In our December 13, 2012, post on our school, Baan Nong Phue, we reported that Thursday is Scout Day and included a photo of the morning assembly with the students in their Scout uniforms.
This week has been Scout Camp, and we were invited to participate. We learned a lot about scouting in Thailand as a result. Here's a brief history (from Wikipedia and thaiscouting.com).
The Thai Scout Movement was founded by King Rama VI (King
Vajiravudh) on July 1, 1911. He is remembered as the "Father of Thai Scouting." Apart from
being the only country in the world where Scouting was founded by the King
directly, Thailand was recognized in 1922 as one of the Founder member
countries in the world (said to have been the third country in the world to adopt Scouting).
Scouting receives strong support from the royal family and the government. The present monarch of Thailand, King Rama IX (King Bhumibol), is Chief Scout and Patron of Thai Scouting. Every year on Scout Day (July 1st), Scouts pay homage to the King's image and take part in parades.
Scouting receives strong support from the royal family and the government. The present monarch of Thailand, King Rama IX (King Bhumibol), is Chief Scout and Patron of Thai Scouting. Every year on Scout Day (July 1st), Scouts pay homage to the King's image and take part in parades.
Scouting in Thailand is unique in that it is part of the school curriculum. One day each week, students wear their Scout uniforms to school. They have inspection in the morning and, after that, they meet as a pack or troop or as a year group where they learn about Scouting from books and practical activities. They work towards proficiency badges, learn knot tying, play games and sing songs. Because Scouting is part of the school course work, they have to sit for exams at the end of the term.
Thai Scouting has received much publicity due to its impressive work during emergencies. Such work includes taking part in ambulance and first aid teams, helping the Fire Brigade, and assisting in flood control.
It's early February and still "winter" in Thailand. We enjoyed several weeks of cooler temperatures in January and the beginning of this month. We would comment to each other each day that we were experiencing almost perfect weather: beautiful sunny skies with a few puffy clouds and comfortable temperatures. But last week sometime, summer seemed to have returned and suddenly it was very hot again. So Mary passed on going to the camp on Wednesday, February 6th, and opted to stay at home with the air conditioning on and get some work done. George took his camera and headed to camp.
This is the dry season; we haven't seen rain here since the storm that washed out the Loi Krathong festival at the end of November. So there is a lot of dust in the air.
Each of the Scouts has a walking stick. For the 9th graders, each stick has a small branch sticking out to the side near the top. Those small branches enable the Scouts to stack sticks together when they aren't in use.
As always, the teachers (who are all Scouts themselves) invited George to lunch. Nursery school teacher Sirintip (orange shirt) and 8th grade teacher Kanoklada (black sweater) prepare a papaya salad.
Math teacher Pitak makes one serious spicy sauce for papaya salad!
George took a walk to see the countryside
and saw some sugar cane growing,
some garden plots, a bush that attracted bees and butterflies,
and a rural Thai farmhouse.
We waited a bit.
Then the teachers got their instructions
and we were off.
The Thai flag was raised.
Teachers explained that Scouts would rotate through a series of activities focusing on the laws of the Scouts.
There was a break after Scouts completed these stations and changed out of their uniforms for the physical activities to come. During the break, teacher Kok from another school attending the Scout camp explained the Scout laws to George.
A Scout’s honor is to be trusted.
A Scout is loyal to his Nation, his Religion, his King and is faithful to his benefactors.
A Scout’s duty is to be useful and to help others.
A Scout is a friend to all, and a brother to every other Scout in the world.
A Scout is courteous.
A Scout is kind to animals.
A Scout respectfully obeys the orders of his parents and his superiors.
A scout is very cheerful and is not afraid of troubles.
A scout is thrifty.
A Scout is clean in thought, word and deed.
Also during the break, teacher Thanorm from Baan Nong Phue and teacher Sitisak from another school (but the husband of Baan Nong Phue's teacher Toom), demonstrated stilt walking to George, who resisted their invitations to try it himself.
Then the students took over.
There was a "land ski" race, an activity to make it around a tree by swinging from one tire to the next (with some doing it in tandem), and a spider web to climb to get to the other side.
There was a maze that students had to make their way through while blindfolded.
And there was a challenging activity that required Scouts to work together to move three bottles -- one at a time -- from the center of a circle to three points around its perimeter.
On Thursday, February 7th, Mary and George headed to Scout camp but missed the morning activities. Baan Nong Phue teacher Natnat got some great photos of the 6th grade students that morning and graciously agreed to let us use a few in this blog. Thank you, Natnat.
Mary and George got to the camp in time to see the 6th graders engaged in physical activities.
George took Mary to see the butterfly bush and along the way saw some Scouts enjoying a dip in the pond on that hot day and some jackfruit growing on a tree.
That's teacher Natnat (4th from the left), who graciously let us "borrow" her morning photos.
Area Education Director Kowit Plearnjit, Ph.D. (in hat in photo below), with responsibility for the many schools in a large area of Ubon Ratchathani Province, attended the Scout camp on Thursday. Mary and George were honored to meet him, as well as to meet the Directors of a number of schools attending the camp.
