Girl Scout “Cisowy Dworek 2012” Camp

A traditional girl scout camp “Cisowy Dworek (lit. Yew Tree Manor) 2012” took place from the 28th to the 30th of September in theStanisławMoniuszkoSecondary Schoolin Kalveliai. This year 150 girl scouts joined the camp organised with the motto “Traditions connect”. The camp this year continued the tradition of celebrating the Polish Girl Scout Day, falling on the first Sunday of October.

The camp will surely leave a mark in the memory of every girl scout, because this year it had a special guest, Guide Krystyna Małkowska, the granddaughter of the founders of the scouting organisation – Andrzej Małkowski and Olga Małkowska. Krystyna Małkowska came to visit the camp fromBristol,UKat an invitation from Chief Guide Julia Darjina.

The activities taking place at the camp resulted in an optimal balance of now traditional exercises, such as a military drill competition. Each scout team presented a videoclip about one of the various traditions, assigned previously to each team and a poster about the observances of their own environment. A new element of the celebration was a trip to the ethnographic museum in Rumšiškės, where every guide joined previously chosen classes on old and modern traditions of inhabitants ofLithuania. An interesting event was also a quiz on cultures of different countries, prepared by Guide Elżbieta Łuczyńska. The quiz developed our logical thinking and pointed out interesting differences among traditions and observances of different countries.

The more important aspect, however, was the overall camping atmosphere, spread by Friday soireé, during which the girl scouts could talk to Guide Krystyna Małkowska, perform some storytelling, and see the scout scarf of one of the founders of the scouting organization lying among candles on a chest. On Saturday evening the was a bonfire, with other special guests, such as members of the board of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association in Lithuania, lead by Scoutmaster Adam Błaszkiewicz, accompanied by members of the Boy Scout Organization, lead by the  Chief Guide Waldemar Dowejko, the chaplain of the organization, Fr Jerzy Latawiec and Fr Marek Gładki.

On Sunday the girl scouts attended a mass, celebrated by Fr Jerzy Latawiec, in theDivineMercyChurch. There was also ceremonial assembly organized, in order to summarize the work done by the girl scouts during the year. Guide Krystyna Małkowska addressed the scouts by saying: “You are all very nice and you do great work, my dear guides. I wish you a happy new scout year and thank you for your cordial hospitality. The drill competition, the bonfire under the stars in the dark Lithuanian forest and the dance about the bear that want to hug in remain in my memory for a long time”.

The Girl Scout Organization expresses its gratitude to the Headmaster of theStanisławMoniuszkoSecondary Schoolin Kalveliai, Zygmunt Jaświn for making the school premises available for the time of the camp.

The project was co-funded by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as a part of a competition related to activities of cooperation between Polish emigrants (Polonia) and Polish nationals outside Poland.

Source: http://pl.delfi.lt/kultura/kultura/biwak-harcerek-cisowy-dworek-2012.d?id=59631071

Tłumaczenie Sławek Stępski w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Sławek Stępski the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.