Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous;

love is not boastful or conceited, it is never rude and never seeks

its own advantage, it does not take offense or store up grievances.

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth.

It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes.

Love never comes to an end.

THIS MONTH’S QUOTATION THIS MONTH’S QUOTATION THIS MONTH’S QUOTATION

EDITORIALHappy New Year!

LUCIAN NEDELU}editor-in-chieflucian.nedelut@infoscout.ro

It is well known that the New Year’s resolutions are kept secret. However,I’ve found the following lines doodled on a sheet of paper, left behind by ahurried Scout.

“I wish to see every day a wide smile on the face of each Scout; I’m dreamingof a sea full of scarves and uniforms, a white flag and a lily flower in everycorner of the country.I wish to see blushing Cubs, radiating health and good will, to feel the eager-ness of each Scout, his quench for knowledge, the courage of the challenge, toget lost in the vivid enthusiasm of the Explorer, who looks up with pride, admi-ration and aspiration to his badges, to share a good story with the Rovernearby me and to let loose in the Leader’s vision.

I wish for more pure souls in an efficient, stable and mature organization, a re-born of the scouting spirit gliding on the green and righteous paths of respect,responsibility, commitment and communication. I wish to feel I’m home every moment, to feel the thrill of belonging to thegreatest youth movement in the world, I want motivation and I wish to knowsomeone’s always watching over.

Oh, and I mustn’t forget. I wish to make a good deed every day.”

I don’t know who wrote these lines, but their echo is still resounding…

InfoScout wishes you a Happy New Year, pleasant moments and a lot ofScouting!

Be prepared!

InfoScout is a project of the Department of Imaging and Communication - © 2009 National Scout Organization of Romania It is prohibited to reproduce all or part of the materials contained in this magazine without editorial staff.

Responsibility for the content of articles belongs entirely authors.

Cuprins

4 The hystory of Syrian scouts: Short hystory about Syria

6 Jungle Book / The story goes on: Bagherra The Great

8 The scouts are provoked: „No one’s sleeping tonight“, the 4th episode

9 Scout skills: The Fire12 Where to? - Piatra Craiului16 Interview with a parent:

Marta Mure[an18 Nature, sweet nature:

Did you ever ask yourself how much “nature” do you need?

20 Presenting the Local Centre:“Licos” Timi[oara

22 Ada asks, Speedy answers 24 Lands Of Adventure26 Don’t forget this joy

EDITORIAL STAFFCOORDINATOR: Alin PascaruEDITOR-IN-CHIEF:Lucian Nedelu]EDITORS: Laura B\du]

Claudia NaibaClaudia Coand\Monica JicmonManuela HortolomeiAda Rascol

PARTNERS: Ioana LucaciuAdrian SecalDr. Ousama Zadeh

ROUMANIAN COPY EDITING:Laura HenAlexandra DorinaFlori Budau

ENGLISH COPY EDITING:Diana SlabuPatriciu En\[elBoris BoberschiHoratiu PopBianca BobeiAnca Urdea

Editorial Contact Address:redactie@infoscout.ro

N

International PARTNERSHIPS

4 www.infoscout.ro

Syrian Scouts History:• 1912: The first group of scoutsthe Ottoman Scout Associationwas founded in Beirut underthe leadership of Tawfeek elHabree• 1912: Shortly after, a secondgroup was founded, and namedScouts of National ScientificSchool of Damascus.• 1913: Scouts from School ofAnbar is the name of the thirdgroup of Syrian scouts.• 1914-1919: World War 1causes the scout movement tobe temporarily stopped • 1922: The Movement isbrought back to life, and twonew patrols are founded: Tech-nique School Patrol, leaded byYaseen Hamoi and Kurd SchoolPatrol, leaded by BakreeKadoora• 1924: The Syrian Scouts be-come members of the World Or-ganization of the ScoutMovement • 1925: The first civic centrewas founded; before this, theScout Method was applied only

in schools. This centre wasnamed Muslim Scout CivicCentre, lead by Ali Al Dan-dashee• 1933: The Syrian Scouts par-ticipate in their first Interna-tional Camp, in Hungary, thembeing the first Arabic country toparticipate in an internationalcamp.• 1934: The Movement began toexpand to other cities: Aleppo,Homs• 1935: Scouting was bannedagain due to French Occupation• 1936: Under the pressure ofcitizens and scouts, the FrenchCommandant allowed scoutingto continue and the centres re-opened• 1937: They participated in theinternational camp in Nether-lands• 1937: Syria organized the firstcamp for Arabian Scouts, inwhich countries like Lebanon,Egypt, Iraq and Palestine tookpart. For the first time, GirlScouts were allowed, so thecamp was called Murshidat( 14

