La responsabilidad de la reconciliación

The atmosphere in the boys’ patrol and the girl-dominated patrol was quite different. In the mixed patrol, the PL and PA created a motherly environment. They were always with their patrol, and always kept an eye on what was going on. They often sat around the table talking with the members or with others who happened to drop by for a visit. It was like arriving at a family’s home:

The Bat patrol is preparing the dinner. All six kids sit waiting around the table. PL Ana greets me in a friendly way and presents the other members of the patrol to me: PA Inês (13), Teresa (11), Fátima (11), Hugo (13) and António (11). Ana is the cook today. The four girls talk and laugh around the pots. Hugo carries the lamp to them so they can see. António sits passively at the table and looks at the others. Hugo hands over the lamp to Teresa and fools around with a potato-masher. Teresa holds the lamp for Ana and asks me my name. The lid drops down in Ana’s pot. Shortly afterwards I see António washing it up. Hugo and Ana quarrel about something while she puts the chicken in the pot. The two boys appear small, compared with the four tall girls. Hugo starts mashing the potatoes, but it is difficult. Ana takes over and he hands her the potatoes instead. She sees that I am writing in the dark and hands me a light with one hand, while continuing to mash potatoes with the other. It is 10 PM – the boys’ patrol ate an hour ago, but here they are not ready yet.

(...)

Breakfast. PL Ana helps António to clean the pots and then spreads butter on the rolls for everyone. She asks me if I want hot or cold milk. She gives orders to the others while she is working, and rebukes Teresa. António is still struggling with the pots. Hugo puts a pirate scarf on the patrol pennant; PA Inês helps him.

There was a tendency for the two boys to fall out of the close social circle. Hugo frequently left the camp space to see the other boys, while the girls stayed together. Sometimes the little boy António followed Hugo, sometimes he sat silently with the girls. It was especially when Hugo was out that the girls seemed to have time to relax, talk and laugh, and other girls paid visits. In the troop observations, the well-organised character of the girl patrol was confirmed.

157 _{Girls: Girls: Inês (14, PL), Claúdia (13, PL), Fátima (12), Teresa (11, PA). The girls were interviewed individually by the} local research assistant, Lidia, who was also a TA in the troop.

Boys: Luis (14, PL), Hugo (13, PL), Paulo (13), António (11). The boys were interviewed as a group by the national

When I introduced myself in the boys’ patrol, the PL did the talking and did not introduce me to the other boys as Ana had. I got the feeling of talking with a chief, instead of a mother. The very talkative PA often succeeded, however, in taking the lead by interrupting my conversation with the chief, while the three younger boys mainly listened to us with big eyes and smiles. The boys seemed to have a fine time together even though, in my eyes, things appeared much less cosy. The camp space was messier, and the contribution of the PL and PA, as far as I could see, was mainly to give commands to the younger members and then leave the space to see their friends. The PL sometimes passed by the campground to inspect his subordinates, and appeared irritated when they did not meet his standards. In spite of the messy and more hierarchical impression of the camp, things actually got done quickly. The boys’ patrol had finished their dinner several hours before the girl-dominated patrol on both evenings, but the standard was also considerably lower. In the later observations of troop and patrol meetings, however, the boys’ patrol was the one with social conflicts. Here, the boys quarrelled all the time, joked when the PL asked them to be serious, and the PL could not keep order. Thus, among the boys, much seemed to depend of the authority of the leader. When the leader has authority (as did the leader of the boy patrol in the camp), the result seems to be not only effectiveness, but also a clear hierarchy. Instead of a gender structure in household chores as in Russia and Slovakia, here we could see an age structure:

Clearing up before leaving in the Wolf patrol: The three small ones are working - Joáo takes down the dining table, Paulo disassembles the wooden structures, Pedro packs the kitchen utensils. PA José is fencing with some bigger boys in the neighbouring camp. PL Luis goes to and fro and gives commands, but he does not do a lot himself. He has lost his voice and heats water to make himself a cup of tea.

