Blocked scouts head to Nabugabo

SCOUTS  BURUNDI  

A function with no chair, no chief guest and nobody to handover to
Well, despite being the chair of the scouts' event, the Ugandan team was blocked from entering Burundi on Sunday. The team had the chief Guest to the event and was supposed to handover the chair to Rwanda.

Information also indicates that the Rwanda team did not even bother to attend.

Having gone through the stressful weekend, blocked at the border points and forced to sleep in the cold for two nights, the team of over 300 people returned safely to Uganda.

 WHAT NEXT? Scouts at the Uganda-Tanzania border after their return

After the return, what next?
Richard Okello, deputy chief scouts' commissioner, said instead the leaders agreed to take the scouts to Nabugabo Camping site in Masaka district for two days to counsel them and remove the stress they picked for the days they were tossed up and down.

Reviving the moods
He said many were disappointed and frustrated and it needed to bring them into proper moods before they can return home. Okello explained that they had contacted their teams in Masaka to prepare the venue for the scouts.

The participants include primary, secondary and students from tertiary institutions from teacher training colleges and nursing schools. He said they had arranged to issue certificates to participants after the two days in what he termed as the East African scouts challenge.

Trained for hardships
According to Okello, scouts are trained to face all sorts of challenges, including the one they faced in Burundi. The team left Burundi border at Kobero and were escorted to the Tanzanian border by both police and army trucks. At Kananga border, where they arrived at about 9:30am, they spent the rest of the day at the border.

Although when going, teachers would collect travel documents and clear them at once, but this time the immigration officials demanded that each child is physically presented before clearing.

Carrying hot cooking pans
The team was also delayed waiting for an army escort vehicle from Tanzania. But when they arrived, they ordered everyone to board the bus forcing many who were still cooking their food to carry hot cooking pans.

They left the border at 7:00pm, but after small distance, the buses were parked at the Kabanga police station for almost an hour. The buses travelled at night up to Mutukula border where they arrived at 4:00am. The scouts cleared with immigration up to morning. During this time the leaders prepared breakfast for the children and finally left the border at 11:00am heading to Nabugabo.

Some participants had, however, wanted to go home straight, saying they had been disappointed after preparing intensively for the competition in Burundi and hoped to carry the trophy back home. The leaders, however, said they will go ahead to prepare for the Africa zonal jamboree at Kaazi in 2020.