Scouts and Guides Spirit Flame
Kenya, 22 February 2007 - Today in Nyeri, Kenya, several thousand Scouts gathered at the grave of Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, to light a flame which will cross Africa and Europe, as part of the Movement's Centenary celebrations.
On July 31st 2007 (the eve of Scouting’s Sunrise) it will arrive on Brownsea Island (UK), which is the place where the very first Scout camp was held one hundred years ago.
Leaving from B-P's old residence, the procession, which included the British officer Lord Robert Baden Powell (B-P's grandson), local and international Scouts and Guides and ISGF members, then took part in a ceremony at B-P's grave to light the torch which symbolises 'the spirit of Scouts and Guides'. Speaking at the moving ceremony, Suzanne Mudhune, Director of the Association of Kenyan Guides stated, "you are the leaders of tomorrow, I call on you to perpetuate the ideals of Scouting, and to make a difference in society".
Martin Levy, Chairperson of the International Scout and Guide Fellowship (ISGF) then added: "This flame pays homage to a man who was a visionary, and who did not know that this Movement was going to join together 30 million people and that millions of others would benefit from his method of teaching the promotion of non-violence, the refusal to discriminate or the defense of the environment."
Born on February 22, 1857, Baden Powell retired in 1937 and remained until his death in 1941, in the town of Nyeri (approximately 120 km in the north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi), close to Mt. Kenya.
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