THE HISTORY OF SYRIAN SCOUTS

SHORT HISTORY ABOUT SYRIA

In the past, Syriawas called GreatSyria or the Country of Sham.It was formed of:present Syria, The Lebanese Re-public,Mesopotamia (the region betweenTigris and Euphrates) and a part of today’sPalestine. Also,Syria borderedToros Mountain in the North, the Tabaria Lake in the South,Mousel Town to theEast, and finally,the MediterraneanSea to the West.The borders werekept until theFrench and Englishcolonists dividedSyria between themand formed thecountries we allknow now: Syria,Lebanese Republic,and a part of Iraqand Palestine.

InternationalPARTNERSHIPS

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years old girls are called likethis, so the camp name was intheir honor) • 1944- The Syrian Parliamentrecognizes the movement as a

civic movement in the Constitu-tion, therefore, the Scout Move-ment receives the support of theGovernment.

The Syrian Scouts played a veryimportant role in the internationalmovement, from the participationin international camps to the entireactivity at international level.Therefore, the World Organisationof the Scout Movement gave Mis-ter Ali Dandashee a position in In-ternational Scout CommitteeBureau in London and offered himthe “Silver Wolf”, one of the great-est WOSM distinctions.Their activity was ceased in 1980and restarted in 2006.

BOY SCOUT 2 ALEPPO

In 2006, Aleppo Scouts tried to re-organize. It was hard and tiringwork, but pleasant. Now, afterthree years of activity, we have 300scouts. So, for Beavers ( 6-12years)-120 scouts, for StarterScouts(13-15 years)- 60 scouts,Explorer Scouts (16-19 years)-70scouts, Rangers (over 19 years)-20. There are 10 Leaders and 6leaders with power of decision.We have a musical band, with60 scouts: 45 Boy-Scouts and

15 Girl-Scouts. Our first repre-sentation was at a local festival,in 2006. The instruments we useare: trumpet, trombone, drum,horn, cymbals, bass-drum.

Our activity:1. First Aid Courses2. Trainings at the firemen centre3. Trainings in evacuation andpeople safety skills in case ofwar or natural calamities4. Protecting Nature Courses5. Promoting Scouting Educa-tional Camp6. Adventure and Fun Camps7. The National Camp

In Aleppo are 12 scout centersrecognized by the Central Com-mittee of Syrian Scouts• Numbers 1, 2, 3,4 and 11 areMuslim• Numbers 5 and 6 are Christian(Orthodox and Catholic)• Numbers 7 to 12, except 11,are Armenian Scouts

@ Dr Ousama Zadeh, Syrian Scouts Leader

5

the story CUBS

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As the holidays’ passing leavesinto our hearts the will to findtheir specific magic as soon aspossible, so does Akella’s de-parture leave the hope of drink-ing once again from anundrained spring of wisdom…But let’s not forget that Yupi hasother mentors from whom hehas still a lot to learn.

‘I’m a little wolfyBut no one makes me a goofyFear - a word I don’t knowThrough the jungle round I goEverything makes me curious I never become furiousBagherra taught me it makesyou delirious…’

Thus was Yupi walking throughthe jungle after a meeting hehad with Bagherra with whichhe spent the last few days. Thelittle wolf was fascinated by thepanther. Her black fur sparklingin the moon light, that makes

her one with the night and hergreen eyes that hypnotize himeach time she looks at him areworthless in comparison withher ability to walk through thejungle without being heard, herskillfulness in hunting and hermovements’ speed to which isadded her intelligence and spe-cial capacity to surpass all ob-stacles in the jungle.

