Contura08

Take 25000 Swiss Scouts, a flat piece of land between two lakes and a couple of tents. That is what happened on the Linthebene plain close to Zurich at the end of July 2008. Fourteen years had passed since the previous Swiss National Jamboree, so Contura08 was bound to be something special, and a special event it was.

For fourteen days Our Chalet had a big white tent in Village Global, an international meeting place for non governmental organizations from all over the world. The task was to amuse and inform about a hundred Scouts each day. The Our Chalet workshop, which was located in the blue scouting circle between environmental and humanitarian help organizations such as Unicef, Greenpeace and Red Cross, started with a Finnish game. After the warm up the participants did a quiz about international scouting and guiding, WAGGGS and the four World Centres. Each correct answer led to a new country, and on the way the Scouts got to stop in Our Cabaña to play with Amigo, help build the biggest tower in Pax Lodge, work like elephants in Sangam and solve language problems in Our Chalet.

Two of Our Chalet staff members got the chance to stay for the whole camp and to make sure nobody would forget the four World Centres; other staff members came and visited Contura for a day or two. Of course there was time to see the eight other sub camps that all had different themes, cycle around the flat camp area, meet Swiss scouts and swim in the river!

Our Chalet looks forward to welcoming many more Swiss Scouts to the Centre in the future.