22 January 08 - 08:39Make a Fruit Salad

Earning a coveted Scout badge used to involve tying knots, lighting campfires and mastering the art of semaphore.

From now on, however, it is more likely to be for skateboarding, racing quad bikes ... and making fruit salad.

The Scout Association is adding 40 badges to its list in the largest-ever overhaul of the movement's activities since it was launched by Lord Baden-Powell a century ago with the motto: Be Prepared.

Chief Scout Peter Duncan, the former Blue Peter presenter, said he hoped they would help attract more youngsters to the half-a-million-strong movement in the UK.

Among the new badges is an award for healthy eating for Beaver Scouts aged six to eight.

They will need to make a fruit salad, two different sandwiches, healthy snacks such as omelettes or homemade meatballs, and list some unhealthy foods.

Scouts aged ten and above will be given the chance to try parascending - where they wear parachutes and are towed into the air by a cord attached to a vehicle.

They can also earn a badge for street sports, while older Explorer Scouts can take part in motor sports such as karting and quad bike racing.

The new badges are launched this weekend at the Scouts' winter camp at Gilwell Park, East London.

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22 January 08 - 08:36New Badges Take Media By Storm

At last weekend's Winter Camp, The Scout Association launched its largest ever revamp of the activity programme with the launch of 40 new and modernised badges. In order to reflect the changing demands and interests of today's young people, these new badges include areas such as Health and Fitness, Healthy Eating, Street Sports and Parascending.

The story was taken up by all the major national newspapers, along with BBC Breakfast, BBC News24, ITV Local News and BBC Radio 4.

Explorer Scouts Nancy Ibrahim and Kirsty Wright accompanied Chief Scout Peter Duncan on a whirlwind tour around BBC Television Centre, to talk about the updated programme and the new badges being launched at Winter Camp, held at Gilwell Park.

Peter said: "Young people today have a larger choice than ever before of activities to fill their spare time with. This includes challenging themselves with exciting activities and adventures, meeting new friends throughout the world, and creating a real difference in their communities."

"The introduction of Healthy Eating and Health and Fitness badges really caught the attention of the journalists. These badges have been introduced in consultation with young people, sports governing bodies and educationalists. They aim to reflect the interests and concerns of today's young people and society in general."

Peter added: "The health of young people has al ways been of utmost importance to us, and through many of these badges we can help to further encourage young people on the choices they can make to lead a healthy lifestyle."

Explorer Scout Nancy Ibrahim said: "It's great that the badges have been updated to include activities that are important to today's scouts. The best thing about scouting is that we get the opportunity to try new adventures, when we might not have been able to do so otherwise."

"We are always hearing that young people aren't healthy enough and I think it's really important for everyone to learn what healthy decisions they can make."

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11 January 08 - 12:17Maldives Boy 'Acted on Instinct'

A 16-year-old boy scout in the Maldives who has been hailed a hero for saving the president's life has said that he acted "out of instinct".
Mohammed Jaisham Ibrahim injured his hand while thwarting a man who tried to knife President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the north of the islands on Monday.

"It all happened so quickly I didn't have time to think about it," he said.

The attacker lunged at the president after he had got off a boat during a visit in the north of the archipelago.

"As we were queuing up to shake hands with the president, I became aware of a man who was jostling in the crowd behind me," the teenager told the Haveeru newspaper.

"He asked me to get out of the way just as I was shaking hands with the president. He produced a large knife which he was concealing under a Maldives flag and lunged towards the president shouting 'Allah is great'.

"Fortunately I was able to fend him off with my left hand and his attempt to stab the president in the stomach was foiled."

He was very courageous and I of course met him later and thanked him

President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

The student said the incident happened so quickly that he did not have enough time to think about the risk he was taking.

His left hand was badly cut in the incident - for which he received hospital treatment in the capital, Male, before being discharged on Wednesday.

A number of newspapers in the islands have heaped praise on him as a hero for saving the president's life and many predict he will receive some kind of public award for his actions.

"Jaisham our national hero saves the president," the Miadhu Daily said in a headline.

Islamic militancy

President Gayoom, who was unharmed in the incident, also paid tribute to the teenager who was wearing his scout uniform at the time of the attack.

"He was very courageous and I of course met him later and thanked him. It was a very good spur-of-the-moment action from the boy," he told the BBC.

The president - whose shirt was slashed in the attack - holds the honorary title of "Chief Scout of the Maldives".

The attack took place on the island of Hoarafushi, which with 3,000 residents is one of the most populated in the northern Maldives. President Gayoom was meeting supporters there after the inauguration of a renewable energy project.

Police say that four people have been arrested in connection with the attack, including the man who allegedly wielded the knife.

