“Follow me” – 14th EUD Scout Camporee opened in Friedensau
02. Aug. 2023
"Follow me" – 14th EUD Scout Camporee opened in Friedensau
On Monday, 31 July 2023, the 14th EUD Camporee for Scouts opened in Friedensau. Under the motto "#Follow Me. Share your Story" is the motto of the camp, which will take place from 31 July to 5 August 2023. In the opening ceremony, Rector Prof. Roland Fischer from Friedensau Adventist University and the Mayor of Möckern, Doreen Krüger, welcomed the guests.
2,750 Scouts from 14 countries
2,750 scouts and guides from 14 european countries travelled to experience this camporee. "The most important thing is for young people to have a personal encounter with Jesus," says EUD youth director Jonatan Tejel. "There are many Pathfinder activities – physical, intellectual, social – but what we want is lives marked by Jesus", he reaffirms with enthusiasm. The 12- to 15-year-olds cultivate the traditions of scouting together: they discover nature, learn how to deal with it, orientate themselves by compass and the position of the sun (when it shines) ... The scout groups experience various adventures in the workshops of the camporee, play Viking chess, baseball, football, build with wood, master knowledge and obstacle courses and create with paper, wood or soapstone. They face humorous and knowledge questions, build, for example, a "monkey bridge" with two or three ropes and, in the meantime, steal a cloth from the opponent's back. Who will win?
Several workshop areas offer a variety of activities
The offers during the camporee are so varied and interesting that the agony of choice is sometimes decided by the occasional downpour. You want to try everything. "The most important thing is for young people to have a personal encounter with Jesus," says EUD youth director Jonatan Tejel. "There are many Pathfinder activities – physical, intellectual, social – but what we want is lives marked by Jesus", he reaffirms with enthusiasm. The link and the bridge to each other despite all language barriers is the Christian faith, which makes the scouts sing, play, build and pray together.
The organiser of the camporees, which take place every four years, is the Central European church leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (Inter-European Division EUD), based in Bern.
Coverage of the Camporee on MDR
Television also took an interest in the event. A television team from "Sachsen-Anhalt heute" interviewed Gianna Rudolph, one of the presenters during the Camporee, showed impressions of the Camporee and reflected the challenges that have to be overcome when such a large number of young people have to be fed and accommodated.
For the next six days, the two programmes can still be viewed in the media library:
On Sunday morning it's goodbye!
The camporee ends on Saturday evening. Then on Sunday morning it's goodbye for the scouts! Goodbye until next time! The 15th EUD Scout Camp will take place in Spain in four years (Andrea Cramer).
