Cover Photo: Jasmijn Commeren
Text: Františka Rohlíčková and Mésange/Auxane Bolanz
Edit: Mike Dent, Sophie Spickenbom
Yesterday evening Participants, International Service Team and Planning Team members as well as other hosts gathered in front of the main stage here in Lundsneset, Norway. After years and months of preparations, Roverway 2024 finally started! Well, the second half – the Paths are over, it’s time to meet everyone on site!
Yesterday, on Saturday 27 July, for the first time ever everyone gathered at Lundsneset to officially start Roverway and enjoy the evening with singing, dancing and overall celebrating!
The ceremony started with an impressive recap video showing how the Paths went – games, hiking, cooking and getting to know each other. In the end, hosts of the evening show arrived in a boat! Very impressive. Then the campfire was lit and Roverway was officially started.
The flags are up and camp is starting
There were two official parts of the opening campfire. Firstly, the official welcome speech was given by the Roverway Director Simmen, the Deputy Director Jens and the representatives of WAGGGS, WOSM and the Norwegian Guide and Scout Organisation. They gave a warm welcome to everyone who came all the way to Norway.
The second official moment was the presentation of the flags. Having everyone gathered together cheering for their country when their flag was announced and waved on stage was an amazing moment. Each Contingent attempted to make as much noise as possible. Seeing all the countries one after the other helped realise the internationality of the event. The flag bearers did an amazing job and had a lot of courage to go on stage in front of so many people.
The hosts of the evening also did a great job! The crowd had a lot of fun with different games: we were singing, jumping around, laughing when they announced the safety measures as they do in aeroplanes! Some people even caught a T-shirt that was catapulted into the crowd!
We also learned something new thanks to people from Paths coming on stage: there was a Path leader, a RoverRep and an IST. They sat around the wooden campfire and spoke about their experience and further expectations for Roverway while completing some fun challenges like getting dressed into a banana costume or getting a fresh oatmeal mask!
