Your chance to help Malawi Scouting
Every Scottish Scout, from the youngest Beaver to the oldest Leader or Fellowship member, now has the chance to make a real difference to the world of Scouting.
For Scouting in Scotland is to embark on what, hopefully, will be the first stage of a campaign to help Scouting grow in Malawi. The challenge is quite simple – between us we want to try and raise about £7,000 for the Scout Association of Malawi (SAM), not only to help more young people there to experience Scouting but, at a more basic level, just to allow the Movement to continue. Already, thanks to the generosity of our own Scouting community, over £1,000 has been sent to Malawi to help to achieve these goals.
It can be hard for us to understand how difficult it can be to establish Scouting in a developing African country when there are so many things that we take for granted that would be regarded as a luxury in Malawi.
I had the privilege of meeting the chief executive of SAM, Steve Kanene, towards the end of last year and was shocked when I heard that he had been on the verge of giving up Scouting because the grants that paid his salary had come to an end. There was no sign of any funding coming along to fill the gap and he had to seriously consider if he could continue in the post when he had a wife and children to support.
Scouting in Malawi only resumed in 1999 after being forced underground during the reign of President Hastings Banda. Since then it has seen a dramatic growth, mainly based in schools, and numbers have soared from 5,500 in 2004/5, when the Scout Association of Malawi was recognised by the World Organisation of the Scout Movement, to 10,500 currently. But this expansion has brought its problems, mainly in relation to funding, including salaries, equipment and training materials.
Through discussion with Steve Kanene and Anne Masino, who who has taken Scouts to Malawi and has significant expertise developed through her association with Edinburgh Area Scouts International Expeditions’, we discovered the areas where help is most desperately needed. This includes taking Scouting to two areas of the country where it just does not exist at present.
The projects which would make a significant impact on the development of Scouting in Malawi if we can raise £6,000 are:
- Maize mill – the construction of such a mill at the national campsite at Makwawa would produce continuing revenue for Scouting in Malawi through the crushing of maize to produce meal – cost £2,272.
- Vocational training for Rover Scouts - £550 would allow the purchase of six sewing machines, £250 would pay for fabric and both would allow the Rovers to produce Scout shirts and neckerchiefs. £780 would pay for three computers to enable them to train in computer skills and communicate on-line. £450 would pay for metalwork instruction so they could produce buckets, tools, etc. Rovers would also be taught to be cobblers and make foot-ware (£450) and become artists (£250).
- Office car maintenance needs £1,000 per annum.
- Communication items – computing costs, telephone and stationary – require £650 per annum that is just not available.
- T-shirts – a mere £70 would pay for the design and purchase of T-shirts for Makwawa campsite.
Many of the costs of Scouting in Malawi are met by grants from Norway, Denmark and Gilwell. But these are short term lasting for a maximum of three years. We believe that all the above are well within the capabilities of Scottish Scouting and a good starting point for something that could grow and benefit Scouting both here and in Malawi.
In the next issue of Scottish Scout News, we will be letting you know how you could put together a Starter Box for new troops in Malawi that begin with nothing but enthusiasm. In later editions of SSN we hope to talk about the programme benefits that can come from such a link and how we can help the Malawi Scouts with basic skills training.
Please contact SHQ ([email protected]) if you are interested in supporting Scouting in Malawi in general. Please let us know if your Group / District would be interested in adopting a particular project.
How you can help:
- Purchase of a special badge – ‘We support Scouting Malawi’ – at £2 each, with all profits going to the fund.
- Beaver Scout colonies or Cub Scout packs could collect 5p or 20p coins in Smartie tubes.
- Districts or Groups might like to raise the funding for one particular item on the Malawi ‘wish list’.
- Groups or sections might like to raise funds by highlighting that their efforts locally can make a real difference to the development of Scouting in another country.
- If groups, units or troops are raising money for an expedition, they might consider giving a percentage to the Scouting Malawi fund.
Any contributions should be sent to SHQ made payable to ‘The Scout Association’ and marked ‘Malawi Fund’. Good luck!
Hamish Leal,
SHQ International Adviser