It made for an interesting day when three Krugersdorp members of the 1st Eagles Scouts Group, Meerkats branch honoured the life of the father of modern-day Boy and Girl Scouts.
Robert Baden Powell, a British Army officer in the early 1900 founded the Scout Movement, and later founded the Girl Scout Movement with his sister.
All these years later, the Meerkats look back at his contribution to their way of life by wearing their uniforms to school, and on Tuesday February 22 these three young Scouts had the privilege of being the only ones not in their school uniforms.
Six-year-old Marli du Preez arrived at Laerskool Krugersdorp-Noord in her full Scout outfit to impress her teacher and other learners with her many Challenge and Interest badges.
Marli who has been a Meerkat for about a year said, “Everyone wanted to know what the Meerkats are and they wanted to know about my badges. I like the meetings and I love singing the Meerkat song at the start and end of the meeting.”
Seven-year-old Johan Rutter attends West Rand School and has been a Cub Scout for five months. So far, he’s earned the Cooking and Cyclist badges. Johan said that he enjoyed the day and, “They asked a lot about my badges”.
Eight-year-old Daniel Pieterse is also a Cub and attends Monument Primary. He has been a Cub for just over six months and has received the Flying Models and Secret Codes badges.
The Cubs wore a khaki shirt-shorts combo with a green hat and a purple group scarf, with badges on the sleeve. The Meerkat uniform is made up of a green ‘Cricket Hat’ with all of their badges on, a green golf shirt with the Meerkat symbol, and a purple group scarf.
