Scout Meeting, 28th January 2012

The Rose
By Scribe/Sixer Jeremy Tan

The theme for the Scout Meeting on 28 January 2012 was the Rose. We were taught to make paper roses from “Ang Pow” red packets and serviettes. To me, the Rose is symbolic of Love- Love for our Country, Love for our Parents and Love for the People we care.

Respect,

Obey and

Serve the

Elders

Teaching us ROSE was very important. It was the 6th day of the Lunar New Year and we had “bai nian” our elders (greet to pay respect) with 2 Mandarin Oranges and wishing them the traditional New Year greetings such as “Long Ma Jing Shen” “Wan Shi Ru Yi” “Gong Xi Fa Cai”. Our Elders in return blessed us with the Chinese New Year traditions and give us “Ang Pows”. A bouquet of Roses for the CNY traditions and values.

14 February 2012 is Valentine’s Day. On this day, usually Roses are given mainly to ladies although on rare occasions, men do receive roses. The rose is a symbolic gesture by the giver to the recipient of the rose to express appreciation, care and love showered on the recipients by the givers. As a stalk of rose is expensive on Valentine’s Day, I shall make one as I am now taught how to make a paper rose. It may not be the real thing but who cares. It is the thought that counts.

28 January 2012 was the 6th day of the Lunar New Year, the year of the water Dragon. It was the first time the new recruits joined the Pack although the new recruits had their first meeting on 21 January 2012.

Soon it was 0900hrs and the main Pack formed the usual horse shoe formation while the new recruits formed two rows behind the Pack. The recruits heard the Scout Promise and witnessed the tying of the knot.

The Pack then sat in Indian file according to their Sixes. The recruits were then assigned to their Sixes. I had 3 new recruits joining my Six-EMU. There were 8 girl recruits and they were assigned equally to Wombat 1 and Wombat 2. They were 38 new recruits altogether.

In our Sixes corner, the new recruits were introduced to the members of the Six. The new recruits had to introduce themselves; a few were nervous as they had not expected many pairs of eye staring at them but were put at ease by existing members. It was difficult for the new recruits to remember names but they got better with repeated practice.

After the introduction, Senior Sixer, Asst Senior Sixers, Sixers and Asst Sixers gathered around Aunty Aw Yong to learn how to make roses. While this was on going , the rest of the Pack including the new recruits sat in Indian File in their Sixes and played a memory game conducted by Akela. The challenge was to name all the members of their Sixes. Majority could but some missed the perfect score.

It was then back to the Sixes corner and this time the Sixers and Asst Sixers taught their members how to fold paper cuttings to roses. There were hilarious moments when the roses looked like orchids, all spiraled up. However with guidance from Aunty Aw Yong, Raksha , Mdm Kerina and a handful of ex-Scouts, and with lots of practices, the Cubs and recruits transformed their cutting into roses. There were gems amongst us but they were too shy to stand when Akela asked those who taught their roses were beautifully made to stand up and be acknowledged.

The Pack acknowledged Aunty Aw Yong for sacrificing her time to be with the Pack to teach them the art of making roses so that we don’t have to spend money to purchase roses for our moms and loved ones on Valentine ’s Day.

The meeting ended with the Sunset Party.