The fifth Na­pari­ma Scout Group is look­ing for vol­un­teers to help shape the minds and lives of young men in T&T. 

Scout leader Sharon Na­gir, in her ad­dress at the an­nu­al gen­er­al meet­ing last Fri­day at the Susamachar Pres­by­ter­ian Church hall in San Fer­nan­do, ad­mit­ted they have been fac­ing chal­lenges.

One of them is en­list­ing adult vol­un­teers who could com­mit and be avail­able to men­tor the boys dur­ing their Fri­day ses­sions. “For most, it’s a work­ing day, and time off can be dif­fi­cult to ac­quire week­ly, while for oth­ers, they for­go wages to be avail­able,” she said.

Na­gir added that they will have to dis­cuss whether or not new in­takes will be de­ferred to Jan­u­ary 2025.

“If it’s one thing I have learned through the years, it is this: Scout vol­un­teer­ing is not just one or two hours a week. It can be as much as a full-time job if one is ded­i­cat­ed and com­mit­ted, as there are al­ways plans and ac­tiv­i­ties to get done, es­pe­cial­ly in our group, as we have church, group, dis­trict, and na­tion­al ac­tiv­i­ties. Every­one in their re­spec­tive roles is re­quired to as­sist for us to have growth and sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and not be­ing avail­able places a strain on the oth­ers,” she ex­plained.

Re­call­ing the group’s mem­o­rable trip to Cos­ta Ri­ca and Pana­ma, Na­gir said they hope this sig­nalled a re­sump­tion of many in­ter­na­tion­al ad­ven­tures in the not-too-dis­tant fu­ture.

The Cu­boree (camp­ing) will be held in An­tigua and the Moot (in­ter­na­tion­al Scout gath­er­ing) in Por­tu­gal in 2025, while the Jam­boree is sched­uled to be held in Poland in 2027. 

Thank­ing all the lead­ers, vol­un­teers, Scouts, and every­one who as­sists the group, she said, “May I re­mind every­one that to­geth­er we are cre­at­ing a com­mu­ni­ty of learn­ers, ex­plor­ers, and friends. As we all know, scout­ing is not just a fun ac­tiv­i­ty for young peo­ple; it is a way of life that in­stils val­ues such as lead­er­ship, team­work, and com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice. Build­ing or en­hanc­ing one’s char­ac­ter takes time, ded­i­ca­tion, pa­tience, and un­der­stand­ing. It’s a process that one does not see or reap the ben­e­fits of im­me­di­ate­ly.”

She was hope­ful that the count­less hours spent teach­ing and guid­ing the na­tion’s young men would con­tin­ue to bear fruit. Na­gir added that one of the most valu­able lessons Scout teach­es is the pow­er of uni­ty amidst di­ver­si­ty.