African Scouts Connected Worldwide Through JOTA-JOTI
As is the office tradition during the JOTA-JOTI weekend, every year the WSB Africa Support Centre hosts a Station at its premises located at Rowallan National Scouts Camp in Nairobi and invites Scouts to take part. This year the office partnered with the Kenya Scouts Association to bring together 81 young people (Scouts and a few Girl Guides) to take part in this historic event.
From 11 am to 5pm on Saturday 21 October 2017, the Scouts got connected and engaged with their fellow Scouts from around the world. Over this period, the Scouts held conversations and exchanges via various digital channels. From ScoutLink IRC Webchat, Facebook, to Joti TV (Joti Cafe and Digital Campfires) and Jota-Joti Campfires on Crowdcast platform the young people had fun interacting and learning from each other.
There to facilitate the connections and support them were Staff of Kenya Scouts Association and the World Scout Bureau Africa Support Centre. The Regional Director, Frederic Kama-Kama and KSA national Executive Commissioner were present to join and inspire the Scouts attending the event. Other colleagues joined in from home and had the opportunity to chat with the Scouts at the venue as well as those in other countries.
“It was a Scouting Saturday joining JOTA-JOTI all the way from Kilifi County in Kenya. It was fun and nice meeting you all on the internet, from Ghana, Algeria, Indonesia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Chile, England, United States, Greece, Canada, Russia and my fellow country men and women. If I had wings, I could fly to see the great things that you do over there. Looking forward to have a great year ahead with lots of new connections. I am a proud Scout.” - Patrick Chiro (Kenya)
In line with this year’s theme, the event really provided an opportunity for connecting Scouts from different corners of the world to each other in the spirit of brotherhood, fraternity and solidarity. This was evidenced with the connection the Scouts made with their counterparts from Tanzania, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Australia, United Kingdom, Comoros, Italy, Indonesia, Algeria among others.
Across the Africa Scout Region, similar events were hosted by different NSO/NSAs at their national headquarters or Scout groups. This year’s event saw an increase in the number of Africa NSOs and Scout Groups participating in the event. Below are links to some stories of how Scouts across Africa took part in JOT-JOTI this year:
In Kenya;
• https://www.facebook.com/chiro.account/posts/2001138456800387?comment_id=2001153796798853&reply_comment_id=2001209430126623¬if_id=1508602923960421¬if_t=mentions_comment
In Benin;
https://www.scout.org/node/388351
In Burkina Faso;
• https://www.scout.org/node/388086
In Cameroon;
• https://www.scout.org/fr/node/387506
• https://www.scout.org/fr/node/387851
• https://www.scout.org/node/387936
• https://www.facebook.com/houston.tatchoumka/posts/1090530917749810?pnref=story.unseen-section
In Cote d’Ivoire;
• https://www.scout.org/node/387836
https://www.scout.org/node/388391
• https://www.facebook.com/scoutascci/
In Ghana:
• https://www.scout.org/node/387816
In Tanzania;
https://www.scout.org/node/389036
In Nigeria:
https://www.scout.org/node/388476
Other NSOs that held JOTA-JOTI events include Namibia, South Africa and Ethiopia
