1st Fruitful Virtual Camping For Miri Sea Scouts

Written by:

Jivitha A/P Kandasamy, 1st Miri Sea Scouts Group, Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang.

Miri, Sarawak,19 July 2020 - Miri Sea Scouts had noted their achievement in their history of scouting remarkably by organising the 1st Virtual Basic Sea Scouts Camp 2020 held fully online at the comfort of the participants at home on 17 – 19 July 2020. The camp organisers witnessed joined forces by the 32nd Miri Sea Scouts Group, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Merbau in collaboration with the 1st Miri Sea Scouts Group, Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang. The Miri District Scouts Commissioner, Skipper Mohamad Rizanuddin bin Salaiman, in his opening speech, remarked the virtual camp was a great attempt to continue the scouts movement despite the restriction order on no extra-curriculum activities at school at the current situation. He praised the efforts and initiatives by the organizing scouters in organising the virtual camp which is a very unique and creative way in utilizing the Digital Learning platform set up by the Ministry of Education via Google Meet and Google Classroom usages by both the organisers and the participants in enabling distance learning in scout movement. He added that this could be possibly the first ever virtual sea scouts camp held in Miri district, Sarawak state and maybe in Malaysia.

A total of 45 participants registered online made up of five secondary schools, namely SMK Merbau, Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang, SMK Riam, SMK Dato Permaisuri and SMK Sultan Ismail, Johor Bahru. The camp comprised of 8 scouters and 5 helpers proved that a virtual camping is possible in this globalised era despite all the challenges faced of the post pandemic due to available ICT technologies. Skippers from SMK Merbau (Skipper Charles Ling, Skipper Jelor, Skipper Margereth, Skipper Nini), Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang (Skipper Meelan, Skiper Melvin), SMK Riam (Skipper Anna) and SMK Dato Permaisuri (Skipper Yanty) with their helpers (Jivitha Kandasamy, Rosalinda, Karen, Ezza, Alexander Benjamin from SMK Sultan Ismail, Johor Bahru) carried out each session thoroughly via the Google Meet. Even though a large amount of participants registered, only a handful  number of 10 regular participants were able to make attendance properly due to unstable internet line at home, extra classes commitments at school and also lagging in internet access in certain digital devices used. However, in order to ensure the other students who are unable to attend, the information will be shared by showing them the recordings made during each sessions after the camp.

Thanks to the supportive principals of both organizing schools, namely SMK Merbau, Mr. Jumari bin Hashim and Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang, Ms. Hajah Hasimah Abang Zain, this virtual camp works as a first step in producing future King’s Sea Scouts who will able to carry forward the enthusiasm and the knowledge further understanding the importance of scouting to the world. As a scout, one is required to obtain for a start, the tenderfoot badge (Lencana Keahlian) to be recognised as part of the world scouting family which was helped to achieve via this camp despite the pandemic times, COVID-19. The badge is often overlooked in its significance as it is already sewn on the uniform when one buys it. Hence, the syllabus of the badge as set by the Malaysia Scouts Association was covered in the camp to help the participants to earn it by learning the basics of scouting and appreciate the value plus the reason why it is worn on the uniform.

Participants were taught about various knots from the simplest to the advanced stage, but it is guaranteed to be useful for each scout as they can use them in their daily lives. Skip Melvin and Jivitha took over this session in two parts. Each knot was shown clearly, step by step over the webcam by the instructors and the participants also required to display their product. In order to enhance their leadership confidence and skills, some senior sea scouts (Alexander, Rosalinda, Karen, Ezza and Paris) were given the opportunity to handled sessions such as scouts oath and rules, proper way to wear the scouts and sea scouts uniforms and badges, history of the Malaysia scouts movement, how sea scouting began and also history of the founder, Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell or fondly known as BP among the scouts throughout the world.

The first webinar was conducted by Skipper Chan Zi-Lie from the Kuala Lumpur Scouts Commissioner, shared his experiences and the way to achieve the King’s Scout Award. Shared from his personal achievement as a King Scout as a very prestigious award which is well recognised around the world and the respect towards them is overwhelming. The second webinar was handled by Couch Thomas Yung from Gold Fish Swimming Academy, Miri on the Basic Water Safety and Survival Skills. He made it clear that drowning is becoming a serious case among the citizens and the precautions are important to be taken. Sarawak being the largest state with the highest rate of drowning statistic, it is essential for sea scouts to learn the precautions. Swimming is no longer an option as vast geographical nature of the state is covered with rivers and sea, everyone must learn how to swim and proved not only a life savior in certain situations but also very helpful when it comes to career building in the future.

The spirit of scouting could be seen in the end of day as the everyone was dressed up in uniforms or scout T-shirt with scarf to showcase the effort put on the past 2 days. In the closing ceremony speech by the Sarawak Scouts Headquaters Commissioner (Sea Scouts), Skipper Ikhwan bin Abdul Wahab congratulated the organizing scout groups and the participants in their commitment towards the sea scout movement by having the virtual camp. He managed to join most of the sessions online and find them refreshing and beneficial in helping not only the new sea scouts but also enlightenment of basic scout knowledge for the scouters. As a result of the pandemic, this will be a new way forward for the scouts to enable continuation of the sea scouts movement via online approach. Each eligible participant will be given e-certificates as proofs of attending the virtual camp and passed the online theory test. With hopes, the camp ended on the 19th July 2020, around 10 a.m.

The next scout course is the Librarian Badge Online Course on 25 July 2020, which will be held by the Curtin Library, Curtin University of Malaysia in collaboration with the 32nd Miri Sea Scouts. The course aims to assist the sea scouts of Miri to learn how to prepare and present book reviews, information literacy skills in searching informations both in the library for physical books and online. They will also be exposed on how the books are arranged in libraries so that they can easily find related books for their school assignments and cultivate self-learning.