But let’s see what is Yupi sohappy about. Is it becauseBagherra finally taught him torecognize strange noises thatcould mean danger? Surething! And his mentor praisedhis capacity to do so well insuch short notice. At the end ofthe lesson Bagherra told him‘Always be on guard!’ Interest-ing lesson for our little wolfthat does his best to obtain thebest results and to prove hismentors their efforts aren’t invain.

THE 4TH EPISODE

BAGHERRA THE GREAT

‘Oh! I wishBagherra washere rightnow!’ - thoughtYupi... when rememberingthe panther’slast words, ‘tobe prepared foreverything andto learn to defend himselffrom an earlyage as well ashe could”

the storyCUBS

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While he was walkingthinking about thehours that had justpassed, he suddenlyhears strange noisesaround him. A stickcracking too strange,bushes rustling allaround… thesigns the pan-ther toldhim about.Yupi lis-tens care-fully, spieseverything with hiseyes, his entire bodybecomes tense, readyto attack, unrevealinghis emotions at thesame time. Suddenly,in front of his eyes ablack animal appears,his colour being allhe’s spotted as hisimagination wasgoing crazy and he was thinkinghe’s too young to defend him-self… ‘Oh! I wish Bagherrawas here right now!’ - thoughtYupi... when remembering thepanther’s last words, ‘to be pre-pared for everything and tolearn to defend himself from anearly age as well as he could.’

When finally he decides to openhis eyes to confront his attacker,there’s Bagherra standing rightin front of him. ‘You did wellon your first surprise attack’.When Yupi revealed he’s earlierthoughts, the panther said only“That’s why you need to be inthe company of an adult wher-ever you go while you are stillyoung. The jungle isn’t afriendly environment and badthings can happen to you in ablink of an eye. But this does-n’t mean you have to be con-stantly afraid”.

On his way back home, Yupifound out only a part of

Bagherra’samazing past as she

doesn’t like to talk about it… Infront of Yupi’s cave, beforeleaving, Bagherra tells him afew profound words: ‘Littlewolf, you have a great advan-tage. You were born home in theheart of the jungle and you haveyour parents and your skillfulmentors covering all domainsyou need in order to become anexperimented adult. I wasn’tborn in the jungle. My firsthome was in captivity – a sense-less life… Well cub, see you to-morrow. You’re safe now.’

Eager to dispel the mysterywhich surrounds Bagherra, he

asks his mother to tell him thestory. ‘Well, she began,Bagherra has been borne in

captivity, a life thatshouldn’t be

known by anyanimal andone thatBagherra

hasn’t ac-cepted… Deprived

of the freedom with-out which her lifewouldn’t mean athing, at a stroke of apaw she broke thepadlock which sepa-rated her from the end-

less forests for which shehad languished for too

long. Bagherra was cho-sen by Hathi to be yourmentor due to her brav-

ery. Yupi, you must never tellher what you’ve found outfrom me. A person doesn’tneed to be told he’s treasured,he must be shown. I know howmuch you appreciate her, andwithout doubt she knows it tooand I’m sure you’ll not let herdown...’

Thus, another day passed inYupi’s life, the little wolf thatbecomes day by day more confi-dent in his strengths.

� claudia.naiba@infoscout.ro

7

the island SCOUTS

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Challenge no.4

“NO ONE’S SLEEPING TONIGHT”Captain’s

Expedition Diary

Day 4 on the Island

I have never thought how impor-tant a shelter can be. And wheni say this, i really mean it. It wasonly because of the shelterwe’ve built last night that wesurvived a night like this.Clouds were torn apart andfrom the very heights of the skythunder and disaster wasfalling. The rain was thickerthan the surface of the sea andthe ice was biting the moist soil.

I’ve barely managed to wake up,numb and shivering, but themorning rainbow over the sea,gave me hope for the followingdays.

