Tag Archives: ‪#‎Refugees‬

Yes, it’s a goooooaaaaaaaal: both teams leave victorious!

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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!

Les Scouts et Guides en France s’engagent pour les réfugiés!

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Les Scouts et Guides contribuent aux activités de soutien aux réfugiés dans leurs communautés en Europe (8): voici deux récits de France:

– Cinq membres de la Branche Compagnons de Scouts et Guides de France Angers Avrillé passent leur camp dans la jungle de Calais avec les réfugiés: http://scout.org/node/106501
– Le Groupe Scout de Cergy du Territoire du Val d’Oise – Scouts et Guides de France (Scouts et Guides de France, membre de l’OMMS et de l’AMGE) accueille François Hollande pour un après-midi avec les réfugiés: http://scout.org/node/106496

Si vous voulez également partager un récit de votre activité organisée en soutien des réfugiés dans votre communauté locale en Europe, contactez nous et nous le publions aussi!

Croatian Scouts: ready to help and make available their skills!

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Scouts and Guides contributing to refugee support activities in their local communities in Europe (7): a story from Croatia:

“Scouts from the local branches in Zagreb, Otok, Vinkovci, Vukovar and Slavonski Šamac of Savez izviđača Hrvatske (the National Scout Organisation in Croatia, member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement – WOSM) joined other volunteers from Hrvatski Crveni križ, Hrvatski Caritas and other civil society organisations of the country and helped set up more then 30 large tents as emergency temporary shelters to accommodate refugees near Beli Manastir.

All volunteering Scouts were well catered for and their contributions praised by the coordinating National Protection and Rescue Directorate and returned home after this mission, ready to help and make again available their skills.”

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!

Greek Scouts help fill “A Boat of Medical Supplies for the Refugees”

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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

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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!