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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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Tag Archives: community involvement
Let’s invite our new neighbours and meet the refugees!
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (9): a story from Freistadt, Austria:
“When we realised that a growing number of refugee families were given accommodation in and around our city and that their daily routine was anything but varied, we spontaneously decided to invite our new neighbours to sepd an afternoon with us.
Some twenty refugees currently live in a former customs building, literally miles away from the city and due to the secluded location of their lodgings particularly dependent on external support and accompaniment.
Our invitation went to these families in particular but also to other refugees staying elsewhere in Freistadt. And so, one sunny late summer day, some fifty children, young people and their families turn up at our Scout Hall and were met by many members of our local Freistadt Scout and Guide Group (member of the Scout and Guide Association of Upper Austria).
We all spent a wonderful afternoon together, with barbecue, games and other activities. And we listened to the sometime incredible stories about the challenges our guests had encountered on their journeys from their former homes in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and other countries.
The hours went by too quickly and looking back the afternoon had not just provided the refugees a welcome change in their otherwise dull routine but allowed us, the local Scouts and Guides to understand better the situation these children, youngsters, women and men had found themselves in eventually making them refugees. We have gained a group of new friends!”
If you want to share a similar story about your association’s support activity for refugees in Europe, let us know and we will publish it, too!
European Scouts and Guides engage in refugee support activities: let’s tell their stories!
When the Coordinating Group of the European Regions of WAGGGS and WOSM met the other weekend, the current situation of refugees and the manifold support actions by Scouts and Guides as members of their local communities was one of the issues discussed. The Coordinating Group is very conscious of the human tragedy unveiling. While we share and tell the stories of the great work being undertaken by Guiding and Scouting, we should be coordinated and compassionate so as to not exploit those suffering. Long-term community work will be very important to empower people.
It was agreed that a sort of “clearing house” on europak-online.net, the website jointly managed by the two Regions, would be a useful tool to featuring examples of what Scouts and Guides contribute to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe. Associations already engaged in such activities would have a larger audience for their projects and featured projects might inspire other associations to start their own activity.
This communication platform is now available and we invite all Scout and Guide Associations in the European Regions of WAGGGS and WOSM to share their stories, images and resource kits for the benefit of the two Movements.
Sharing of relevant news (in text and image) and resources
Anyone visiting the joint website europak-online.net will be able to click on a new, prominently placed banner see all relevant content on one single page
Content Management
A simple form has been created to facilitate the editorial managment of proposed stories. Following our regular practice, there will normally be no publication of a story without prior agreement from the concerned association.
We are looking forward to receiving and subsequently sharing widely many stories featuring examples of what Scouts and Guides contribute to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe!
Read the relevant Joint Ciruclar issued by the European Regions of WAGGGS and WOSM in English and French!
Greek Scouts help fill “A Boat of Medical Supplies for the Refugees”
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (6): a story from Greece:
“ Ελληνικός Προσκοπισμός (Scouts of Greece, the National Scout Organisation in Greece, member of World Organization of the Scout Movement – WOSM) partnered with Médecins du Monde Greece – Γιατροί του Κόσμου in a common project : ‘Α boat full of medical supplies, for the refugees’.
The boat is a symbol tied to the pain of those families, children, women and men who are forced to flee their homes because of war. But the boat is also a symbol of solidarity: throughout the month of October 2015 Scouts from local Groups across Greece will collect pharmaceutical products and other medical supplies to support the activities of Médecin du Monde Greece in areas of high refugee influx.
With the help of their families and local communities, Greek Scouts will thus help fill… A BOAT OF MEDICAL SUPPLIES FOR THE REFUGEES.”
If you want to share a similar story about your association’s support activity for refugees in Europe, let us know and we will share it, too!
From Coxhoe to Calais: toiletry articles, shoes, clothes and other items
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (5): a stroy from Coxhoe, County Durham, United Kingdom.
“Members of a Scout group from Coxhoe, a village in Durham County, are stunned that their simple act of kindness has garnered the kindness and generosity of the local community: all they did was organise a call for contributions in aid of refugees in Calais, France. And, the local community responded with a phenomenal display of solidarity, showing that there is still much humanity left in the world.
The Coxhoe Scout Group initially expected to receive a small number of donated items, which they were planning to send to the sorting depot, but the response grew at a surprising rate. The call for donations of 60 determined Coxhoe Scouts was so successful that the village hall was completely filled with items like toiletry kits that the Cubs had packed themselves, shoes, clothes, tents, food and other essential things. The response was overwhelming, it was such a positive experience.
The donations have now been delivered to the “Northeast Solidarity with Calais Refugees”, a group that collects donations for the refugees stranded in Calais, where over a hundred refugees arrive daily, desperate for a future free from fear and danger.”
(source: WOSM, http://www.scout.org/node/104206)
If you want to share a similar story about your association’s support activity for refugees in Europe, let us know and we will share it, too!
So far, 60000 pieces of clothing sorted and packed in 12 days!
Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (4): a story from Augsburg, Germany.
“Members and leaders of local Scout Groups in the Augsburg District of DPSG Bundesverband (one of the National Scout Associations in Germany, member of World Organization of the Scout Movement – WOSM) got actively involved in an existing local support project launched last year. Initiated by a group of eight friends in November 2014, the main objective of Übergepäck eines Flüchtlings. (“a refugee’s extra luggage”) is to show refugees and their families that members of the local community recognise their challenging situation and are offering them assistance.
