activities revolved around a bonfire and some ceremonial activities that I didn’t totally understand, but was entertained by nonetheless.  Each school was represented by a group of students acting out skits or songs for the rest of the camp. 

As the bonfire events wrapped up, the scout camp leader went over the list of activities for the next morning.  The students then bough their last round of evening snacks (pop and meat sticks – healthy options everywhere!) and separated into their male and female sleeping areas for the night. The next morning the students were up early for exercise, breakfast, and camp clean-up.  The students participated in their last scout lineup before making the rounds to give each other congratulations and a final camp farewell. 

Salutes all around

Headed home: safety first.