I called my people and I dividedthem in two exploring units. Westill have little knowledge aboutthe island and the messagewe’ve found yesterday soundedlike a warning. And so it provedto be. Here’s why:

It was soon after midday whenmy people and I were scoutingthe Northern forest. It is therewhere the trees grow taller andthicker and the sun beams canbarely penetrate through theembedded leaves and branches.The herbs and weeds are bigand chaotically grown, spreadall over and poisonous and rot-ten gases protrude from thesoaked soil. The Sun was stillhigh up when i felt fear was tak-ing us over but we kept walking.We went deeper and deeper intothe thicket, cautiously lookingfor some sort of a farawaybench-mark to serve us as aguide. It wasn’t long until wegot lost as there were no paths.We ended up stumbling uponsome cane bushes but we’ve cutour way through until we’ve fi-nally managed to reach a gladeof willow trees.

And probably i wouldn’t haveshown any attention to that ifmy loyal deck mate hadn’tshown me a few bulrushbushes, waving in the shade ofa couple of trees. As we gotcloser we were all astonishedto see the remains of a fire-place. The rocks were still laidin circle, on three different lay-ers, burnt around with ashedpieces of wood in the middle.I’m not a good sign reader buti’d say that this fire was lit uphere no more than 3 monthsago. And if my sight isn’t play-ing tricks on me because of thefatigue, I can swear there is aslight lily flower like shape onone of the rocks.

Now we have no choice. Wemust spend our night here. Idon’t feel safe at all but an at-tempt to reach the shore wouldbe even more dangerous now,after sunset.

We must light up a fire asquickly as possible. Anyone wholet this fireplace here, in themiddle of Nowhere, won’t mindif we use it. Noone’s sleepingtonight! We’ll stay on watch .

But anyway, how do you light upa fire when you’re short onmatches?

� lucian.nedelut@infoscout.ro

Help the shipwrecked to light up a fire without using fuels,matches or any other conventional device. Send your answersand images/videos to InfoScout until 12.02.2009 atredactie@infoscout.ro.

skillsSCOUTS

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Therefore, here’s what you mustknow when you want to warmup or to sing happily next to awell lit fire.

PREPARING THE AREA

Before lighting the fire youshould always clean the spot,removing the leaves, thegrass, the insects and otherobstacles. The fireplace shallbe chosen as not to endangerthe surroundings: houses,forests, crops, tents or people.Before choosing the locationof the fireplace you should al-ways check the wind’s direc-tion and the placement of thecamp.

SETTING THE FIREPLACE

The first mistake every beginnermakes is due to the desire ofhaving a fire as large as possi-ble. A good Scout will alwaystry to maintain a fire with lessamount of wood.

After you’ve cleaned the placeit’s time to gather wood. Avoidgreen or rotten wood which wason the ground for a long time.Always ask for permission tocut the proper branches from thetrees.

In the fireplace the wood is laidas follows: at the bottom, thin,

dried branches and herbs, woodchips or any other material thatignites quickly. Above these, thefirewood is set to form a pyra-mid, self-sustaining, keeping thedriest side of the wood at thebottom of the pyramid.

LIGHTING THE FIRE

If the place has been well pre-pared and the wood is dry andproperly set, you only need tolight a simple match at thebase to get the fire youwished for. The fire must bemaintained at the beginninguntil the flames would havecovered the whole pile ofwood. Don’t forget to keep

THE FIRE

Somewhere, on thehigh trails of themountains, in thechilly days, deep inthe darkness, amongnights filled with guitar songs, sharingsmooth tea and coalflavoured vapors, thefire is the reliablefriend of the Scout,the spark of hope inmoments of fear, thewarm comfort of thefrozen nights. It is theduty of every singleScout to know and respect fire, to acknowledge itsuse and its rules.

skills SCOUTS

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the fire by adding wood with-out wasting more than it’snecessarily.

But what can we do in casewe have no matches and noother modern devices to lightthe fire? According to the In-dian tribes, there are over 120ways of lighting up the fireby using only what natureprovided us.

a. Rubbing two sticks: Youpick 2 dry sticks, one of themslightly thicker than the other.The thinner stick must besharpened at one end,while you must cut asmall hole of 1-2 cm indepth and 8-10 cmlong inside the other.In this cavity youneed to put someparched herbs,small splin-ters, somesawdust,etc. Thethinnerstick is setperpendicu-

lar onthethicker stick, with thesharpened edgein the hole. Thenyou start spinningsmoothly at firstand more energeticafterwords, alternat-ing clockwise andcounter clockwisemoves. The frictionbetween the two stickswill produce enough en-ergy to light up theparched stuff. Once lit,you carefully put thesticks at the base of the woodpile. Be patient and learn fromevery single mistake.

b. The magnifying glass/thelens. If the sun is shining and youhave a pair of glasses, a compasswith a magnifier or anything thatamplifies the light beam it isenough to redirect the beam to adry material and wait for the„wonder” to happen. Don’t for-get: first there was the smoke.

