Congratulations to our fellow Scouts all over the African continent on this very special Africa Scout Day! Never has a theme been more apt than this year’s “Scouting building resilience among communities in Africa”.

To build resilience in a community we need to start by empowering and enhancing the capacities of its young people. For us as a Scout organisation this means that we must continue to ensure that our members are confident, skilled, able to adapt to any circumstance, and face any challenge that comes their way.

In 2020 we saw how our Scouting members in South Africa and around the continent rose to the occasion and rallied to help their communities in times of need. We have also seen how Scouts throughout Africa are working hard to address the Sustainable Development Goals to mitigate the impact of climate change, lack of quality education, promote gender equality, and more.

People say that “Scouting puts you out there and pushes you out of your comfort zone in order for you to learn and grow”. By strengthening the confidence and abilities of our vulnerable community members and by teaching young people to become resilient and resourceful, I believe that as Scouts, we can contribute significantly to human development in our African Region.

So today, let’s all celebrate the achievements of our members, and our brothers and sisters from around the continent in building up our communities the Scouting way!

Yours in Scouting,

Khonzaphi Mdaka
Deputy Chief Scout