World Thinking Day – a Scouts’ holiday

World Thinking Day – a Scouts’ holiday

World Thinking Day is celebrated around the world on 22 February. It is a holiday of unity and friendship of Beavers and Scouts to remind them that there are many of them and no matter what colour, nationality, background or age – they are all brothers to each other.

Alina Ewelina Kieżun, a chairwoman of the Union of Polish Scouts In Lithuania (Pol. ZHPnL), in an interview with “Kurier Wileński”, says that the World Thinking Day is one of the most important scouting holidays.

Guide scouts from the “Viator” and “White Wolves” teams

─ Every year, someone else handles the organisation of World Thinking Day. This year, a young team took charge of this event. I am very happy that such young people are organizing such a great and important celebration for us. This year it is arranged by the guide scouts from the “Viator” and “White Wolves” teams”, says the ZHPnL chairwoman.

Cooperation with scouts

This year ZHPnL will be joined by scouts from ZHR and scouts from ZHP Ukraine will come. Lithuanian scouts will also arrive, which is very important. As Alina Ewelina Kieżun noted, the work with the Lithuanian scouts is getting stronger and more fruitful every year.

Beautiful staff, beautiful young people

─ Organising such an important event is a really tough challenge and I am glad that young people undertook it. The biggest success of our organisation is that we have wonderful scouts. Through all the gatherings that take place in the teams, the deputies, the young people learn. By doing so, we are educating future cadres, beautiful young people who can take their thoughts and create beauty,’ Kieżun notes.

The organisation is growing every year

At present, ZHPnL has more than 594 people actively involved in the Polish and Lithuanian communities. But every year in January and February the registers are renewed and according to the new one it will be over 600 people.

─ New people join us every month and sometimes even every week. It is very satisfying that our numbers are growing, but there are also people who are leaving. They go away to study, they choose a different way, these are our realities. We are also happy to see older scouts joining our membership in recent years. Our organisation is growing every year, despite some resignations,” says the ZHPnL chairwoman.

Just like any organisation, ZHPnL has a lot of problems, but as Alina Ewelina Kieżun says, there is no such problem that man cannot deal with.

─ God does not burden man with problems beyond his strength – underlines our speaker.

Lack of funds

– The biggest problem is that we lack the funds to work. We operate on a voluntary basis, we pay dues to our organisation, we write projects to the “Aid to Poles in the East” Foundation, to the “Polish Community” Association. Poland supports us every year. We would like to be supported more by the Lithuania and we are working on this. Thanks to the good relations between the presidents of Poland and Lithuania, the Lithuania has started to recognise us more and maybe even appreciate our input in some sense,” Alina Ewelina Kieżun stresses.

World Thinking Day

22 February is a very important date in Scouting circles. On this day, 1857, the founder of scouting, Sir Robert Baden-Powell, was born. On the same day, in 1889, the General’s wife Olave Baden-Powell was born, who promoted Scouting among the female section of society. On this day we celebrate World Thinking Day.