Indian fire bow

Lighting tinder with

the magnifyingglass

skillsSCOUTS

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c. The tinder and the flint. Aclassic Scout will always have

them on him.

The procedure is simple. Sparksare produced by hitting the tworocks together, lighting up theparched grass and twigs.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FIRE

Depending on the assigned util-ity of your fire, there are differ-ent types of fireplaces.- For a cooking fire, the wood isset in a circular shape, just likewheel rungs. This way, the firewon’t die out if you continue topush the wood sticks inside thefireplace.- For a strong fire, use the pyra-mid-shaped or the star-shapedpile, with long thick stickswhich you can easily handlefrom a certain distance.- If you go for a smoldering fire,cover the coals with a layer of

ash. In the morning you’ll havethe pleasant surprise of somenice warm embers.

PUTTING OFF THE FIRE

Don’t forget that every unat-tended fire or a fire that hasn’tbeen put off can turn into areal disaster. This is why it is

very important that you secureyour fire with windshields,tarpaulins, etc. When leavingthe camping area, make surethe coals are put off by check-ing them with a stick. Respon-sibility is one of the Scout’sattributes.

� lucian.nedelut@infoscout.ro

Using the flintto start the fire.

camps WHERE TO?

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Located 30 km away fromBrasov, the massif has manyways of access, but the mostimportant and used one isthrough Zărneşti village. Inorder to get there, from Brasovrail station, you can take thetrain or, if you have a car, fol-low National Road 1 until youget to a secondary road, toZărneşti: national road 73A.

From here, we have twochoices for camping: PlaiulFoii Chalet or CurmăturaChalet. The first option is theeasiest and suitable for anyone:following the red band mark,

PIATRA CRAIULUI

“Even if it doesn’t reach the hights of theFăgăraşi Mountains or the of Parâng Moun-tains, Piatra Craiului, with its limestone struc-ture, with the elegance of the daring profile of

the laced ridge and with the monumental as-pect of its rocky walls, it’s the “tiara” ofCarpathians, with its beauty and greatness” -(Emilian Cristea)

If we have runaway thoughts towards the Meridionals, Piatra Craiului Mountainsis a very viable option. Mountains teach usplenty, and these ones are amongst the bestteachers in Romania. Here we learn how to manage our resources, how to listento the rocks’ music, how to admire the beauty of Nature, how to face crisis situations. We learn to feel the stone, to know the clouds, to hear the whisper of the forrest. We learn to live.

campsWHERE TO?

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we walk 11km on the road toPlaiul Foii. However, the sec-ond option prepares you forwhat lies ahead in your trip, byfollowing the yellow bandmark, through Zănoaga Glade,reaching Curmătura Chalet.

IF YOU LEAVE FROM...CURMĂTURA

After a three hours route, a redchalet appears, with a playfulSaint-Bernard. It’s Curmătura,one of the few chalets in the

massif, starting point for manyroutes. After we camp or set ourheadquarters, we take a deepbreath. We’re in the Kingdom ofPiatra Craiului.

With the night, the Dustancomes. We must have a goodnight rest, because here, in themountains, leaving in themorning is vital if we want tohave good weather when wereach altitudes. It’s good toknow that, at noon, the Merid-ional Carpathians have fellow-ship with Rain, Clouds andwith their sister, the Fog. So,leaving around 7-8 in themorning is best.

Next we propose some routeswhich start from here. So, forgetting used with the mountain,you can have a walk from Cur-mătura Chalet, Piatra Mica aCraiului(1816m), ZănoagaGlade- Curmătura Chalet.

Ceardacul Stanciului

camps WHERE TO?

