Figure 1.--The Albanian Scout movement was restablished as the Communist regime in Albania was falling. Here Scouts from Grupit Kanguri in Tirana are cookings eggs at the weekly troop meeting in a Tirana park.

Background

History

Albanian Scouting was founded in 1922 up until the outbreak of the Second World War. It was, however, harshly suppressed during the Communist years. It was a capital offence to be a Scout Leader! Scouting was refounded in 1992 during the turmoil following the fall of the Communist government,Scouting was re-established in the southern city of Saranda and soon spread to other towns. A new Scout Association was formed, called "Besa Skaut Albania" - Besa is the word for an Albanian tradition of a promise that can never be broken. Scouting was restablished largely through the efforts of a husband and wife team, Mihal and Dolores Dhima. They were school teachers in the southern Albanian city of Saranda, who were trying to find for their students a non-political alternative to the discredited Young Pioneer movement. They found what they were looking for in a pre-war book that had been on the government's "forbidden list" - a book called "What is Scouting".

Organization

The Scout Movement they set up is very similar to Scouting in other countries. Scouts do very similar activities, although some things are difficult because of the lack of money and equipment. Very few Scout Groups have regular use of indoor premises.

Albania Scouting is open to both boys and girls. There are three Scout sections:
Cub Scouts: 8 - 12 years old
Scouts: 12 - 17 years old Explorators: 17 years old and up

The organisation is called "Besa Skaut Albania". Besa is the Albanian word for an Albanian tradition of a promise that can never be broken. As you'd expect, Albanian Scouts make a promise which is very similar tomall Scouts. The Promise is: Premtoj se dote bej te pamunduren karshi Zotit dhe atdheut. Dote ndihmoj te tjeret dhe dote zbatoj ligjin e Skautit. Premtoj.

Scout Groups

Albanian Scout Groups don't have numbers like in Britain, they have names. The Group in Tirana (there is at the moment only one Group in all of Tirana) is called Grupit Kanguri, which means "Kangaroo Group". They meet on Sunday mornings in the main park. The uniform is blue, with different colours of scarves to distinguish between Cubs, Scouts and Explorators. The Group has both boys and girls, and Christians and Muslims, in about equal numbers.