AUB-Ibsar hosted 3 visiting volunteers from France who came to Lebanon on a mission as Rovers. Guillaume Gérard, who contacted me months before his arrival, explains:

“The scouts and guides of France are an educational movement that aims to form useful, active, joyful and peace-making citizens. This movement is composed of 4 age groups:

• 8-11 years are called “Le Louveteaux (or Cubs)” for boys and “La Jeannette” for girls
• 12-14 years are called “Scouts” for boys and “Guides” for girls
• 15-17 years old called “Pionniers” (Pioneers) for boys and “Caravelles” for girls
• 18-21 years old called “Compagnons” or Rovers

Each group has its specific codes and activities, but everything is based on the idea that the activities should be educational. It is expected that the Rovers travel to another country in order to participate in ‘solidarity projects’ through discovering and learning about other cultures. These projects are facilitated by the help of locally based associations like Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) or institutions alike. They must search for these partners and work on appropriate projects in self-sustaining ways (i.e. volunteering). Our small team of 3 members chose to come to Lebanon with the objective to work in nature conservation and the environment, while also volunteering as animators for a summer camp for poor children in Keserwen.

This team:
Marion Daumoinx, 21, is a student of osteopathy and has been in the scout’s movement for 14 years. Nolwenn Charpentier, 19, is a student of geography and has been in the movement for 4 years, and Guillaume Gérard, a 20 year-old, is studying chemistry and has also been a scout (Rover) for 14 years (including a long-time scout in Lebanon).

The three joined our small group of volunteers on a maintenance trip to Tripoli to help with weeding, stone-mulching, and watering of trees planted in February (2010). The following week they joined the volunteers from St. Mary’s Orthodox College for a trip to AREC to help with multiple tasks around the nursery. They returned to AREC a few days later for a 4-day retreat to help Sakra (who is she?) with the inventory of germinated seedlings, weeding, transplanting and organizing of plants in the greenhouse.

AUB-Ibsar would like to thank the dedicated and hard-working scouts for their invaluable help and hope that they can share their experience to their colleagues back home to promote more intercultural exchange, solidarity and workmanship.