I fell in love with Uganda about twenty years ago. It was the first country in Africa I visited. I was setting up a partnership between the Scouts of the UK, the Uganda Scouts and Unicef that was going to focus on peer education, child immunisation and HIV awareness. Visiting this country I knew almost…
If you are involved in Scouting, you may know of the team of Ugandan Scouts who decided to ride their bicycles from Kampala to Rinkaby in Sweden last summer, as their way of getting to the 22nd World Scout Jamboree. What you may not know is that the team undertook the challenge in order to…
There is much talk in the UK at the moment (and has been since the last election) about the creation of a National Citizenship Service for young people. Kenya got there first, nearly 50 years ago. Kenya’s National Youth Service was established on September 1st 1964, through an Act of Parliament. It was charged with…
I have driven past the gates of Kenyatta University on several occasions in the past few years, usually as I crawled along in a traffic jam on my way to Nyeri. Today, however, I got the opportunity to go through them to visit the campus and its students. I have to confess that, as…
The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is known as the President’s Award in Kenya, or the PA for short. Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit two very different schools where the Award is being run. Both were girls schools; both were full of engaged and enthusiastic young women. But they were as different as…
Feeling fatter and rather less fit than I should be, I have allowed myself to be persuaded to take part in the Blenheim Triathlon in June. I’ll be competing as a member of the LeaderBoard – a team of Chief Executives from around the UK who have committed to support Sport Relief 2012. I have…
“I am from a rural township in South Africa and I have been playing cricket for 4 years. Here I am standing in front of you at Lords. It is an honour beyond my biggest dreams.” In 2007, a fourteen-year-old schoolboy was working for his Bronze Award. As part of his service to the…
I was speaking to a friend in Russia recently about youth work. “There’s something about you Westerners that puzzles me,” she said, “What is it with your fixation on volunteering? Why don’t you expect to receive proper payment for all the time you spend working with young people? ” It’s an interesting question. I can’t…
When Baden-Powell ran his experimental camp on BrownseaIsland, he did not realise that he was starting a movement. But that’s what happened. One boy told another about the fun that couldbe had by becoming a Scout. Anothertold another. The modest concepts ofgetting together with a group of your friends, having fun, getting involved inan adventure,…
I would not trade in my education for anything. It has formed my mind and character, enhanced my ability to enjoy the experience of living and enriched my understanding of other people. I revere education as the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another. But…