Scouts Canada helps break cycle of poverty for kids in Kenya
Scouts Canada News Release *********************** Scouts Canada today announced that ten members from the Kenya Scouts Association are currently being hosted as special guests at the 11th Canadian Jamboree (CJ'07) at Camp Tamaracouta, in Mille-Isles
Scouts Canada today announced that ten members from the Kenya Scouts Association are currently being hosted as special guests at the 11th Canadian Jamboree (CJ'07) at Camp Tamaracouta, in Mille-Isles, Quebec.
Kenyan Scouting youth and leaders are participating in the most significant week-long Jamboree in Scouts Canada's history, as nearly 8,000 international youth and volunteers are joining together to celebrate 100 years of Scouting throughout the world.
Scouts Canada has worked in partnership with the Kenya Scouts Association (KSA) for many years to help break the cycle of poverty. With assistance from Scouts Canada, KSA has been running a program commonly known as "Street Scouts" or the Extension Scouts Program. KSA has more than 4,000 youth enrolled in this Program throughout Kenya and membership is continuously expanding.
Scouts Canada has worked in partnership with the Kenya Scouts Association (KSA) for many years to help break the cycle of poverty. With assistance from Scouts Canada, KSA has been running a program commonly known as "Street Scouts" or the Extension Scouts Program. KSA has more than 4,000 youth enrolled in this Program throughout Kenya and membership is continuously expanding.
"I'm so amazed to be here in Canada," explains Peter Kariuki, a former street Scout and now a leader of an Extension Scout Troop in Nairobi. "When I was first approached by Scouters on the streets of Nairobi at the age of ten, I was living on the streets, scrounging through garbage heaps. Scouting changed my life, as it enabled me to get an education and provided me with valuable life skills. I'm now in my third year of university studying social and community development. Scouting makes such an incredible difference in so many lives where children are homeless with little hope for a future. I want to contribute to this Movement by giving back to others what Scouting has given to me."
"Our Scouting Founder, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, would be so proud of Scouts Canada's dedication to living-out the Scout Promise and commitment to leaving this world a little better than how we found it," said Adam Baden-Clay, great-grandson of Baden-Powell, who is now on-site at CJ'07. "Scouts Canada is enabling youth in developing countries to join Scouting, providing them with a chance to redefine their lives. In this 100th year of Scouting, it is an ideal time to recognize all the good that Scouting has done, and continues to do, in lending a hand to create a better future for those in need."
"The benefits of Scouts Canada's international development projects extend beyond the outcomes of providing community assistance overseas," states John Neysmith, Scouts Canada's International Commissioner. "We send groups of Canadian Scouting youth to developing countries, enabling them to contribute hands-on to community development projects. Our youth learn to become more responsible and resourceful members of their own communities by gaining an understanding of the problems and challenges faced by young people in developing countries. Participation in these projects provides life-changing and immensely enriching experiences for our youth."
This summer Scouts Canada is funding a group of Canadian youth travelling overseas to work with local Scouts on a community development project in The Gambia. Furthermore, for 2008, Scouts Canada has already approved funding for Canadian Scouting youth to work in Namibia, Ghana, and Madagascar.
