Nobody can resist a gory story about a monk who meditated for so long that his legs withered away and, so as not to disturb his meditation, then cut off his eyelids to stop himself from sleeping just before his arms dropped off! The Camelsdale Cubs proved to be no exception to this as they listened to the story behind Daruma Dolls, Japanese promise dolls which remind Japanese children to keep focused and achieve their goals
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They also listened intently to the inspirational story of Sadako, a little girl who was 2 when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. When she was diagnosed with leukaemia, aged 11, she decided to start making origami cranes so that she could wish to get well. It is an ancient legend in Japan that if you make 1,000 origami cranes your wish is granted. Sadly she died before she could make all 1,000. Instead of making origami cranes – which had proved tricky for Nakama Scouts and Explorers, puzzling over the instructions for a long time - we decided to make something more simple, Koi Karp.
The Cubs then learned a few facts about Japan by playing a run-a-round quiz. We put some posters up around the hut and the Cubs had to dash between the posters to answer the questions on a diverse range of subjects such as population, the speed of the bullet train, the number of earthquakes each year and the national sport (127million, 320km/h, 1500, and Sumo wrestling if you’re interested!)
A hilarious end to the evening was a chopsticks challenge – a race to move uncooked pasta tubes from one end of the hut to the other using only a pair of chopsticks. Whilst for some Cubs it was the first time they had used chopsticks, everyone warmed to the challenge and developed their own chopsticks technique. After only a short time, pasta was zooming from one end of the hut to the other, and the end result was very close. The Cubs got to take their chopsticks home, along with their Daruma Dolls and origami Koi, as a souvenir of the evening they were visited by the World Scout Jamboree’s Japan in a Box.
The Cubs then learned a few facts about Japan by playing a run-a-round quiz. We put some posters up around the hut and the Cubs had to dash between the posters to answer the questions on a diverse range of subjects such as population, the speed of the bullet train, the number of earthquakes each year and the national sport (127million, 320km/h, 1500, and Sumo wrestling if you’re interested!)
A hilarious end to the evening was a chopsticks challenge – a race to move uncooked pasta tubes from one end of the hut to the other using only a pair of chopsticks. Whilst for some Cubs it was the first time they had used chopsticks, everyone warmed to the challenge and developed their own chopsticks technique. After only a short time, pasta was zooming from one end of the hut to the other, and the end result was very close. The Cubs got to take their chopsticks home, along with their Daruma Dolls and origami Koi, as a souvenir of the evening they were visited by the World Scout Jamboree’s Japan in a Box.
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