The first conversation about the possibility of a Scout Group being set up
in Acholi Quarters must have taken place about 18 months ago at least, when I
had the delight of meeting Gidds Bambaga, a friend of a friend here in Kampala,
who’s mission is to make Scouting accessible to young people from disadvantaged
backgrounds.
Gidds set up his 1
st Mercy Scout Group in an area of rural
poverty in eastern Uganda, and since then has set up 2 more in the same area.
So when we met, and I mentioned about my involvement with the Acholi community
who live in urban poverty here in Kampala, and also my positive experiences
growing up in the Guiding and Scouting movements, there was a natural connect
and joining up of thoughts.
 |
| Gidds (L) with his two associate trainer leaders, and Sharif - the oldest of the Acholi scouts |
Obviously a Scout group can’t be started without some funds, particularly in
an area where there is no history of scouting and so there are no local adults
who have the previous experience to draw on. But thanks to some impressive
fundraising by 1
st Thornbury Cub Scouts, sufficient money was raised
to cover the cost of basic membership to the Scouting movement, some key
equipment for the group, training and travel costs for adults and leaders, and
the all-important neckerchiefs for the young people.
Today I had the joy of visiting the group, and seeing the young people
practising their parading skills and drills.
They don’t have a building to meet in – instead they meet on a concrete
area the size of a basketball pitch, with a charcoal-selling area to one side,
a rock quarry not far beyond that, cows and goats grazing nearby, and the usual
mixture of tumble down one and two-room buildings around and about – that serve
as homes, shops, chicken sheds, and the like for those who live in the community.
It was great to see the young scouts in action. Children who I’ve known
since they were 2 or 3 year olds, and watched grow up over the years on my
frequent visits to the community. To see them now, standing proud, arms by
their sides, doing the proper footwork, eyes front – it was a very special
moment.
 |
| Enjoying a song that required good coordination for the actions |
For these youngsters life is hard. They don’t know where the next meal will
come from, nor whether the roof will leak when it rains, nor how they will get
any more shoes when they grow out of their current pair. They never get to go
away on holiday, they rarely get out of Acholi Quarters, certainly the
airplanes that fly overhead are of another world….So for them, to put on a
neckerchief on a Saturday morning, and know that they belong to a movement that
is greater than just the small bit of the world that they see around them –
that is so very special.
 |
| Parading and drilling |
I had the chance to chat with the Scouts today – and that was what I
reminded them. That the neckerchief they were wearing shows that they belong –
to 4
th Mercy Scouts yes, but also to a Scouting movement that
stretches not just across Uganda, not even just across Africa, but right across
the world. And when they put the neckerchief on each week, to use it as a
reminder that they are linked with boys and girls around the world. Not all
speaking the same language, or having the same colour skin, or believing in the
same God, but nonetheless all united in being Scouts together.
I felt quite emotional giving that talk, knowing what the backgrounds are of
the youngsters, knowing how much some of them have had to fight just to
survive. Seeing the pride on their faces for being a Scout, for knowing how to
do the drills and the parading, for being allowed to wear the neckerchief – wonderful!
Long may it survive and thrive.
 |
| Sharif (C) hopes to be the first young leader for 4th Mercy Scouts |
No comments:
Post a Comment