Correspondents say that the incident has raised concerns over the possibility of Islamic militancy in the traditionally peaceful archipelago which is predominantly Muslim.

President Gayoom is Asia's longest serving leader, elected to office in yes-or-no referendums.

In recent years he has introduced reforms which include allowing political parties, but the opposition says he is dragging his feet on change in a bid to hang on to power.

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11 January 08 - 12:16Scout Ends year Sleeping In A Tent

A Kent teenager has spent his first night for a year asleep in his own bed after raising nearly £2,500 for charity by sleeping in a tent.
Stephen Young, 16, an Explorer Scout, spent all of 2007 camped out in the garden of his home in Borough Green.

His challenge had only been due to last 100 nights, but he decided to spend 365 under canvas to raise more money for the Demelza House Children's Hospice.

As he took his tent down, he said: "I'm going back to a nice warm bed."

After braving sub-zero temperatures, and even studying for his GCSEs in the tent, Stephen has had to admit that it has now seen better days.

'Uncomfortable bed'

"It's fallen apart. It's had more use than a lot of tents will ever see," he said.

He said the whole event had begun as a bit of a joke after his scout group were challenged to spend 365 nights out in the open between them.

Stephen recalled how he had said: "Why between us? I could do that on my own."

But speaking on Wednesday, after his first night indoors for a year, he said he had found his bed very uncomfortable.

"I was just so used to sleeping in a tent that I wasn't used to the extra comfort," he said.

His mother, Judy Young, added that she was very proud of him for what he had achieved.

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11 January 08 - 12:1435,000 Flock to join Afgan Scouts

After nearly three decades of war, never has the motto "Be Prepared" had more resonance. As the worldwide Scout movement celebrates its 100th birthday this month, war-torn Afghanistan has become the unlikely setting for a boom in recruits.

More than 35,000 young Afghans have boosted the ranks of the Afghanistan Scout Association since the fall of the fundamentalist Taliban five years ago.

From conflict-ravaged Helmand to the capital Kabul, Scout groups have been established in 24 of the 34 provinces, and the government has included scouting in a new national education strategy.

advertisementUnlike their Western counterparts, however, the main aim of Afghanistan's Scouts is not map-reading or knot-tying. The focus is on peace. In a climate of continuing conflict, young Afghan Scouts are taught to pass on a message of non-violence by urging adults to lay down their weapons.

"We are telling the students in school to put down guns and work for peace," said scout leader Gul Ahmed Mustafa. "The children tell their parents. It is a very important message. They also do cleaning classrooms, watering flowers, planting trees, first aid and cleaning the city."

The Scouts, called "Sarandoy" in Pashto, are aged from seven to 25, with three categories equivalent to cubs, scouts and rovers. Scout troops are based at schools and one third are female. Leaders are usually teachers.

British Scouts would feel at home with many of their Afghan counterparts' rituals. The Scout promise is almost identical to the UK version, with its vow to "do my best and do my duty to God". The salute is the same and the motto "Be Prepared" is translated directly as "Tayarosay" in Pashto and "Umade Bashi" in Dari.

But in place of the British activity badges - with names such as artist, chef or collector - an Afghan Scout has only two options. The first is "literacy", which usually involves teaching a neighbour or family member to read and write. The second is "training", a programme based mainly around athletics and races. The children also practise tying knots and go camping in the mountains.

Mr Mustafa said: "We want many different badges. They are a necessity for Scouting. We plan to introduce the swimmer and the bicycler. But for now there are no swimming pools and not so many bicycles."

Lord Baden-Powell set up the first Scout camp for 20 boys on Brownsea island, in Poole Harbour, Dorset. It spread to Afghanistan in 1931 but was banned after the communist coup in 1978. There was an attempt to reinstate Scouting in 1996 but it foundered over the Taliban's ban on education for girls. The organisation was re-established in 2002 with support from the education ministry.

The setting of the association's national Afghan office highlights the country's turbulent history. Only a stone's throw from a stadium used by the Taliban for executions, the concrete building has bullet-scarred walls and barbed wire on its perimeter. There is no electricity and water is pumped from a well provided by the United Nations. Last year, the total budget for the country was only £1,470.

Safiullah Subat, chief of the Afghanistan Scout Association and the only full-time staff member, said: "The government wants to help but Scouting is not the first priority. There are so many problems."

But the future is brighter. The education strategy in-cludes a proposal to provide £18 uniforms for 20,000 Scouts and to recruit five Scout trainers for each province.

Mr Subat said: "We believe Scouting is very important for our country. In Scouting we are a family, whether Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara or Pashtun. It can create unity between the people of Afghanistan and between girls and boys."

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