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After this, you can try the NorthRidge routes:• Curmătura Chalet- AscuţitShelter- Şaua Padinei Închise-Turnu Peak( the northern end ofthe ridge)- Şaua Crăpăturii- Cur-mătura Chalet• Curmătura Chalet- AscuţitShelter- Ţimbalul Mare Peak-Ţimbalul Mic Peak- La OmPeak ( Peak of the Shepherd) -Şaua Grindului- Grind 1 Shelter-Şaua Vlăduşca- CurmăturaChalet

NEW HEADQUARTERS:PLAIUL FOII

The dusty road, the hay fieldsand the massiveness of the Crai

welcomes you on the road fromZărneşti to Plaiul Foii Chalet. Asyou get to the chalet, it’s betterto go 500m away for camping,even 1000m. The chalet is quite

expensive and it’s populatedwith people who aren’t reallymountain-lovers. Before cominghere, it’s better to ask for an au-thorization from the NationalPark Administration for camp-ing, in places that are free of“week-end grills” with itsgarbage.

From here, we also proposesome routes:• For warm-up: Plaiul FoiiChalet- Diana Shelter- ŞauaChiliilor- Colţii Chiliilor(wherethere’s a hermitage, too)- retour• Plaiul Foii Chalet- ŞpirlaShelter- Ceardacul Stanciului-Şaua Funduri (the southern endof the ridge)- Şaua Grind- de-scending on “Lanţuri”(TheChains)- Spirla Shelter- PlaiulFoii Chalet• Also, we go over the ridgefrom Curmătura Chalet by ŞauaPadinei Închise- Diana Shelter-Plaiul Foii Chalet

THE SCOUTS WHO WENTTO PIATRA CRAIULUI

ARE ADVISING

The group that goes to PiatraCraiului must have 10 scouts,over 14 years old, because it’s aquite difficult massif, and 2-3leaders, because big groupsaren’t recommended on the ridgeand they’re hard to manage.

At Zaplaz

Piatra Craiului’s ridge Eastern view

campsWHERE TO?

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This being a limestone massif, water isn’talways handy; make sure you have at least2L of water/person/day and try not to drinkit in the middle of the ascent. Try to dose itfor all day long and it is better not to drink iton ascent because it increases sweating.There were cases when some people wentout of water and that’s not good at all!

Don’t leave without a map! You don’t knowwhere you get to and it’s a pity not to knowwhat you’re seeing: the ridge has somebeautiful rocks. One of the best is the mapof Andrei Beleaua, which has the routes andthe descriptions very complete. Also, if youchoose to buy a guide book, EmilianCristea’s is one of the best because it has de-scriptions and useful information for eachroute you choose and suggestions of routes.

Don’t leave the route! The massif is beauti-ful but very dangerous! Lots of experi-mented people died because they weren’tpaying attention.

When you’re packing, don’t forget your joy,fun and scout spirit! And remember:“There’s no better circumstance for friend-ship than a long mountain route!”- (BucuraDumbravă)

@ laura.hen@infoscout.ro

THE ANTHEM OF “PIATRA CRAIULUI”

1. S-avem un singur Crai ce-a[teapt\ neclintitCu ale sale creste ce-s ro[ii-n asfin]itPlec\m sâmb\t\ seara, plec\m to]i `mpreun\{i liberi o s\ fim sub cerul plin de lun\S\ vii s\ `l str\batem pe ale sale drumuriS\ vezi cum cresc la brazi cu miile de muguri{i jneapanul s\ vezi cum creanga [i-a plecatCe vitreg\-i natura [i-i vânt ne`ncetat

R: {i-a[ vrea s\ vii [i tu, s\ mergem `mpreun\S\ `mpletim acolo a Craiului cunun\Din garofi]e ro[ii [i din bujori de munteDin liliacul alb [i flori de col] c\runte

2. De pleci din Curm\tura, traseu pe band\-albastr\Ajungi `n {aua Caprei, cobori apoi sub creast\De treci [i de G\van, de Padina ~nchis\De stânca Orgii Mari [i de Diana stins\De vrei s\ [tii ce-i munte, s\ urci prin Cr\p\tur\S-ajungi pe Vârful Turnu, s\ mângâi stânca dur\S\ treci de Ascu]it, }imbalele-amândou\De vrei s-ajungi La Om când ninge [i când plou\

R: ...............................................................................

