Written by Ross Francis, Program Services Director
Scouts Canada
We really want our youth to understand and appreciate that Scouting extends well beyond Canada. Just by joining Scouts Canada, youth become members of the World Scouting family with Scouting brothers and sisters around the world. In fact, there are more than 28 million Scouts in 160 countries worldwide.
Unfortunately, not all Scouts are as fortunate as we tend to be here in Canada. As with any family, members of Scouts Canada try to help our Scouting brothers and sisters; particularly in developing countries where Scouting plays a vital role in teaching leadership and life skills.
For years, Canadian Scouts have been helping Scouts in developing countries address critical needs, by building schools, first aid stations, water treatment, sanitation needs, etc. These projects typically involve Canadian Scouts traveling to places like Kenya, Belize, Namibia and Costa Rica to work with Scouts there to tackle these projects. What an experience for our youth! Traveling to other countries helps broaden their knowledge about world issues, increases their awareness and appreciation for other people, their cultures and beliefs, and perhaps most importantly, shows that we care and want to help.
Recognizing that not everyone has the opportunity to travel to other countries to help, we’ve been looking for other ways to get Canadian Scouts involved. We now have a new Brotherhood Project, one that everyone can help with, called: “Pencils for the Hanne Howard Scouts”. Canadians Hanne Howard and her husband Ted Horton have chosen to focus their efforts in the Lenana slums just outside Nairobi, Kenya. They’ve essentially adopted 125 orphans living in the slums and have built a facility where they feed, clothe and educate these youth. They even have their own Scout Troop!
Ted and Hanne have received a donation of 125,000 pencils that they initially planned to ship to Nairobi but costs were prohibitive. They approached Scouts Canada to see if we could help “turn pencils into dollars” to support their Troop. The pencils needed cleaning and sorting so Cub Scouts, Scouts and Leaders from 137th Ottawa, 101st Ottawa and North Gower met at the National Office for pizza and pencils. They met Hanne and Ted, watched a presentation about their group in Nairobi and helped with the pencils.
We’re now preparing to ship these pencils to all of our Scout Shops across the country where we will make them available for donations. All donations support the Hanne Howard Scouts.
Everyone, whether involved in Scouting or not, can help by picking up some pencils and making a donation.
