UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, yesterday celebrated and recognised Scouts for their tireless service on the Island of Lesbos, a main entry point for refugees coming in to Europe.
During his visit to Lesbos on Sunday, Ban Ki Moon took the time to meet Scouts and volunteers following their dedicated skills, time and energies over the last three years- characteristics that highlight the Scouts’ promise to create a better world through service and peace in local communities across the world.
The UN Secretary General’s visit came as Scouts gathered this weekend in Oslo, Norway as part of their triennial European Scout Conference. Preparedness, community impact and leadership - qualities that underpin the commitment of the 40 million Scouts working as Messengers of Peace around the world – were a key item at the conference, and such strategy will result in Scouts’ taking actions for peace at a local level all over Europe. At the moment this local level action is to work with refugees.
On Lesbos, the UN Secretary General (himself a Scout) was happy to wear the Scout scarf again and listen to the Scouts and hear about their actions, which have inspired thousands of other Scouts across Europe in countries such as Sweden, Germany, Turkey and Denmark to shape their community action so that it matches the needs of new comers.
When Ban Ki Moon met with them on Lesbos, he was not just thanking the 50,000 working with Syrian refugees along the migrant route in Europe, but also the 22 million Messengers of Peace - Scouts - around the world working on 6 million projects bringing peace.