In the mixed patrol, the youngest boys were able to escape from duties more easily, whereas the youngest girls could not. This is what happened in the clearing up session in the Bat patrol:

Ana and Inês carry water. Teresa sits down at the table but is immediately told by Ana to wash up. The two boys go into their tent and close the zipper (boys and girls have separate tents, so this is a private boy space). Their excuse is that they must do a report on

yesterday’s hike, but judging from the noises from the tent this is not exactly what they are doing – screams and laughter come from the inside. Teresa yells that they should come out and help. She is manoeuvring the heavy water can, trying to pour water for the dishwashing. She complains that she cannot see what is washed up and what is not. The things Hugo washed this morning are really dirty. Ana tells Teresa that she must wash up everything again. Hugo opens the lower part of the zipper, his head appears with a grin, he sticks out his tongue at Teresa. Then he quickly zips down and roars of laughter come from the tent. Meanwhile Ana and Inês take down the wooden structures. Inês carries heavy trunks to a pile. Ana gives orders to the other girls. Nobody reacts to the two boys in the tent – even though they are rather noisy. Teresa mumbles angrily to herself that Hugo at least should take care of the garbage, which is his duty today.

When an adult leader arrived to collect the garbage bags she gently called Hugo and opened the tent. She asked him quietly where the bags were and politely closed the tent again after he had told her. After a long while and much quarrelling between Teresa and the boys, Ana at last took action:

Ana opens the tent and talks to the boys in a strict voice and tells them to come out and help. The boys answer back, and Ana rebukes them for this, too. She instructs António not to put on the uniform. Hugo comes out from the tent and asks nonchalantly, ‘What is the matter now?’ He walks slowly around the campsite, picking up his own belongings. António packs his own sleeping back. For the first time this morning I see Hugo do some work: he takes down the flagpole.

As in Slovakia (but not Russia), the intention was that boys and girls should share all the work. In the mixed patrol camp, there was a written list distributing the different tasks very evenly, and without regard to gender. On the first observation day, it was António’s turn to do the dishes, which he did with some assistance from Ana. On the second observation day, it was Hugo’s turn (and, as described above, Hugo performed this task so poorly that Teresa had to redo it). And many more quarrels preceded this finale:

Breakfast. Hugo tries different ways to get into the close circle of girls around the table, and he succeeds in getting some attention. I don’t understand what he is saying, but the girls look at him and react negatively to what he is saying. At a certain point it develops into a quarrel: the girls tell Hugo to do the dishes, but he refuses. Neither party presents reasons, it is mostly ‘Yes, you have to!’ – ‘No, I won’t!’ António is still scrubbing the pots from

yesterday. He struggles with the potato masher, which is still very sticky. Ana inspects it and tells him to do it again and better. At last he is done and comes to the table to eat. He has to make his own roll and pour milk, something that Ana did for the rest of us.

Ana and Hugo quarrel about the washing up. Inês and Teresa fill in and support Ana. Finally, Hugo (with angry body language), grabs a cup from the table, washes it up and throws it together with the drying pots. Then he walks restlessly around the campsite making angry remarks that all get a reply from the girls at the table. [I wonder what is going on: all there is to wash up is seven cups!]

Dinner: When dinner is over, Hugo disappears. The girls stay at the table and talk in a lively way. Two other girls join them and they all seem to have a good time. Hugo comes back and a quarrel starts between him and Ana about the washing-up. It looks like he has finally given in – but he is furious! He throws his plate in the washing-up bowl so the water squirts in all directions.

Next morning: Everybody sleeps in after the late night. When I rise at 9 a.m. it looks like both patrols are still sleeping – but not Hugo – he is actually doing the dishes from yesterday’s evening meal!

As with the Slovak boys, the Portuguese boys tried to avoid washing dishes, but they had less power. The youngest boy, António, had no power at all, while the 13-year-old Hugo gave it a good try. He fought to the end but, in the end, he had to give in. Nonetheless, he was still able to protest by doing the job badly! Dishwashing and other cleaning tasks were definitely not popular among the boys. This was also confirmed in the interviews and indicates some transfer from the division of work at home:

Question: What is it you don’t like so much in Scouting?

Hugo: Doing the dishes. I don’t like doing the dishes when we are camping. Question: And at home… do you like to do it?

