I spent the morning wandering around Nairobi, visited the bank, found a Java Coffee house for an excellent breakfast and chatted to Ross and his team. Very relaxed.
In the afternoon we moved on to Rowallen Camp Site, the main camping ground for the Moot. Everything looked as though it was running smoothly by the time we arrived. Registration was going well, the camp was being set up and everyone was in high spirits. There were a few grumbles from international service staff, who had arrived a couple of days earlier, that there wasn’t enough work for them. There soon would be, I assured them.
Now, an admission. I am not camping. Those who know me well will not be surprised. I really am too old to sleep on the ground and not have easy access to a lavatory in the middle of the night. So instead I am sharing a ‘guest house’ (really a dormitory) with three friends who also feel the same way and have reached the peak of their mid-life crises: John Naismith, a fellow member of the World Scout Committee, Damien O’Sullivan from Scouting Irealnd who is helping to support the infrastructure of the camp and Victor Ortega, the World Scout Bureau’s photographer and media guru. Victor’s excuse for taking the soft option is that he has a bad back. I hope he doesn’t snore as I we are sharing a bunk bed. I am on top.
All went well until about 7.00pm. It then became clear that the centralised catering for the 1,500 participants, organised for tonight so they didn’t have to cook as they’re all off to expedition centres in the morning, hadn’t really been thought through properly. There was one line to feed everyone, the serving point was way understaffed and, quite quickly (whether through underordering or early diners coming back for seconds and thirds) the food ran out. Our Kenyan hosts moved swiftly to cook more chicken and even prepared to send out for pizzas, but the latter wasn’t necessary. By 9:30 everyone had been fed. (Or at least the line had disappeared.
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