WOSM - Africa Mystery Cache
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(regular)
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THE CACHE IS NOT AT THE POSTED COORDINATES. Solve the puzzle to find the cache. This is a series of Geocaches designed to introduce you to the diversity of Scouting across the globe.
The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) is the international organization that governs most national Scout Organizations, with 31 million members worldwide. WOSM was established in 1920 and has its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland. It is the counterpart of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
Scouting in Africa
From Ashanti to Zulu, there are many "African Seeds" in the early history of Scouting and many African traditions that have become part of the traditions of Scouting. You can read more about them at http://www.scouting.org.za/seeds/.
Africa: the Genesis of Scouting
The Siege of Mafeking, a small town in the Northwest Province of South Africa, was the most famous British action in the Second Boer War. It took place over a period of 217 days, from October 1899 to May 1900, and turned Robert Baden-Powell, who went on to found the Scouting Movement, into a national hero. The Relief of Mafeking (the lifting of the siege) was a decisive victory for the British and a crushing defeat for the Boers.
The growth of Scouting in South Africa
South Africa after the Anglo-Boer War was a British colony. In March 1908, only 7 months after the Scout Movement began with Baden-Powell’s camp at Brownsea Island, many Troops sprang up in Cape Town and further afield in Johannesburg and Natal.
Scouting grew rapidly in South Africa, and in 1912, Baden-Powell himself visited Scouts in South Africa. Contingents of Scouts from South Africa have attended World Jamborees since the first one in 1920. The first National Jamboree in Africa was held in 1936, with Baden-Powell again attending.
In many of the British Colonies where Scouting was established, it was at first segregated by race, and South Africa was no exception. However, this did not prevent Black Scout groups from forming. In the 1920s, Black Scouts were given the name "Klipspringers" (rock-hoppers, a type of small antelope).
The WOSM eventually came under pressure to expel South Africa for its racial policies, and South African Scouting responded by combining all branches of the Movement in the 1970s at a conference known as Quo Vadis. The Apartheid laws of the time made multiracial gatherings illegal, but no action was ever taken against Scouting by the Apartheid government. So, many years before the ending of Apartheid, Scouting was a movement for all the youth of South Africa.
The cache is located at:
45 09.5AB
88 27.CDE
A=South African Scouting ended racial segregation in the 19A0s.
B=South African Scouts have attended World Jamborees since 1B20
C=The Siege of Mafeking began in 189C
D= The first African Scout troops began in 190B, only a few months after Baden-Powell’s camp at Brownsea Island.
E=The first African National Jamboree was held in 193E.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)