| EUROFAX 80 | |
| May 1999 | |
"Eurofax is the monthly newsletter of the European Scout Region. It is produced by the European Scout Office and is distributed to all member associations in the European Region, and others. Reproduction of articles without alteration is encouraged but Eurofax should be acknowledged as the source of the information."
At the 11th World Scout Moot from 11-23 July 2000, you will be able to discover some of the magnificent cultures, beautiful landscapes and friendly peoples of Mexico. During voyages of discovery in different regions of central Mexico, you will spend time with Mexican families, camp in international teams, exchange experiences with different communities and learn about their traditions and folklore, enjoy the great outdoors and some historical cities, and have the opportunity to help meet some real needs with rural and Indian communities. The theme of the Moot is "Tradition for Tomorrow". It focuses on rescuing the values of the original civilisations in a rapidly changing country and bringing them back to life for our own personal growth.
Registration has now started and two information bulletins, registration forms and programme guidelines have already been distributed via Scoutpak. Please note that a 5% discount is offered for registration and payment before 30 September 1999. For more information contact the Moot Organizing Committee at seop.moot@usa.net, or visit the Moot web site: www.moot2000.org.mx
We hope that you have been inspired by the first chapter of the Green Island which explored the questions, "What is an association?" and "What is education?". If you are eager for the next instalment, you can now download chapter two from the regional web site. Vladimir and Ewa discuss the question "If educating means helping a human being grow, what is a human being?"
As follow-up to the theme of the previous meeting in Kuwait, which was on developing programmes for adolescents, the theme of this meeting will be "Youth for Youth". It will focus on: enabling Scouts to create opportunities for other young people in their communities; training adults to support young people; making our Movement open to all young people. It will be held in Piraeus, Greece from 20-26 September, to coincide with the arrival of the Peace Cruise. Key representatives of Scout associations in the Arab Scout Region and the European Scout Region are invited, particularly members of national teams responsible for developing youth programmes and managing adult resources. The working languages will be Arabic, English and French. Application forms are in April's Europak.
The deadline for becoming a Peace Sailor has been extended to 15 May. If you are aged 18-25 and a member of a youth organisation in a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea, you can apply via your national Scout association or national youth council. For more information, contact Richard Amalvy or Anna Keep: peace.cruise@euro.scout.org
For centuries the sea has inspired the greatest deeds of heroism and the greatest works of art, and we owe much of the world's literature to the sea. It offers a global perspective and puts our daily cares, worries and ambitions in their rightful place. When designing our youth programmes, we should draw upon the sea and other nearby sources of water, as a fantastic source of inspiration, adventure, challenge and wonder for young people. The European Scout Region is organising a seminar on the marine environment from 4-10 September at the ZHP National Training Centre Perkoz in Poland. Its aim is to encourage national associations to strengthen the environmental dimension of programmes for young people aged 12-15, by exploring educational opportunities offered by water (including sea, rivers, lakes, etc.).
Participants should be members of national or regional teams responsible for developing youth programmes or managers of innovative environmental projects for young people aged 12-15. The age limit is 18-30 and a good knowledge of English or French is required. The invitation is available in April's Europak and on the regional web site.
An informal working group, called The Odysseus Group, was formed in 1996 to support the development of Sea Scouting in Europe as an integral part of the Scout programme. It tries to promote new programme ideas and activities in Sea Scouting which correspond to priorities in the European Region (for example, the Europe For You! and Lands of Adventure programmes). It encourages international co-operation among Sea Scouts and the organisation of youth events for Sea Scouts, particularly oriented towards environmental activities, intercultural awareness, community development, exploration and discovery.
The group is undertaking a survey of Sea Scouting in Europe to identify how many Sea Scout groups there are and in which countries. A questionnaire has been sent out in Europak, searches have been made on the Internet, and the first draft of the report is being prepared. Please send any available information about Sea Scouting in your country to Eoghan Lavelle at efl@indigo.ie, or to Jacqueline Collier at the European Scout Office.
Information about the Sea Scout Armada 2000 in Denmark is now available. Poul Kjaergaard and Verner Damm have set up an excellent web site for this event which you can find at www.dds.dk/armada2000.
This conference will take place at the ZHP National Training Centre, Perkoz, Poland from 13 to 17 October 1999. The aim of the conference is to strengthen and develop co-operation between Scout & Guide Centres and to facilitate strong working relations between the staff of those centres. The conference programme includes a mixture of plenary, workshop and activity sessions as well as social time to strengthen contacts between centres. Sessions topics will include the marketing and PR of centres, an update on the European Regions, staffing of centres, activity safety and fund-raising & sponsorship. Participants will have the opportunity to present workshops based on aspects of their own centre to other participants. The cost of the conference is CHF 430 per person and a maximum of 65 participants can be accepted. Participants from WOSM member associations can apply for financial support of about 25% of this total. It is hoped to be able to attract funding to reduce this cost, which should therefore be seen as a maximum figure.
