Scouting or the Scout Movement is a voluntary, non-political, educational movement open for young people without distinction origin, race or gender, and gender aims to support young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society, with a strong focus on the outdoors and survival skills. It started on January 24th 1908 in England by Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell and his wife Olave St Clair Baden-Powell who were born on 22nd February 1857 and 22 February 1889 respectively.Our objectives as scouts are to contribute to the education of young people through values system based on the scout promise and law, to help build a better world where people are self-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society. It also helps young people to realise full potential as they move into their future.
On the morning of Saturday 23rd February, we woke up anxious for the much-anticipated days’ events and after having our breakfast, we left for
St. Peter's Cemetery in Nyeri town. This is where the body of the scout founder was laid. The celebration was set to take place here. On arrival, some of us were chosen to participate in the guard of honour which
was inspected by Nyeri Governor Hon. Mutahi Kahiga and the Kenya Scout Chief Commissioner Mr Victor Radido. After the celebrations, we went back to the campsite where we worked as a team to pitch up our tents again after they had been “blown away” by heavy rain which had come pouring down while we were at the celebrations.
That evening, students preparing for investiture went for their training which was being facilitated by scout leaders. They took us through scouting history, and this was followed by a question and answer session where no answer was wrong; instead it was more like a discussion were we all gained new knowl- edge and insights into the scouting movement. Everyone had a chance to contribute to the class that consisted of thirty-three participants. Learning needed to be intertwined with games to create a more significant impact, and though the night was approaching, we danced and played games as were being suggested by different members of the team. We even held a competition, and even though it was tough and interesting it provided a light note for the ending of a superb evening.
Investiture is a ceremony that entails admitting of recruits to the worldwide scout movement. After investiture, on Sunday, we started packing our luggage’s back to the academy. We had great memories of the three days to take with us as well as new badges for our scouts’ uniforms and as Mwamba motto states; LOOK WIDE & HAVE FUN.