As the sun set, attention turned to the campfire that would be lit soon. Mary posed with some Baan Nong Phue teachers and staff as we headed toward the campfire.
Some of the Baan Nong Phue teachers (Asst. Dir. Monthian, Rampai, Pairat, and Ulai) warmed up to help provide musical support during the campfire performances. They even got us (along with teacher Yen in red) into the act.
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Our 6th grade students were ready, and the USA had a friend in the crowd.
It was time to light the campfire.
Then each of the 13 schools put on a performance for the crowd. Performances included dancing, singing, drama, and comedy.
We admit to a certain bias on this, but our favorite performance was by the 9th graders from Baan Nong Phue, who performed a skit about the hard choice between young love and preparation for the national tests, which had been administered the weekend before the Scout camp.
Once we headed back to Khemmarat on Thursday evening, we thought that was the end of our experience with Thai Scouting for now but, as we headed to the coffee shop on Friday morning, we saw Khemmarat Scouts out on field trips around our town. Thai Scouts stay busy!
and saw some sugar cane growing,
some garden plots, a bush that attracted bees and butterflies,
and a rural Thai farmhouse.
We waited a bit.
Then the teachers got their instructions
and we were off.
Each of our Baan Nong Phue teachers (except George, who isn't a Scout) had his/her own assignment, but first the students needed their instructions.
The Thai flag was raised.
Teachers explained that Scouts would rotate through a series of activities focusing on the laws of the Scouts.
And then the students walked to their first activity.
One station was plant identification.
Another involved tasting unidentified substances. While the Scouts often seemed to find the tastes unpleasant, we were told they were things like lemon and salt.
At another station, Scouts had to read and repeat a script in Thai. They all seemed to enjoy a good laugh when a mistake was made.
There was a break after Scouts completed these stations and changed out of their uniforms for the physical activities to come. During the break, teacher Kok from another school attending the Scout camp explained the Scout laws to George.
A Scout is loyal to his Nation, his Religion, his King and is faithful to his benefactors.
A Scout’s duty is to be useful and to help others.
A Scout is a friend to all, and a brother to every other Scout in the world.
A Scout is courteous.
A Scout is kind to animals.
A Scout respectfully obeys the orders of his parents and his superiors.
A scout is very cheerful and is not afraid of troubles.
A scout is thrifty.
A Scout is clean in thought, word and deed.
Also during the break, teacher Thanorm from Baan Nong Phue and teacher Sitisak from another school (but the husband of Baan Nong Phue's teacher Toom), demonstrated stilt walking to George, who resisted their invitations to try it himself.
Then the students took over.
There was a "land ski" race, an activity to make it around a tree by swinging from one tire to the next (with some doing it in tandem), and a spider web to climb to get to the other side.
There was a maze that students had to make their way through while blindfolded.
And there was a challenging activity that required Scouts to work together to move three bottles -- one at a time -- from the center of a circle to three points around its perimeter.
On Thursday, February 7th, Mary and George headed to Scout camp but missed the morning activities. Baan Nong Phue teacher Natnat got some great photos of the 6th grade students that morning and graciously agreed to let us use a few in this blog. Thank you, Natnat.
Mary and George got to the camp in time to see the 6th graders engaged in physical activities.
George took Mary to see the butterfly bush and along the way saw some Scouts enjoying a dip in the pond on that hot day and some jackfruit growing on a tree.
Then it was dinnertime for teachers and students.
That's teacher Natnat (4th from the left), who graciously let us "borrow" her morning photos.
Area Education Director Kowit Plearnjit, Ph.D. (in hat in photo below), with responsibility for the many schools in a large area of Ubon Ratchathani Province, attended the Scout camp on Thursday. Mary and George were honored to meet him, as well as to meet the Directors of a number of schools attending the camp.
As the sun set, attention turned to the campfire that would be lit soon. Mary posed with some Baan Nong Phue teachers and staff as we headed toward the campfire.
Some of the Baan Nong Phue teachers (Asst. Dir. Monthian, Rampai, Pairat, and Ulai) warmed up to help provide musical support during the campfire performances. They even got us (along with teacher Yen in red) into the act.
.jpg)
Our 6th grade students were ready, and the USA had a friend in the crowd.
It was time to light the campfire.
Dr. Plearnjit started things off and led a dance around the fire.
Then each of the 13 schools put on a performance for the crowd. Performances included dancing, singing, drama, and comedy.
We admit to a certain bias on this, but our favorite performance was by the 9th graders from Baan Nong Phue, who performed a skit about the hard choice between young love and preparation for the national tests, which had been administered the weekend before the Scout camp.
Once we headed back to Khemmarat on Thursday evening, we thought that was the end of our experience with Thai Scouting for now but, as we headed to the coffee shop on Friday morning, we saw Khemmarat Scouts out on field trips around our town. Thai Scouts stay busy!
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