Hugo: At home it is easier. There is always a machine. And there is always my mother. Question: So what you don’t like is doing the dishes?

Hugo: Yes, because it is boring. And at night it is cold, the water is cold… I don’t like doing the dishes. I like everything else.

Question: And now it is you, Paulo. What do you do not like so much in Scouting? Paulo: Doing the dishes. And cooking.

António: Doing the dishes and cooking.

Question: And you, Luis, is it also doing the dishes and cooking, or are there other things? Luis: Yes, more or less. Doing the dishes, because sometimes it is cold. And after

that…cooking. It is hard, but it is needed, isn’t it? And sometimes we even have fun while cooking. More things… ah, waking up early…

The girls did not like cleaning either, but they took it as a matter of course, something that had to be done. In the troop observations we saw the girls doing these tasks, while the boys tried to define them as tasks that were not for real men:

The Eagle patrol is sweeping the floor. A boy stands in the doorway and watches them with a slight ‘macho man’ attitude. A couple of minutes later two other boys exhibit the same behaviour. (Lidia)

Cooking, on the other hand, was something several of the Portuguese boys actually enjoyed! Not only, as Luis said above, because it led to food (which is essential when you are hungry), but also because it was experienced as something new and exotic. Indirectly, we also learn something about the boy’s situation in the family in the way they talked about it:

Hugo: We learn a lot of things here. Cooking, for instance. Most of what I know I learned here.

Question: And after that, you practise at home?

Hugo: Yes. Now I can help. My mother didn’t let me touch the stove because I could burn myself, but I started here and after a while I was more at ease both here and at home. Now, it is a ‘piece of cake’. I even cook dinner for my sister. She doesn’t like it, but…She makes faces, but she eats it.

(...)

Luis: The cooking thing. Even though I don’t like it very much, sometimes… it is always needed, isn’t it? Or we do not eat. We learn, we can use it at home, even if I do not do it very often, but, for instance, if something happened to my parents – God protect them – but if something happened to them, or if they were not able to be at home for a while. And when they go out, I can stay home alone, if I want to eat something.

The competence, however, does not come by itself. The young boys’ efforts at cooking in the boys’ patrol in the camp were rather hopeless:

Joáo and Pedro stand at the dining table, trying to chop onions and garlic. They do this so hopelessly that it is almost unbearable to watch! The knife is blunt and their technique hopeless. Pedro tries to dig out the onion with the knife instead of cutting it, and if he gets a small piece out, he spends an endless amount of time cutting it into smaller parts. Some of the onion falls on the ground and is coated in pine needles.. He looks at us helplessly. It seems that he has never been in a kitchen before, and has definitely never tried to chop an onion. PA José passes by and gives a quick demonstration on how to cut it, but it doesn’t help much (...)

The three boys are now frying the meat – or trying to fry it. Some pieces of meat swim around in an inch of oil in the pan, and the fire is not on yet. Paulo pours water into a big pot for rice, but he does not measure the amount. Luis passes by and rebukes them. He

instructs Pedro to put the meat in a pot and blend it with spices before frying. Pedro does so and pours in a whole bag of paprika – to me it looks like he did this on purpose – and looks ‘scared’ at what he has done, and tells the others while laughing. Paulo looks in the pot: all the meat has now turned bright red because of the spice. ‘Food no good!’ Joáo says to me in English, with an apologetic gesture. Pedro says they don’t know how to cook. He has another attempt at frying and pours in a lot of oil. Luckily, the pan is slanting, leaving an area where one piece of meat can fry at a time without getting soaked in oil. Paulo has put the rice in the pot and stirs all the time. Ana passes by and tells him to stop stirring and put the lid on instead, which he does. In spite of the rather hopeless cooking, the three boys seem to have a good time together.

Not all the girls were terribly competent in this area, either, but the learning curve was steeper: PA Inês is cutting garlic, also rather ineffectively. She asks an adult leader if one should have water in the pan in order to fry the meat! He explains that oil or butter would be a better idea, and that the spices go on the meat first. She follows his advice and prepares the meat very delicately.