The Latvian guides were established on March 15, 1922, on the heels of the founding of Baden-Powell’s scouts (1910) in England and the Latvian scout organization (1917). When Latvia was illegally occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, the Latvian guides were forced to disband. However, the thousands of refugees fleeing death and labor camps during WWII brought the movement with them, and for the next 50 years the flame would be nurtured by Latvians first in displaced persons camps in Europe, later in Australia, Canada and the United States. When Latvia regained its independence in 1991, I was probably among the last to know; our guide troop was camping in the pine forests of Wisconsin where incidentally, the cub scouts had staged a campfire skit a few days earlier portraying Latvian soldiers defeating Soviet invaders. Over the last thirty years the torch has been gradually passed back to the LSGCO, the scout organization that was reestablished in Latvia in 1991, and the movement remains strong. Today the Latvian scouts are relentlessly working and organizing to help the thousands of refugees arriving daily from Ukraine, history repeating itself as Ukranian Plast scouts flee the same evil aggression as the Latvian scouts did 70 years ago
In the midst of the disheartening news coming from Europe every day, there is still the need to celebrate the good, and so a few days ago, Latvian guides (present and past) and their supporters virtually gathered to celebrate the centennial. We said a prayer, sang along with our sister scouts, and after a brief presentation of the history of the Latvian guide movement were asked what gaidisms – being a guide – means to us.
My immediate answers were along the lines of outdoor skills and friendships, but as I looked through albums and dug through old photographs later that evening, I could admit that the Latvian guides laid the foundations for much of what was to come in my life. From the love of nature that was nurtured by endless camping trips and excursions year-round, to my career of forestry and firefighting inspired by the love of outdoor adventure (all those backpacking and canoe trips, survival courses and ecology lessons), to our family’s explorations of the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills today. My Latvian heritage might have rooted before I gave my guntiņu solījums, but the friendships accumulated over years of jamborees helped nurture my sense of belonging, and today three of my sons are members of the Latvian scouts alongside BSA in hopes they might find a similar sense of place in the diaspora. My marriage might even be the result of scouting; Roberts recounts meeting me at a weekend scout camp, and although I don’t remember the particular moment he loves to narrate when asked how we met (I must have been 11 or 12 that February), looking back at group pictures from a dozen jamborees, camps and other events from a period of about 10 years, I can pick out both of our faces, smiling, unaware that we would be camping together for the next twenty years.
Gaidas are a family affair as well. More than one photo shows me standing with my grandmother, mother, aunts, siblings and cousins during a jamboree: when I received the dzimtenes lielgaida award, during the riverside ceremony where I received my leader’s neckerchief, and at the 10th jamboree in 2010 – which was especially memorable as four generations were represented (I carried 3-month-old Lauris in a carrier the entire week).
The opportunities offered through guides have been incredible also. I've camped with my sister guides from a canoe in northern Ontario, in the mountains of New York, even in the forests of Latvia. We learned to build and sleep in a snow structure, survived a day on an uninhabited island with only what we had in our pockets, decorated Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry Festival of Lights Latvian Christmas tree, performed elaborate theater productions such as Latviešu kovbojs (with the accompaniment of band "The Minnow Buckets," and learned to find the beauty in things, no matter how little we had slept or how badly we had burned dinner on the campfire. And yes, we even learned how not to burn dinner - along with the first aid, the woodsman skills, the navigational abilities, leadership, self-reliance... the list goes on. It will be a rare time outdoors when I do not utilize some aspect of my career as a guide, or reflect on a memory of one of the many wonderful experiences I've had over the years.
Our centennial celebration was also bittersweet. The Latvian guides I belong to, of guides outside of Latvia, have voted to disband as the organization has accomplished what it set out to do; to continue fostering young Latvian women through the principles of scouting, until the scouts and guides in Latvia were free to resume their work. While I completely understand the logic, the reasoning, it has still been heart-wrenching to watch this chapter of the Latvian guides come to a close. There is a sense of loss for all the Latvian girls growing up outside of Latvia who will never sing Kluss miers pār zemi, arms linked with dozens of friends under a starry night sky.
While the Latvian guide configuration may not look the same going forward, it is my hope that gaidas the world over will continue to fulfill the mission to engage the youth of tomorrow, instilling the values of scouting/guides while working towards the good of community and a better tomorrow. I hope you’ll join me in wishing the Latvian guides a happy 100th birthday – arvien modra!