Click here to see the giant picture (+233k) To Wider Horizons By D.S.Fyfe Provincial Scout Commissioner, Matabeleland The term EXPAT '72 stands for Expedition Preperation and Training, and this event was planned essentially to enlarge the knowledge and competency of Scouts who are keen on expeditions to remote and little known places of interest which we hope to make a regula Scout Activity of the future. Ack: Supplement to the Bulawayo Sunday News 10th Sept 1972 An outline of the first of these is given elsewhere. In the early years of the Movement in Bulawayo, Scouts were content to camp on farmsaround the town. Then in 1936, we received the magnificent Gordon Park training ground in the Matopos as a base for our outdoor projects. New Phase Now we are about to enter a new phase involving wider horizons and more adventurous and challenging activities calculated to appeal to the older boy. The inroads of the city life and the mollycoddling effects of modern amenities make it ever more necessary to ensure that our boys retain the attributes of the Pioneer and frontiersman. Rhodesia needs resourceful, self-reliant young people confident in their own abilities.These qualities can be developed in the out-doors as nowhere else. EXPAT '72 has involved some fairly ruggard activities of which rock climbs, nighthikes, bushcraft and demonstration helicopter rescues are but a sample. Off the beaten track in the Matopos, or indeed anywhere else in the bush, young folk find themseles compelled to work together, to respect others abilities and to depend on eachother. The passing physical discomforts of thirst and fatigue are compensated forby nights beneath the stars and laughter in the cherry glow of the campfire. Scouts from Salisbury and Umtali, from the Midlands and Fort Victoria, as well as our own lads from Bulawayo, will return from Expat all the better for the rough and tough experiences behind them. + Nights were sometimes on the chilly side for EXPAT '72 at Gordon Park and Scouts found sweaters and blankets useful when they joined in an evening camp fire. + A lesson in first aid in the bush from Assistant Scout Leader J.Felgate, who demonstrates mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Below: Popular feature was a helicopter of the Rhodesian Air Force with a practical display of rescue and other techniques. |
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