‘We exchanged friendship around the campfire’
By Betsy Abernathy*

This summer a group of Japanese Girl Scouts came to our town, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for a visit. Twelve teenage and adult Girl Scouts from Oak Ridge’s sister city of Naka-shi, Japan, arrived in July for a six-day visit and stayed with Girl Scout host families. Camping at nearby Girl Scout Camp Tanasi, visits to Oak Ridge’s Museum of Science and Energy and Oak Ridge’s famous pizza spot, Big Ed’s, a visit to our local Girl Scout council, and even a trip to Dollywood, East Tennessee’s amusement park, kept visitors and hosts busy and entertained.

One special event was a gathering at Oak Ridge’s Friendship Bell, a large, Japanese-style bell which hangs in a park in the center of town. It was commissioned by the city of Oak Ridge and created in Japan in 1992 as a symbol of friendship between our two nations and all nations of the world. In pairs, American and Japanese Girl Scouts used the traditional horizontal wooden striker to ring the bell.

At the farewell dessert reception the night before the visitors were to return to Japan, about 50 people gathered, most of them either the host families or their Japanese guests. Girl Scout uniforms abounded. The Japanese girls were spiffy in their sky blue skirts and white blouses. The American girls were equally impressive in their patch- and badge-covered tan vests. Like everything undertaken by adult and young Girl Scouts, if I may allow my bias after years as a Girl Scout leader to show, the reception was well-planned and beautifully executed.

There were many guest speakers, from the head of the Sister City Support Organization to Oak Ridge’s mayor. All who spoke did so with the help of Shigeko Uppuluri, an Oak Ridge resident and Sister City Support Organization chair of Japanese events, who translated on the spot so that all could understand.

Mayor David Bradshaw expressed his hope that when his elementary school-age daughters, both Girl Scouts, are older, they would be able to travel to Japan. This wish, when translated by Uppuluri, drew enthusiastic applause from the Japanese Girl Scouts.

Jerry Luckmann, long-time Oak Ridge Girl Scout leader and member of the Sister City Support Organization, for whom this event was the culmination of years of organizing, expressed her pleasure at seeing her ideas come to fruition. She pointed out that some of the girls in her senior Girl Scout troop had been corresponding with the Japanese Girl Scouts since they were in second grade.

Each American girl and adult host then presented her Japanese guest to the room, introducing her and sharing a little bit about her.

“This is Shino Fujita,” said 17-year-old Tina Luckmann. “She likes kyudo, which means, archery, and…” she stopped to think, then finished simply, “…And she’s my friend.”

Two of the Japanese Girl Scouts also spoke, thanking the Oak Ridge Girl Scouts for their warm welcome. They had very much enjoyed their weekend camping experience at Camp Tanasi. The Oak Ridge hosts had not only planned a busy two days there, with swimming, canoeing, horseback riding, and more, but they had gathered all the necessary camping equipment for their guests, from sleeping bags to mess kits, so that it would not have to be brought from Japan. It was a first-time camping experience for some of the Japanese girls and adults.

One of the teenage girls, who leads a younger trip in Naka-shi, appreciated the chance to canoe and horseback ride at Camp Tanasi. “These are things not easy to experience in Japan,” she said, adding, “We exchanged friendship around the campfire.”

The Japanese visitors also presented a gift of 1,000 origami cranes, strung into colorful strands that hung down like an exotic flower. There is a Japanese custom that says that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, your wish will come true; paper cranes have come to symbolize peace, good luck, and good wishes. Lucille Griffo, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Tanasi Council, accepted the cranes and they will be displayed at the Council office.

Most of the people at the reception were Girl Scouts, and all rose to sing the traditional Girl Scout song “Whene’er You Make a Promise.” The Japanese contingent started the round in Japanese and the Americans sang their part in English, giving the song an interesting discordant feeling which mattered less, in the end, than the lovely harmony.

Then the Japanese contingent rose to perform a traditional Japanese folk dance honoring summer, which had been taught to the Americans over the course of the visit. American girls and adults joined their guests in a circle and they presented the dance together.

Next came a demonstration of a Japanese tea ceremony. Five American girls, one by one, carefully held and drank from a bowl of tea after it had been ritualistically and precisely prepared by a kimono-clad adult Japanese Girl Scout. For the more than 20 minutes that the ceremony lasted — which, it had been explained, was a vastly shortened version of an actual tea ceremony — the roomful of people was silent and respectful, appreciating the beauty of the ancient ceremony and the fellowship that accompanied this cultural sharing.

As I watched all of these events, I found myself smiling. Nobody was telling jokes or being funny, but these girls and adults from two very different cultures were so earnestly projecting feelings of good will. English language levels amongst the Japanese contingent clearly varied, and Japanese language levels amongst the American hosts was minimal, but somehow these girls, and adults, had connected anyway. Surely there have been too many clichés written about smiles being a universal language, but one look at the friendly faces of all in the room brought home the truth of that idea.

Cultural sharing and exchanging can take place in any number of ways, from a single visitor to an organized program. Since as Girl Scouts we are members of a world-wide organization, opportunities for visiting other lands, and receiving visitors, are often part of the Girl Scout experience for older girls and adults. Some of us have been lucky enough to visit one or more of the Girl Scout World Centers.

However it happens, don’t miss a chance to voyage to — or host guests from — another country. A visit like the one from the Japanese Girl Scouts helps us realize that there is a bigger world beyond our immediate surroundings, that our perspective on life is not the only “right” one, and that underneath it all, a smile is a smile and Girl Scouts are Girl Scouts.

* Betsy Abernathy is a Girl Scout leader and copy editor for The Oak Ridger newspaper. This column, in a slightly different form, was originally published in The Oak Ridger.