Call me Rafiki! Since 2020, I have led a large team of Scouters who run the Meerkats. We are the newest unit at 1st Claremont, catering for 5-6 year olds. We also have their parents along at meetings, so a great deal of fun and learning goes on all round.
I started in Scouting/Guiding when I was eight, as a Brownie in (then) Grahamstown and progressed up to Founders Guide. My Dad was very proud, as he had been a Scout and had attended the National Jamboree in 1930. I loved everything to do with Guides, especially camping, but took a break until I had children who needed to go to Cubs. Through a series of Packs in the UK, Johannesburg and Pretoria, I had fun with 30 very active boys, camping, hiking, wide games, signal flags, and cooking on primitive buddy burners. My sons went on to be Springbok Scouts and attended the World Jamboree in Chile. It turns out that Ian (our SGL) and Sahil (an APS) were also there, and a fine 25th reunion was held recently.
Another break ensued while I was involved as a professor of computer science at Wits and UP, and working for Microsoft Research in Seattle. My specialty is programming languages and I saw it all, from Fortran to Pascal, Ada, Java and C#, writing books along the way. At Microsoft, we investigated languages for mobile phones, which were just coming out in the late 2000. I was part of the team that got into the Guinness Book of Records for having the most children programming in a stadium at the same time!
On retirement, I moved to Cape Town, keeping a honorary position at Stellenbosch. Then along came grandchildren. Ian wanted to start Meerkats and so I volunteered. It was quite a challenge in the pandemic, but we even invested our first seven Meerkats in 2021 online. I rapidly got involved in training as well and have been instrumental in moving the Meerkat Warrant course in the Western Cape online (with some meet ups). My strength in Meerkats is organization – I have the time to plan and draw up meetings so that each Meerkat can accomplish the most in 45 minutes. My favourite meetings are those about adventuring, entertaining and science, but the whole Meerkat trail is great fun. As Regional Team Coordinator, I can help make changes, and WC is certainly at the forefront of that.
In my spare time, I love cooking for my family ( some of whom are also Scouts) and travelling this beautiful country and the world around it. What I value the most at 1st Claremont is the camaraderie of the leaders, the efficient committee and our great Hall, with its traditions and space. I feel very privileged to be part of the Group.
