Sorry for the long silence. I have
been at a Camporee for the last 9
days, which was a lot of fun! It
was like a Pathfinder Camporee only
it wasn't for Pathfinders. It was
for Master Guides. Here in
Venezuela the Master Guides have a
club of their own instead of just
helping with regular Pathfinders.
We left for the campout on the 7th
of April and didn't get back until
the 16th. But it sure was fun! I
will send pictures when possible.
At this point the computer I am on
does not have a USB port so I can't
download my pictures from my
camera.
The first few days of the campout
were pretty laid back. The 7th was
Friday and we spent the day setting
up camp. We were given a
rectangular piece of ground that we
had to build a fence around and
clear off all the savannah weeds and
grasses. We then built a kitchen
shelter using poles and tarp and set
up all the tents. The Camporee
didn't actually start until Monday
night so we had lots of time to set
up camp. My club (the club from the
local Colegio) was also in charge of
decorating the main meeting shelter
which is why we had to get there so
early.
That first Sabbath we had a
worship with our club then in the
afternoon walked to a nearby
waterfall where we swam for several
hours. How refreshing! Sunday and
Monday were spent refining our
facilities. The guys put up an
addition to our kitchen shelter and
built in shelves for suitcases and
changing rooms for the boys and
girls. The reason for this is that
camp regulation stipulated that no
suitcases could be left in the
tents. Nothing but bedding could be
in the tents during inspection each
morning. This was very annoying,
but at least we had a place to
change where our suitcases were.
We also had to dig our 'toilets'
and build a shelter around them for
privacy. My club was quite fancy
because the leaders had brought
toilets. These were put over the
hole in the ground so they could be
sat on. To flush them, we had to
pour water into the toilet bowl and
paper went into a garbage bag
conveniently located near the
toilet. We were so up town that we
even had a guys bathroom and a girls
bathroom. Pretty spiffy, I thought
:)
Anyways, Monday night they held
the opening ceremonies complete with
flags, banners, marching, and even a
marching band. Then on Tuesday the
main schedule started. Up by 6:00
am, club worship at 6:30, flag
raising at 7:00, morning meeting at
7:15, breakfast at 8:30, inspection
at 9 and so on. They definitely
kept us busy :) Usually by 10:30
the sports competitions had started
and I actually got to play on one of
the teams!
The name of the game was kikimbol, which
to me sounds like a Pidgen word from
PNG :) And that is exactly what you
do, you kick the ball. Actually,
the rules parallel the rules of
baseball complete with 3 strikes and
you're out, only a soccer ball is
used. The bases are set up in the
same way. Each team consists of 7
girls. The outfield has a
'pitcher', one player at each base
and 2 in the outfield and one short
stop. The pitcher roles the ball to
home base where the girl up to kick
is waiting to kick it. You don't
want to kick a foul ball because
they are counted as strikes, and you
don't want to kick the ball into the
air within catching range because if
it is caught you are out. It was
really fun! I only got to play
because one of the other girls got
run over by a runner and got a big
bruise on her leg during the first
play of the game. We won our first
game so we got to play again a
couple of days later.
Other sports included volleyball,
soccer, and another game that I
don't know the name of, nor to I
know how to play it. They also had
tug-of-war competitions, song
competitions, and marching
exhibitions. The marching here is
also quite different from the
marching in the U.S., though I don't
know how to describe it. There was
also a meeting each evening that
usually went from 7pm to 9:30pm. I
got a lot of good Spanish practice
:) There was also a class in sign
language that was offered and I
tried to learn what they were
teaching, but it was awfully hard
when the explanations of what it
meant were in Spanish, lol. I
learned enough to be able to do two
songs in sign language, one of which
we performed in the middle of Santa
Elena during a grand march on
the second Sabbath.
I got a lot of stares as I walked
in the 'march' (no one was marching
in time to the music) because I was
the only white person
there. (though I'm just as dark as
some of them, my blonde hair and
blue eyes gives me away :)
And now I am back in Maurak
trying to find things to keep me
busy. But I do have my work cut out
for me. For a while I thought I
would go to Chiricayen and work out
there, but I don't get the feeling
that they especially want me to
come. Besides which, the main
building is finally nearing
completion and it desperately needs
to be cleaned up. The metal beams
holding the cement roof had a lot of
cement drip and dry on them. So
they need to be sanded and painted
in order to keep them from rusting.
So I will be staying busy,
though I won't get much in the way
of Spanish practice. However, for
that I will be attending quite a few
different classes at the Colegio to
listen and possibly speak some as
well. I have quite a few friends
there now that I
am comfortable trying to speak
with. So that is what has been
going on around here. I hope life
has been going well for all of you
and that you can see God's hand
working and blessing.
With lots of love,