Association of Belarusian Guides

Infobox WorldScouting
name =Association of Belarusian Guides

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caption =Ассоциация белорусских гайдов
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location =Minsk
country =Belarus
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f-date =1992
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members =1,274
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website = [http://www.belguides.com/ belguides.com]
affiliation =World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
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The Association of Belarusian Guides (ABG, Ассоциация белорусских гайдов) is the Belarusian member organization of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), with a membership of 1,274 Girl Guides (as of 2003).

Belarusian Guiding started in 1922 in the then Polish parts of present Belarus. In 1992, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the restart of Guiding was supported by WAGGGS; leader training was undertaken by the Girl Guides Association of Cyprus. The association became a member of WAGGGS in 1996.

History

The initial development of Scouting in Belarus took place within the Russian Scout movement, as part of the Russian empire. A Scout organization was founded in Kletsk, and Scouts appeared in Nyasvizh and other nearby villages. In 1929, American Methodists helped found the Girl Scout organization in Vilna. It lasted until 1929, but by the end of the 1920s, Scouting had been banned by the Soviet Union, and Scout activities ended, with many leaders and members arrested and imprisoned.

Emergence of democratic principles in the mid1980s made possible the creation of alternatives to the communist pioneer organizations. Close connections were formed with Guide and Scout organizations of many European countries, when children from areas affected by the Chernobyl accident were invited to summer camps abroad during the Chernobyl Children's Project in 1990. Especially close links were developed with Cyprus, and between Minsk and the Guides of Lincolnshire. In 1992, Cyprus was officially appointed Link country to support the development of Guiding in Belarus, and in June 1993 the first conference of the Association of Belarusian Guides was held in Minsk.

Since the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, neighboring Belarus received some of the highest levels of radiation; the results of which can still be seen in the and in the health of the population. Svetlana Korotkevich, International Commissioner of the Association of Belarusian Girl Guides, is working on its Chernobyl project to raise awareness of the ongoing problems resulting from the disaster and to encourage associations in other countries to welcome groups of Belarusian children in order to give them a healthy break in a "clean" environment.

Emblem

The Association of Belarusian Guides' emblem features a white stork, one of Belarus' unofficial national symbols.

Further reading

* World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, World Bureau (2002), "Trefoil Round the World". Eleventh Edition 1997. ISBN 0-900827-75-0

ee also

*Scouting in Belarus
*Belarusian Republican Youth Union

External links

* [http://www.belguides.com/index1.htm Homepage of the Association of Belarusian Guides]