From: hay@shannon.ee.wits.ac.za (Angus Hay)
Subject: Russia, South Africa and the UK
Keywords: Russia, South Africa
Organization: Electrical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand
Date: 26 Jul 92 11:22:56 GMT

The following article was written for PATAC, the newsletter of the
1st Greenside Scout Group, Johannesburg, South Africa, by Mike Stanley,
Group Leader of the 10th Oxford Scout Group, Oxford, England - such is
the power of THE NETWORK :-) Please acknowledge the source if you
quote it.

We in South Africa have had Scouts since 1908 (B-P spent a lot of time
here, after all), but we are in the process of trying to expand 
Scouting, especially into areas that have traditionally been left out
- what we need is greater numbers: development. Hence the interest in
the development of Scouting in Russia.

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YOU THINK YOU HAVE PROBLEMS?

Imagine you would like to start another Scout Troop in your area... Easy! 
Grab one or two trained Leaders, find a meeting place, and away you go. 
Newspaper collections, jumble sales, and you soon have enough equipment and
training manuals to put the OUT in Scouting.

NOW STOP IMAGINING AND THINK ABOUT REALITY FOR WHAT WAS THE SOVIET UNION

In 1990-91, as we all know, the Soviet Union was disbanded, and in turmoil as
the walls of Communism came crashing down. What happened to the children as all
this was going on? Nothing. There were only two youth movements -- the Komosol
and the Young Pioneers -- mostly led by, and run as, military units.

Scouting had been banned in 1922, so there were few people who had heard about
Scouting -- let alone who had experience of it. But, as with all good stories,
there was a Fairy Godmother. There was someone who had not long ago been to
Geneva, where she had seen Scouting in action. This was Ludmillia Bondar. On 
her return from Geneva, she convinced her husband, Alexander, that it was 
Scouting that the youth of Russia needed, and that he was the person to get 
it on the road.

WHERE DO YOU START?

Write letters? No paper. Visit people? No money, no transport, hardly any
communication networks. These were only the minor problems: would you
exist with no fax, no copiers, no word-processors, no typewriters?

The first few get-togethers were held in the Bondars' 8x10 foot kitchen, with
twelve or more interested people using leaflets and books printed in French,
German or English. Then slowly, and after a few more visits to Geneva, the
Headquarters of the World Scout Bureau (I will write an article at a later
date on the WSB), Russian Scouting was finally accepted into the World Scout
Federation.

Through contacts I have in the printing trade and Scouting, I was asked to
assist -- especially with the supply of printed material. Imagine a Group Scout
Leader, who has taken his Group abroad for 20 or more years, visiting places
like Germany, Denmark and Luxembourg, but who is too lazy to learn any other 
language, trying to communicate in Russian and then get into print the first
Russian Leader's Handbook. Ludmillia hardly speaks English -- but it is better
than my Russian.

In March 1991 the Chief Scout of Great Britain, Garth Morrison, visited Moscow
and Leningrad, and met various representatives of the (by then) official
organisation. He also met with Dr Alexander Bondar, who had by this time
become the World Organisations Representative. He was asked to hold an
experimental camp at Odessa in the Ukraine.

In May Alexander was able to visit London to meet with some of the volunteers
who were preparing for the camp at Odessa, and to make some of the necessary 
arrangements.

In mid-June two representatives from the Association [Great Britain - ed.] were
present at a seminar run in Geneva for 25 Russian Leaders; they saw the
handing over of 50 000 copies of a leaflet, "Scouting is...", which had been
printed in Russian and financed by money donated through our Association.

The Second Chernobyl Project took place in July/August 1991, and provided a
holiday for 170 children from 16 different countries. This helped raise the
profile of Scouting in the former Soviet Union. Also during this time, contact
was kept with Komosol, and the National Scout Advisory Board sent
representatives to an exchange programme for six groups of twelve people.

In October, representatives of the Scout Association, staff of the World 
Bureau and Regional Office, the Scouts de France and the Boy Scouts of America
met in Geneva. The practical needs of the Russian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian
Scouts were discussed and a programme of assistance was proposed.

The Association was also represented at a congress in St Petersburg, during 
which they witnessed the creation of the "Federation of the Scouts of Russia"
and met over 40 young people from local Scout Groups. This was an historic
occasion and augers well for continued development.

By December 1991 what we thought would be the first introductory book on 
Scouting in Russian had been translated and put onto disc. Ludmillia was
to come to England and check her work and I would get it printed. Nothing
worked. WeBEST to help.

It is June. The presses will be running for the next 48 hours: the book
is finally being printed. It goes to the book-binder's early next week.
It's finished.

Look on your bookshelf, in your Scout Shop. Count up the printed material
you see. Russia has none of this, not even scrap pads.

How will we get them to Russia? Some will be posted. Our County Commissioner
and I will drive most of the 4 tonnes to Moscow in September. This is only
a start: one book, a lot learned, many friends made. This is Scouting.
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-- 
     *   *  Angus Hay, Dept of Electrical Engineering,   
    **   *  University of the Witwatersrand,                 
   *******  Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050, New South Africa   
  *  *   *  Internet: hay@nyquist.ee.wits.ac.za Tel:(27)(11)716-5423
 *   *   *  NeXTmail: hay@turing.ee.wits.ac.za  Fax:(27)(11)403-1929