Application forms are available from national associations or directly from Kandersteg International Scout Centre. The deadline for application to has been extended to 22 May. Once the final selection has been made, participants will receive a full information pack in mid-July. To apply or obtain more information please contact John Moffat at Kandersteg International Scout Centre, 3718 Kandersteg, Switzerland. Tel: +41 33 675 8282 Fax: +41 33 675 8289 E-mail: director@kandersteg.scout.org
The European Scout Region needs an efficient way of providing its member associations with an update on progress in implementing the European Scout Plan 1999-2007. Instead of having various newsletters on different topics, a new tool called Euro.Scout.Doc has been developed. It has an easily recognisable format which is similar for all topics, with a colour and sub-title clearly indicating the respective strategic priority. It will be distributed via Europak and the Region's web site.
The first issue presents an update on the Europe For You ! programme and its implementation by national Scout associations. Future issues will focus on the Centenary Fund, communication, RAP, Adults in Scouting, youth policies, Euro-Arab co-operation and the Peace Cruise. Feedback and input on these topics from associations will be gratefully received by the European Scout Office.
Users of the European Scout Region's web site will have noticed that there are lots of documents now available to download in a portable document format (.pdf). This format enables documents to be transferred between different platforms, without any difference in format or layout. To read these documents all you need is the Adobe Acrobat® Reader, which can be downloaded for free from www.adobe.com
Why is the European Scout Region using this system? We believe that it is better to make information available as a .pdf file on our web site, so that you can connect and find the information you need at an appropriate time. We also hope that this will ease the communication flow within national Scout associations, since it will no longer be necessary to photocopy invitations, reports etc. It will be possible to simply send an e-mail message to members who may be interested, encouraging them to have a look at www.scout.org/europe to collect appropriate information at the most convenient time.
The European Scout Region web site has now existed for nearly two years. From the very beginning, the site has been hosted by the Swiss company Improware AG, which has provided all services and assistance for free. We would like to express our appreciation for this generous support and we hope to continue this good co-operation in the future.
The European Scout Region has launched the operation "Emergency in the Balkans" to encourage Scout associations throughout Europe to take action to support those who are suffering during the current conflict, particularly the refugees and displaced people. Scouting is an educational movement, not a humanitarian aid organisation. However, as an educational movement, we have an organisation, experience, skills, equipment and materials, which could be very useful to help people in this very difficult and sad situation. We cannot remain simple observers - we have to commit ourselves.
Our objectives should be the following:
In order to achieve these aims, five kinds of action can be developed:
The European Scout Office, in permanent contact with the UNHCR and the European Institutions, is at your disposal to provide information and guidelines. Please inform us about every action you are involved in. Every good idea should be shared among all associations in Europe.
"Thank you very much for your letter. Thank you for thinking about us, it gives us the strength to endure. I understand your position. Volunteers, and especially us who work professionally for the Association must stick to the basic principles of Scouting as the top priority. I am doing my best to keep my head cool and to preserve common sense in this hell we are going through. The Scout Organization of Serbia tries hard to work as regularly as possible. We are in contact with our members. Children gather rarely because of the danger of air strikes, and we do not pitch tents for the same reason. Also, for obvious reasons, kids rarely go outdoors into the nature. I have a feeling that it is still February, and the nature is blooming everywhere around...
We have put ourselves at the disposal of the Red Cross, and we are much involved in helping them (helping the aged in shelters, clearing up the ruins, preparing sanitary material for the shelters, preparing food and water etc. - we are simply trying to do good turns)... Our leadership absolutely and unanimously adheres to the principles of Scouting. The fire of the Movement must be preserved. We believe that nothing can be achieved through bombing, that people must live together no matter which religion or nationality they belong to and whatever other particularities they have, and we believe that our Association should have Scouts of all nationalities as its members. There is no Kosovo and Metohija without Serbs, Albanians, Turks, Egyptians and members of other nationalities who live there. We are convinced that Serbia and Yugoslavia are the victims of a huge injustice; the suffering of all nationalities is enormous. But, we know that Scouts are not guilty for this situation and that they would solve it better than politicians."
Milan Barisic, Secretary General, Scout Organization Serbia
The Scout Association of Yugoslavia is publishing a newsletter by e-mail to maintain contacts with other associations abroad:
"This e-mail communication is meant to keep informed many of you who are concerned about the tragic developments in our country, notably about our organization under the current extraordinary and exceptionally difficult conditions. From the very first moment of the military activities that affected our country, our members of all ages have been sharing the predicament of their fellow citizens, friends, parents and children and loved ones. Spontaneously, quite a few of them have tried, in their own communities and neighbourhoods, to do whatever they could to alleviate the plight of the elderly and children in particular, in order to cope with the devastating effects of destruction, violence and fear. There are many examples of courage and perseverance of boys and girls who are members of our organization. We can proudly claim that we have preserved our Scout Organization and that our members, during the past very long three weeks, have lived up to the standards and values of the World Scout Movement. By sending you this e-mail we wish to keep you abreast of our efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the weak and unprotected. We shall do our best, against many odds, to send you this Newsletter regularly. Remaining in touch with you in these bleak hours will remind us that we are still a part of the great Scout family. A word of encouragement and understanding is the greatest help you can extend to us. "Emergency in the Balkans", the Joint Appeal to the National Scout Organizations of Europe addressed by David Bull, Chairman of the European Scout Committee, and Dominique Bénard, Regional Director, is exactly that kind of encouragement. In death and destruction, ethnic or religious backgrounds make no difference. We hope that the ongoing violence will stop and that lasting peace and prosperity will return to our lands sooner rather than later. But those who perished will never come back. Our sorrow for those innocent victims, known and unknown, whom we have lost, will last forever."
