Exercising democracy

Every other year the parlament of the Swedish Scout Association meet and all the districts send representatives to debate current scout affairs and issues. Every other year, starting this year, everyone is welcome to come and meet the "government" in a slightly less formal setting, to get updated on what work is going on, and what progress has been made.

This first meeting took place on Vässarö, an island in the archipelago north of Stockholm and the Stockholm district's campsite. We were 12 people from Halland, the oldest 72 years of age and the youngest 11. We drove up and it took 13 hours with two stops. The last 10 km were on tiny, wriggly, little roads. Then a parking lot in the middle of nowhere, and a little harbour.

The boat ride took almost 30 minutes between small, rocky islands, and even though we where late they had saved us some dinner. It was still reasonably light when we put our tents up, and we found a spot that wasn't too wet. It had been raining quite a lot resently.

The café was open late, and people kept arriving until midnight. The next morning activities started after breakfast. It is always a powerful feeling, sharing breakfast with 300 others, there for the same reason you are, everyone looking slightly rough but nobody care about hair or makeup and everyone so very friendly.

Down at the square the committee's various subgroups were informing us about the progress made on the new leadership training programs, what the discussions were like with the other scout organisations about program and mutual intrests. Appearantly the Salvation Army scouts are dwindling and are thinking about joining forces with us, while the new Muslim Scouts have liasoned with a Christian scout organisation to strengthen their resources.

While all this talking, lobbying and discussing went on, you could also try the Respect game, vote on the new age group names by building lego blocks, take a vertical certificate on the climbing wall, try tanning, wood carving, black smithing or help the outdoor Thai chef with some gorgeous cooking.

Cassandra trying Thai

I had an unexpected sightseeing trip of the island the next morning, when I managed to get lost in the woods when I went for a jog at six. Having planned to be out for 30 minutes, it took me the best of two hours to get back. It also started tipping it down with rain. I saw many wonderful things, among them the end of the rainbow, and several of the permanent activity trails. The committee chairwoman laughed when I told her in the shower that I'd got lost:

-It is certainly an achievment, getting lost on an island, 1km x 2km, completely stung through by trails and paths, she said jokingly, hoping that I wasn't too cold.

After a meeting with the other Educational officers in the Boathouse and lunch I packed up my things. The meeting ended and we managed to get on one of the first boats for the mainland. Nevertheless it was midnight when we got back to Falkenberg. My daughter was very happy with her weekend, even though she hadn't really made many friends as most people were about 10 years older than her or more. Now she has another great scouting memory to tell her friends about.