City girl becomes youngest NC scout to receive Springbok badge
SIXTEEN-year-old Amra-Faye Greenen has become the youngest scout in the Northern Cape to receive her Springbok Scouting badge.
Amra-Faye joined the Gladstone Scouts at a younger-than-average age, making her the organisation's youngest member in the Northern Cape and one of the youngest in the country to earn the Springbok badge.
Amra-Faye accepted a friend's invitation in August 2016 to “check out” scouting and see if it was something she would enjoy. The scouting bug bit her that same night and she has been loving it ever since.
She hasn't been able to locate her handbrake or her off switch since then, and she still can't.
According to Amra-Faye's mother, Lillian Greenan, her daughter was too old to join as a cub and too young to become a scout at the time. Once she was old enough to be invested as a scout, it was decided that she may attend the scout group meetings.
"She was always eager to learn and help the elders with their chores, so this did not in any way hamper her. She was somewhat disappointed, though, when she was unable to participate in the annual battered boot night hike because of her age that particular year, but they agreed to let her go on the practice night hike with them so she could at least get some experience. After that night, the seed had been planted and she could not wait to be invested as a scout and proudly wear her uniform,” Lillian said.
On June 6, 2017, her investment ceremony finally took place, the day that she had been waiting for for so long.
“At her investment ceremony, she received her very first interest badge already, the swimmer's badge, but all that was coming out of her mouth that day was her excitement about the fact that she can finally participate in the annual battered boot night hike competitions.”
From that day on, Amra-Faye had 100% attendance until October 30, 2022. Unfortunately, Amra-Faye was hospitalised at that time and was unable to attend the Friday night session. However, committed as she is, she insisted on checking in on the troops via a WhatsApp video call. On another occasion, she even left an injured hockey game to attend scouts. This demonstrates Amra-Faye's passion, commitment, and drive.
Amra-Faye also consistently exhibited great dedication and commitment to all of her fellow Scouters by participating in three battered boot night walks annually over the years, never skipping any senior scout camps, hikes or projects, and actively participating in all other troop trips.
Amra-Faye won the Most Improved Scout Award in 2018 as well as the best Attendance Award twice (in 2019 and 2021), the best Patrol Award in the Second Quarter of 2022, and the Scouter of the Year Award in 2022.
"I had to go through a system update halfway through and successfully finished all of my promotion levels. The Covid-19 hurdles that we all had to overcome then came up, but I was motivated and determined to keep going and finish everything.
“Throughout my whole scouting career, I lived by the motto ‘try and try again’ and I didn't allow anything to stop me," said Amra-Faye.
She was constantly busy with something, according to Lillian. As a result of all of her hard work and dedication, she wears her uniform with pride and has earned 36 interest badges along the road. Additionally, the sleeve of her shirt displays the distance she has travelled.
“Besides the interest badges, I also earned and received five special awards over the years, namely: Aids Awareness in 2019, World Scout Environment in 2019, Cub Instructor in 2019, Covid Awareness in 2020, and the Diversity Awareness Special Award in 2021. I am the first at Gladstone to receive this award.
“I also completed and received the following challenge awards: Better World for BP (Baden-Powell) in 2021, Mahikeng Hike in 2021, Jota/Joti in 2022, and Scouts Go Solar in 2022.
“On March 26, 2021, I was awarded and received my three Bushman’s Thongs and I was the first to receive in the Northern Cape two service cords in April 2022.
“In between all of this, I successfully completed the following international awards as well:
Plastic Tide Turners Challenge award, which I successfully completed in 2021, and becoming a member of the World Environmental Club. I then received the President’s Silver Award in December 2021. My sister Chandre and I were the first to have achieved this award in the Northern Cape.
“Over and above this, alongside my sister, we also completed the Messenger of Peace in 2021, however, we are still awaiting the outcome thereof.”
Lillian explained that Amra-Faye worked on her Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the side while she was completing her Springbok advancement levels. She achieved 9 SDGs and was given a Sustainable Development Goals champion badge by head office on the day she attended her Springbok ceremony. She is the first person in the Northern Cape to receive this as well.
“I finished Leader Development Courses 1 and 2 in August 2022. During this course, I was chosen to head the course teams and was later chosen to represent Gladstone as a member of the Youth Forum Committee,” said Amra-Faye.
“With all the above activities, I led the Swifts Patrol, which I started with from the very beginning, to achieve the Swifts Patrol Silver Star award, and played a big role in getting the Troop Gold Star award.
Amra-Faye also got very involved while busy with her Springbok tasks by assisting the Trinity Community outreach programme, which played a large role in her springbok journey as well.
During her Springbok voyage she faced many ups and downs, happy and tough moments, and significant hurdles, but she made the most of it and finished it on November 30, 2022, with her panel interview and a unanimous decision.
