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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: Refugee Support
Yes, it’s a goooooaaaaaaaal: both teams leave victorious!
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (24): a story from Rohrbach-Berg, Austria
This is probably a familiar scene in many villages across Europe: 22 boys and girls engaged in a football match on a sunny Satruday afternoon. The local pitch in Rohrbach-Berg in Upper Austria is no exception in this, but if you look a little closer, this particular match is different! IIn fact, it is the weekly encounter between “Austria” and “Syria”, or more precisely between a team of Scouts and Guides from the local Scout and Guide Group (member of the Oberösterreichische Pfadfinder und Pfadffinderinnen, Pfadfinder und Pfadfinderinnen Österreichs) and a team with players recruited among the young Syrians who had found refuge in the village.
Lisa, a Leader with the Scout and Guide Group in Rohrbach-Berg is very pleased with the development of this initiative: “Our Groups was looking for a way to help our new neighbours to reach out to the local inhabitants. And quickly, we decided to organise weekly football games. Afterall, football is common all around the world. It is the same game with the same rules in our village and in the countries the refugees had to leave.”
So, a month ago, the first match took place: “Everybody involved was so enthousiastic about this, that we agreed to meet again the following Saturday, ” says Lisa, and the matches have continued every weekend since then. “Playing football together is a very good way to meet in ‘known territory’, to make new friends and to learn more about each other. There is always a good atmosphere on the field and around it: we have a growing crowd of cheering fans, both from the village and from the refugee centre.”
The Scout and Guide Group has already decided to book the football field for the next months. So, if you are around, why not join the crowd and cheer the players from Austria and Syria?
If you are involved in a similar refugee support activity in your local community, let us know and we will share it, too: just complete this form!
Refugees Welcome! The Lower Rhine Region is Colourful!
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (23): a story from Xanten, Germany
Last month, an unused building the city of Xanten, in Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany, had decided to open for refugees was victim of an arson attack. This incident was at the origin of an event the local DPSG Niederrhein-Nord Scout District (member of DPSG – Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg and the World Organization of the Scout Movement) organised this Sunday. Together with other civil society associations (including the Flüchtlingshilfe Xanten, the Jugendkulturwerkstatt eXit and neighbouring Scout Districts), the Scouts decided to show everybody that the Lower Rhine Region (Region Niederrhein) is colourful and open to welcoming people seeking refuge from atrocities in their countries.
And more than 600 people answered the call. Dressed in colourful cloths and equipped with flags and posters claiming “Refugees Welcome” and “The North Rhine Region is coulourful”, they assembled in Xanten’s market square on Sunday afternoon.
When looking at the colourful crowd in front of him, District Commissioner Christoph Fromont felt that this was an incredible picture, really showing that the Region was open and diverse: “Each bad news, like the recent arson attack of the future refugee centre in xanten, should be countered by plenty of positive, encouraging story. This is what we have achieved. And this is why we have called for this gathering!”
“The willingness to welcoming refugees to the Lower Rhine Region does not stop with the distribution of flyers and the wearing of ‘Refugees Welcome’ tee-shirts. No, that’s just the beginning!” he added, “Let us eliminate fear and encourage encounters.”
The gathering ended with the more than symbolic building of a colourful human cordon (measuring several hundreds of meters) around the partially destroyed building, which will soon be the new home for refugees in Xanten. And as a strong signal of the city’s colourfulness and hospitality many people decorated fences and railings with scarves, shawls and handkerchiefs of all shapes and colours.
(contributing to the text & (c) image: DPSG Bezirk Niederrhein-Nord)
Read a full story in the regional newspaper rp-online.
And if you are involved in a similar refugee support activity in your local community, let us know and we will share it, too: just complete this form!
To help. Because we made a promise. On our Honour.
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (22): a story from the Galatsi Olympic Centre in Athens, Greece
With a number of friends from Ελληνικός Προσκοπισμός (the Scouts of Greece, member of WOSM, the World Organization of the Scout Movement), Scout Leader Dimitris spent the weekend at the newly-opened Refugee Centre at the Galatsi Olympic Centre in Athens:
“As Scouts we have promised to help every person in every circumstance! So this is our story from this weekend in Galatsi:
Carrying hundreds of boxes, bags and sacks… Separating soaps from toys and blankets, clothes for children, women and men from canned food and medicines…. Sorting everything into piles and helping those in need to find the necessary supplies until they reach a new place they can call home!
Sometimes it reminds me of the Lord: “If I washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” And here are we, helping those caught in a difficult situation, not alone but among brothers and sisters. Thanks a lot to you Rika, Thoma, George, Helen, Myrto, Paraskeva, Teri, Sofia, Alex and all the other Scouts whose names I forget. We will continue our efforts, this afternoon, this evening, tomorrow and the following days.
To help. Because we made a promise. On our honour.”
So, how can you help? The answer is: we need your big smiles and strong hands, to give out food and drinks, to help in the distribution of clothes, shoes, toys, and to support all kinds of tasks at the Galatsi Refugee Centre: every day, from 7.30 in the morning to 22.00 at night. Our storage rooms are full and the generous donations from citizens continue to come in. This is an invitation not only to Scouts but also to the general public!
If you are involved in a similar refugee support activity in your local community, let us know and we will share it, too: just complete this form!
How do I make a campfire bread? Come, I’ll show you!
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (21): a story from Uedem, Germany
Uedem? Where is Uedem? Many refugees might have wondered where this town was situated on the map of Germany where destiny had decided that they would find their temporary new homes. We, too, had to check the map to discover that Uedem is located between Duisburg and Kleve on the river Rhine close to the Dutch border.
And the surprise was even greater when the refugees arrived in Uedem: a group of members of DPSG Uedem, the local Scout and Guide Group (a member of DPSG Niederrhein-Nord District of DPSG – Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg) awaited them waving colourful flags, holding up “Welcome” and “Willkommen” posters.
The Scouts and Guides – with the help of friends of the local school – had spent several days preparing their Welcome Party: they collected toys, games and jigsaws, stuffed animals and dolls, footballs, basket balls and other sports equipment! And they planned a series of activities for their “Willkommensfest” using many of the collected items with their guests, handing them over as presents at the end of the day. Others were busy in their kitchen and prepared pastry and other dishes to serve at the party.
Many of the newly arrived refugees attended the welcome party, happy spend an afternoon in friendly and happy atmosphere with their new neighbours. While children and young people happily enjoyed the games their parents and other adults were glad to settle down and relax for a few hours in good company, away from their tense and stressful life.
What started as a colourful afternoon of games and sports finally ended around a genuine campfire, where Scouts and Guides and their new friends enjoyed preparing (and later eating) their campfire bread on sticks cut from bushes only moments earlier.
(Source: rp-online, 9 Ocotber 2015)
If you are involved in a similar refugee support activity in your local community, let us know and we will share it, too!
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!
