College Scouts at Camp Freedom

Four Venture Scouts of St Aloysius College were, during the summer, chosen to serve as staff members at Camp Freedom 2002, the six-week long camp held in Europe for Boy Scouts of America who make up the Transatlantic Council and whose families are living in various parts of the continent.

The camp was led by Albert Garver and Bob Schmidt, and staff came from the United States, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy and Malta. The campsite was in the hills in the Dautphe countryside of central Germany where 1,000 Scouts rotated in batches of 300 every week to follow an accelerated camping programme teaching them various scouting skills, in a spirit of high adventure that encompassed field sports, aquatics, a study of nature and merit badges.

Andre Brincat,18, was the camp's rifle instructor; he was responsible for both the safety precautions necessary for this sport as well as teaching the young scouts and taking care of and running the rifle range.

Mark Philip Borg, 19, was the swimming instructor, teaching the merit badge requirements and acting as one of the three lifeguards at the pool.

Matthew Borg,18, and Salvino Ellul Bonici, 18, were the directors for the accelerated camping programme and also acted as instructors, responsible for teaching the hundreds of boys the basic scouting skills, the majority of these equivalent to the Scout Standard requirements of the Malta Association.

The camp staff organised two campfires weekly as well as other activities for the young Scouts to enjoy. One such activity was the Freedom Race which was a competition between the various troops under canvas. On weekends the camp staff were free from duties and took the opportunity to explore Germany, visiting Marburg, Giessen, Frankfurt, and also as far afield as Warsaw.

The College Ventures were all experienced Scouts, having camped at various international camps in various countries, ranging from the US to Chile.

The Maltese Scouts said on their return they had gained valuable experience to supplement the training they receive within their own Group and they contributed to discussion on the Movement and the spread of inter-nation cultures which were evident throughout the camp.