Chief Sec tells scouts: Conquer the world

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has urged the 200 members of the Scout Association of TT’s Camp Argyle 2024 to conquer the world.

He spoke at the launch of the camp on July 22 at the Roxborough Secondary School.

With crime on the upsurge, Augustine told them, “Through the Scout Association, we have an opportunity to teach you important values – values such as God, values such as your fellow men and civil society – but more than that, we teach you how to be gentlemen.

“You have...an opportunity to really understand what it means to do your best.

“Most importantly, I want you to have an appreciation for the fact that the world is really yours to conquer. The world that we live in is wide open for the taking, and you may be seated here today just a little boy or girl, but who knows where you will end up ten, 15 years from now?...Through the Scout Association, we are really teaching you that there are no limits to what you can achieve.”

Through the camp, he said, they were learning life skills they might not otherwise receive.

“On my way here, I saw at least one other group meeting and they were doing some archery – I couldn’t help but think about when we lived in simpler times, when we did not have all this technology...when we weren’t hooked on our screens and our devices...we did not even have cellphones – and I wonder how we survived then, how we survived with one television station.”

He said being at the camp could give them an opportunity to put away technological devices and become one with nature, with their colleagues and with themselves.

National Scout Commissioner Mark Ainsley John said he was honoured to witness the excitement and potential each camper brought to the camp. The goal, he said, is to inspire and equip them with the skills and values scouting embodies – leadership, teamwork, resilience, and a love for the environment, lessons not just for camp but for life.