"I am establishing contact with the Albanian minority organisation in Zagreb, which hosts a number of refugees from Kosovo. It would be very important for me to have whatever information you could give me, so that I can make some arrangements for the following months. The events close to us have reached a state where I think we should and we have to do something to help the refugees from Kosovo, even more so, as we in Sunrise City have the experience to share and to help. My idea has, in fact, three parts:
Bonny Bosniak, Manager of the Sunrise City project
"We are asking for your support in a very worthwhile and important humanitarian initiative. British Airways and The Daily Express have joined together in a campaign to provide emergency clothing and blankets to victims of the conflict in Kosovo. They have asked The Scout Association to become part of the campaign by providing venues where members of the public can drop off their donations. As citizens of the international community, UK Scouts have an opportunity to make a difference to people in need. Here's how you can help!
Counties and Areas have established regional drop-in centres for clothing and blankets for Kosovo refugees. The criteria are:
The Daily Express will publish the details of these sites in their paper and local media will be contacted to publicise the appeal and availability of a local centre. We are working very closely with the Daily Express and they are confident that provided we do not set up too many Centres, they will be able to arrange collection through the newspaper distribution network of trunk hauliers and local wholesalers but we do need to bear in mind that this process may not run totally smoothly and will need goodwill by all parties. All the arrangements have been undertaken at very short notice, mainly over the Bank Holiday period when many local contacts were simply not contactable. Despite this and as a result of a lot of hard work nearly 100 locations have been identified. A list of these is being published on ScoutBase (www.scoutbase.org.uk/inter/kosova)."
Jane Gizbert, The Scout Association, United Kingdom
"I am sure that you are aware of the situation in our region. I was hoping that this madness would never start, and now I am hoping that it will end as soon as possible. Even though Macedonia is not directly involved in war we also have lot of problems. The main problem at the moment is the large number of refugees (there are more than 130,000 at the moment) and Macedonia is not able to accept them all.
During the past few days we were in contact with several humanitarian organizations and we were discussing the ways of helping the refugees. At the moment we are not in a position to help much because the refugees are being transferred from one place to another and there are still many of them who are waiting on the border. In the following few days we hope that the situation will be better (because as you may know a number of refugees will be transferred to other European countries ) and we could start to do something concrete. For now we are planning to help collecting and distributing the necessary things for refugees and afterwards we will try to work with children in different camps. I am also in regular contact with Milutin. In our last contact we were discussing the possibility of organizing a drop-in centre for Yugoslav Scouts from where we will transfer the support to the Yugoslav border. I am waiting for his answer."
Pasinecki Tase, Secretary General of the Scout Association of FYR of Macedonia
"We would like to inform you that our association has agreed to take part in the Italian government mission called "Operazione Arcobaleno". At the moment there are 6 leaders of our association working in the refugee camp in Durazzo involved in assembling the tent city. Tomorrow evening, another 15 leaders are leaving for the same destination. We are working together with the Italian Army Contingent and our leaders will stay in Albania for 7-10 days. In any case, we will pass all communication you send us to our regional offices in order to make our local level aware of your request. Please keep in touch."
Fabiola Canavesi, Franco Iurlaro, International Commissioners AGESCI
"Our association is active in Kirklareli Refugee Centre which is prepared for 20,000 refugees with all the necessary facilities. There are still 200 refugees from the Bosnian war too. Our Scouts over there are well prepared on account of their Bosnian experience and they are thinking of concentrating more on youth and especially children with social activities and schooling in the long term and any other work which centre officials request. Already we have a Scout leader who is a medical doctor in the hospital of the refugee centre. Turkey has 8,000 refugees in Kirklareli RC and at other sites.
For the time being, our provincial Scout commissioner is exploring what we can do. His team of 20 Scouts and Guides will begin to work again tomorrow and this team will be reinforced next week from nearby provinces. You may help by finding some children's books in Albanian copyright free and suitable for photocopying - then we can easily reproduce them to be distributed on site. Now we are trying to make only colouring books and find colour pencils in Ankara to be distributed at the hospital at Kirklareli RC. I will communicate with you about proceedings and especially exchanging ideas about the ways of providing relief. I wish you success in your work and peace in the region."
Savas Baran, International Commissioner TIF, Turkey
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