Summary of the first camp building weekend
The campsite workgroup held its first construction weekend, from 9th April to the 11th, already on-site. The primary goal was for the members of the workgroup to get to know each other better. Most of them are from different scout troops, or they've only known each others through anonymous e-mails.
We arrived at the location Friday night. Everyone came a different way, some people came with cars, others with public transportation, or at least for a while, because they met up with others who knew the way, and arrived in groups. Everyone came at different times, so we grew in numbers, as well as in joy. By 8:30 the whole team was there, except of course those, who said they couldn't come.
After settling in, we were enlightened, that we weren't going to have any lights! Because of a minor fault in the electrical system, we didn't have any electricity in the room we planned to sleep in. After solving the problem, we spent the night with prayer, and a great meal, where we shared all our food with each other. With a full stomach, we moved on the the next program point, where we were first informed about the basic layout of the camp. Szergej (Sergei) and Miki (Mike) took turns in explaining different parts of the camp. After we collected and evaluated all our tasks and how much time they'll take to build and take apart, we organized everything in a great system. Next we created a rough timetable for the whole duration of the camp, where we kept in mind the needs of the camp, and how much we can accomplish per day, so that we can really be in beat with the camp. Our last job that day was to sort out Saturday's work.
After this conference, we had a great conversation outside on the benches, and keeping in mind, that tomorrow's also important, we went to sleep on our bunk beds.
Next morning we started with a collective prayer and some breakfast. We had 3 thing to do that day. To check out the electrical system, the sewer system and plumbing, and to list and categorize everything in the storehouse. We split into 3 teams, and in the cool spring morning we got to work. We kept our good mood that we had yesterday, and the work and the solving of problems went very cheerfully and effectively. We made a layout of the electrical cables and the rest of the camp, so at home we could take our time and put everything together. We brought everything out of the storehouse, looked them over, took them apart, cleaned them, and reorganized them. This was important, so we could know what existed in paper, and what existed in reality. We also had to know what parts were missing, what equipment was totally useless, and what changed since the last time a camp was organized there. Throughout the morning program leaders came and went, because they wanted to personally talk over the details with our workgroup.
But not to worry! We also thought of lunch, and thanks to a few great cook of ours, we could eat some warm macaroni. After lunch we washed the dishes, and of course we had to have a little rest as well. Since we were done with everything else, we had all hands working on the storehouse. Even now, we still had some guests leaders, who wanted to talk things over with us.
Around 6 o'clock those, who lived farther away, parted and went home. The rest of us stayed 'till 8 o'clock, when we cleaned up and had a huge dinner. We were all ready to continue the work as soon as possible, next time! Thank you very much to all the helpers who were there for their enthusiastic help!
Pomeisl György László
Sopron, 2010-04-13
