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WE Connect replaces EUROPAK
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INFORMATION – From EUROPAK to WE Connect – the new Joint Regional Website (Regional Circular 21 2019)
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EUROPEAN JAMBOREE 2020 – Recruitment of International Service Staff (Joint Communication 05 2019)
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23rd EUROPEAN SCOUT CONFERENCE – Announcing two Crowdcasts in preparation of the Conference (Conference Circular 09)
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RECIRCULATION – FOR REVIEW: Draft Memorandum of Understanding (Joint Communication 04)
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Category Archives: Europak
Okay. Let’s go to the park and play!
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (20): a story from Rotterdam, in the Netherlands
“Okay. Let’s go to the park and play!” – that’s what Scouts from Scouting Brownsea ’66 in Rotterdam (members of Scouting Nederland) decided this Friday night after having been contacted by volunteers of the Rotterdam Red Cross who help looking after some 250 newly arrived refugees at the local refugee welcome centre opened at the Schuttersveld Sport Centre in Rotterdam.
So, yesterday, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, a group of Scouts welcomed a large group of children and young people from the refugee welcome centre and spent the rest of the day playing games in the park and doing paperwork at the Scout Hut.
After some initial hesitation the children and young people quickly found their smiles again and thoroughly enjoyed this moment of fun. It was quite obvious that they were able – for some time at least – to forget the hardship of their long and tiresome journey that had brought them to Rotterdam.
Like any other group of children at an afternoon party in a park, they agreed to pose for a “family photo” with their new friends from the Scout Group. And to everybody’s surprise Ahmed Aboutaleb, the Lord Mayor of Rotterdam, joined them for this picture and then for another funny game!
If you are involved in a similar refugee support activity in your local community, let us know and we will share it, too!
Is there anything unusual in this picture?
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (19): a story from the island of Kos, Greece
“Do you note any difference in this picture?
You should not really, because it is just another meeting of Scouts on a sunny Saturday afternoon playing a game.
But wait? The children wear no Scout shirts, no scarves?
Yes! That’s because this is a very special Scout meeting!
In fact, the picture was taken last weekend on the island of Kos in Greece, where members of Ελληνικός Προσκοπισμός spent the weekend having joined other volunteers from local civil society organisations engaged in refugee support activities on the island.
The children in the picture are refugees from Syria and other countries who were very happy to escape hardship and boredom for a couple of hours and learn again what it means to laugh and have fun.”
Read more about the refugee support activities of the Scouts of Greece on Kos!
If you are involved in a similar refugee support activity in your local community, let us know and we will share it, too!
Swapping pencil and textbook for plaster and paintbrush!
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (18): a story from Eupen, Belgium:
“Early in September the FEDASIL (the Belgian federal agency for the welcome of asylum seekers) announced that a new local refugee welcome centre would be opened at the Elsenborn Army Camp in the German Community in eastern Belgium. And only a few days later the agency launched a call for volunteers to help prepare and run the centre.
When the Pioneer Scouts (the equivalent of Explorer or Venture Scouts in other association) of the St Martin Scout Group in Eupen (members of Les Scouts, one of the National Scout and Guide Associations in Belgium) heard about this, they quickly agreed that they would offer their skills and time: they volunteered to renovate one of the larger rooms at the refugee centre and to transform it into an indoor playground!
Over several days Scouts came together, swapped their Scout shirt for a workman’s outfit and became active: taking out old furniture, repairing and repainting walls, floor and ceiling, cleaning windows, and refitting the room with new carpets and furniture. In the coming days, a selection of games and toys collected from friends and relations will be added to those already available.
And soon everything will be ready to welcome children and young people and allow them to leave behind boredom: laughter and excitement will fill a previously abandoned room of the FEDASIL’s Elsenborn Refugee Centre!”
If you are involved in a similar refugee support activity, let us know and we will share it, too!
Scouts cleaning shores of Lesbos: broken rubber dinghies, inflatable tires and life vests of all shapes and sizes
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (17): a story from the island of Lesbos, Greece:
“This weekend, some 40 Scouts from Ελληνικός Προσκοπισμός were on their second mission to the island of Lesbos where they once again joined local Scouts and volunteers from other civil society organisations engaged in refugee support activities.
A group of Scouts spent the two days on the beaches and collected waste and items no longer needed and left behind by refugees arriving on the island, like broken rubber dinghies, inflatable tires or life vests of all shapes and sizes.
At the same time, several dozen of children and young people joined Scouts in Mytilini, the main port of Lesbos and its capital city, for two days of fun and games: a welcome opportunity for the refugees to escape their hardship and boredom for a couple of hours: anyone passing the village square would have seen a group of happy children laughing and spending a jolly good time. And the smile on parents’ faces was as rewarding to the Scouts as the signs of gratitude expressed by the children.”
This activity was made possible thanks to support received from the World Scout Foundation.
If you are involved in a similar refugee support activity, let us know and we will share it, too!
Ahmed, here is your new scarf: may it remind you of the one you left back home!
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (16): a story from the island of Kos, Greece:
“Yesterday, two groups of Scouts from Ελληνικός Προσκοπισμός left for the islands of #Λέσβος and #Κως where they spend the weekend and joined volunteers from other civil society organisations engaged in refugee support activities.
For a couple of hours, children, young people and their families will be able to leave behind their hardship and boredom and the children can do what other children would do on a sunny afternoon: have fund and play games!
One of them boys who joined the activities in Kos is Ahmed. He is from Syria, where he and his family had to leave everything behind when they fled the atrocities of war. No time to pack the scarf, though. Because Ahmed is a Scout and was a member of the local group of the Scouts of Syria back home in his village in Syria.
All children went back to the refugee centre tired but with smiles and laughter. They will certainly be back for another day of games and fun activities tomorrow with the Scouts of Greece. And Ahmed will proudly wear his new scarf, which he received from his Greek friends!”
This activity is made possible thanks to support received from the World Scout Foundation.
If you are involved in a similar refugee support activity, let us know and we will share it, too!
