Juan Carlos speaking:

This is the box of my memories, in which I keep a lot of things. What I am going to give you is this. A long time ago, I was part of a Christian youth movement that was called Escuadron. It was divided in small groups that were called escuadras. The white string is for the second-chief and the red string is for the chief. This is the shield of the escuadron. And it works like this… (whistling).

Why does it have a value for me? Because all my life has changed from this moment and all my real friends in life, I met them from there, and that’s why I kept this. I know Ramiro from there and, well, and from there comes our friendship, because from there I knew Mauricio, Tomas, and lots of people. And that has changed me. And that’s why I give it to you.

The purpose of the whistle was to call people that were from your group. So the chief or the second-chief would stand up in front of the troop and call the people. When you rise up your hand it would be to call the attention. And depending on what you want them to do, you make a figure with your arm. And this is for people to make a line (straight arm). And when it’s like this (arm down) it is to make a half circle. And when it’s like this (other figure), they make a rectangle. This is the way to call people. The difference was the sign. The whistle was the same.

I was 15 years old when they gave it me and I quit the group at 18 and from there I became friend with the ones that are my still my friends today. I have know them for 17 years now. So by keeping this, I remember this important moment for me.