Have fun and grow with 1st Kibler Park Scouts

The 1st Kibler Park Sea Scouts is a leadership programme and a movement to develop the youth.

“The Sea Scouts organisation in South Africa rapidly spread through the efforts of Robert Baden Powell in 1908.

Scouting is a global movement that has been active in South Africa for over a century. It has provided young people with opportunities for adventure, personal growth, and community service while instilling important values such as respect, responsibility, and citizenship,” said Scout patrol leader, Karinah Chengalaryan.

Age groups and activities

There are two main groups in the movement; the first group is the Cubs (7-11) that follow the Cub trail where they learn skills, play games, complete creative crafts, and enjoy fun camps and community projects, and the second group, Scouts (11-17) are guided by the Scout trail.

This trail is filled with adventurous activities such as hiking, camping, abseiling, swimming, survival skills and first aid. The group is also open to the youth (18-30) and adults who enjoy adventures, challenges and making a positive impact in communities. Members of the Scout group acquire leadership abilities, teamwork, environmental and cultural awareness and strong values while having a fun time and conditioning.

The 1st Kibler Park Sea Scouts do a lot of activities associated with water such as boating, canoeing and sailing. “We have a boat house in Germiston. On Sundays we go to the boat house to enjoy water activities,” said Karinah.

The hierarchy system begins with Scouts and moves up to assistant patrol leader, patrol leaders who are the ‘parents’ of the Scout group – the patrol leader reports to the troop scouter and the troop leader – the hierarchy goes further up into regional district, provisional and country.

She explained that scouting has also played a key role in promoting diversity and social inclusion, bringing together young people from different backgrounds and promoting understanding and tolerance.

“The organisation in South Africa has undergone significant changes and innovations. With the support of dedicated volunteers and leaders, it has adapted to the needs and interests of modern youth, while maintaining its core values and traditions. From environmental conservation and sustainable development to leadership and entrepreneurship, scouting offers a wide range of activities and programmes that are relevant and engaging to young people today,” said Karinah.

Annual competition, Kontiki

Kontiki is an annual competition where Scout troops build a raft from drums, ropes and poles using pioneering.

This competition allows Scouts to win awards in various categories such as best raft, best cooking and best campsite. Karinah emphasised that there are multiple competitions.

For Sea Scouts, there is the seamanship competition where the Scouts work on technique and skills of handling a boat. The competition also helps Scouts obtain badges, which help them advance up the hierarchy.

A parent’s perspective

“I think being a part of the Scouts is the best thing any child could do especially in this day and age with technology. Children are constantly staring at a cellphone or television screen and this programme gives them an opportunity to do something different, fun whilst acquiring life skills,” said cub parent, Toby Preston. She added that children learn tolerance.

“I think it is amazing, my kids love it. The camps teach children independence and from a parent’s perspective every child should do Scouts, it is also for parents to get involved.”

“The children recently visited the zoo. One of the many things I enjoyed about the zoo visit was that the Scouts gave back. One of the tasks we did was an animal enrichment programme, where we went into the chimpanzee pens and made treats with bamboo and peanut butter, built bird tables for the aviary, and cleaned out the elephant and camel pen,” said cub parent, David De Mattos. He said, “The children are expected to step up and leave things better than when they got there.”