Saturday 25 February 2012

On our honour, we promised

To set the scene, in 2008, three volunteers from Scouts Canada visited the village of Ambato Boeni, in northwest Madagascar.  Working with the local village council of the troisieme quartier in Ambato Boeni, we formed a partnership in development with three simple priorities: drilling wells for fresh water, building a school facility for education and providing an alternative source of electricity to bring light to the 12 hours of darkness each day.  Literally: Life, Learning, Light.  Scouts Canada made a promise that day – a promise others had broken in the past – that we would work with Ambato Boeni achieve these goals.

When civil unrest broke out in the capital of Antananarivo in 2009, this project could not continue, but it would not be the end.  On our honour, we promised that we would do our best.  And now, with peace returned to Madagascar, the time has come to finish what we all started nearly four years ago.

In January, 18 youth and 7 adult volunteers from Scouts Canada were selected to finally complete this project in August of this year, but this really is everyone’s project.  We all have a part to play in fulfilling the spirit of our promise: from learning about the social issues, or contributing directly to the project, to spreading the message of youth empowerment and community development.  This blog will help everyone keep up to date on what’s being done and where we all fit in to changing the world in 2012.

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