Helping others has always been a big part of scouts, and our youngest girls and boys have been leading the way.
For a second year, our two Beaver colonies are taking part in the A Million Hands project, designed to help others in our community (local or global) so we can make a difference. To help in this, all groups focus on one of four issues, chosen by scouts nationwide.
Over the past two evenings the Beavers have been put in the driving seat as they choose which issue they would like to pick. With their leaders, they talked about the four issues and watched videos of why they matter before putting it to a vote. And the result was clear: over half the votes were to help everyone everywhere have access to clean water and sanitation.
This is only just the start of the journey: from here the Beavers will go on to learn more about why clean water is important and why it is so difficult to collect for people living in some of the poorest countries on earth. After that, they will plan what they’re going to do and do it with the support of their parents and leaders.
This isn’t the first time the Beavers have taken part. Last year they looked at improving mental health and raised £179 for the Garage Youth Club to help them gain new equipment so they can work with young people to build friendships, socialise in a safe space and talk about everyday issues including their mental health.
As well as picking their issue to focus on, the Beavers also fed back to our leaders about the best and worst parts of Beavers and what they want to see coming up. With some good suggestions coming out of the so called ‘Log Chew’, it is a good example of our Beaver scouts being empowered to shape their scouting journey.
Find out more about A Million Hands:
A Million Hands is all about mobilising half a million scouts to take action on four social issues chosen by scouts. From dementia to those disabled by society, from improving the mental wellbeing and resilience of our communities to ensuring everyone, everywhere has access to clean water and sanitation…these are big issues of our time, but our young people want to tackle them head on.
The aim is to build real and lasting relationships in communities that will enable young people to continue taking social action long into the future. We are marrying our Movement of over half a million people, reaching into every community across the UK, with the knowledge and expertise of organisations committed to social change.
More can be found at www.amillionhands.org.uk.
About ensuring everyone, everywhere has access to clean water:
The issue our Beavers chose to work on in ensuring everyone everywhere has access to clean water and sanitation. Without safe water or toilets, people are trapped in a cycle of poverty and disease.
Around 650 million people have no choice but to drink dirty water. 2.3 billion people don’t have access to a proper toilet. As a result over 500,000 children a year, or 1,400 a day, die from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor toilets, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
We can help others to understand how important clean water and sanitation is, both at home and abroad.