3. Pe Lan]uri de te-ncume]i `n nop]i cu lun\ plin\{i prin z\pada-nalt\ s\ tai poteca lin\Ochii ]i se-nal]\ spre bolta `nstelat\La crucea unei fete s\-ngenunchezi odat\Când râuri de sudoare ]i-or [iroi pe fa]\S\ ai credin]\-n tine [i-ncredere `n via]\Aicea sus `n munte nimic nu e u[orMai bine sta]i acas\ `n poala mamelor.

R: ...............................................................................

Guitar chords:Strof\: la Sol la / Sol la / Sol la / Do Sol laRefren: la Do Sol la / Do Sol la / Sol la / Do Re la /Do Re la Re la

“It attracts you with its glazing whiteness oflimestone walls and with the graceful silhouetteof the ridge. It impresses you with the variety ofnatural landscapes discovered at every step you takeon its routes, overwhelming you with the charm of asavage and silent world of stones, a paradise ofalpine flowers, of black goats and of mountainclimbers.”

Emilian Cristea

my kid INTERVIEW

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When did you first hearabout scouts?It was a surprise for me whenan old friend, the leader ofDeva L.C., asked me to partic-ipate at their meetings in orderto become the next leader, ashe thought I was the right per-son for the job. I’m a teacherand I’ve great experience withchildren. Back then I said no,but I made some research onwhat scouting means and aftera short while I decided that mychildren should be part of thisorganization.

Do you think scouting had amajor impact on your son?I think scouting, organized ashe should be, has a major im-pact on every child, meaningover my boy too if the activi-ties are attractive, educativeand have a precise purpose.Scouting has brought into myson’s life the right friends withwhom he spends his leisuretime as it should.

I heard that you have an-other scout in your family,your daughter Maia, a girl

INTERVIEW WITH A PARENT - MARTA MURE{AN

“THE SCOUT MOVEMENT CERTAINLY MARKED MANY LIVES”

In this number ofthe magazine, MartaMureşan, mother ofa girl scout (Maia)and of a rover(Mircea) in DevaLocal Centre, tellsus about her experi-ence as a mother oftwo scouts.

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scout. How did she manage atfirst and most importantlywhat was her impression asshe already knew about scoutsfrom her brother?Maia didn’t know much aboutscouting. With some help fromher brother, Mircea, from therover leaders and mostly by thebook ‘The Scout’s Adventure’ ,impressed by the outdoor activi-ties, the camps, the hikes, allthese soon made Maia to lovescouting. Her major contributionwas that she brought new boyand girl scouts in the organiza-tion, colleagues and friends andfriends of her who are still withus. I believe in her future devel-opment as a leader in the organi-zation.

Have you ever been involvedin any scouting activities?Yes, of course I got involved,but only when I felt that themembers of the organizationneeded help, when I was so-licited by them in organizing theactivities that involved goinginto another town, contactingthe town’s authorities as I knewthem and when I had to repre-sent them at the National Gath-ering, when the leaders could

not participate. My husband andother parents also helped whenin need and they still do it.Do you know the moment whenMircea felt scouting flowingthrough his veins?He felt it in his first camps:Visina 2007, Biertan 2008 andmany others. Mircea was im-pressed by the scouting activityand he wanted to take part at itfurther on, as he has been pro-posed as the boy and girl scouts’leader and later on as the roverscouts’ leader in Deva L.C. Heparticipates weekly at scoutingactivities’ organization in hislocal center and he’s in collabo-ration and has a strong friend-ship with all members of theorganization.

Generally speaking, what doyou think about scouting andespecially how do you thinkthe organization changed yourchildren’s life?Scouting has certainly changedlots of lives. There’s a reasonwhy it unites scouts of all agesaround the world. The scoutsfrom Deva Local Center arechildren with a remarkable char-acter, very good pupils and I amglad that my children are part of

the organization. I’ve noticedthat the activities displayed tieup friendships, the children so-cialize more often, prove theirbravery taking as a guide thescouting motto: ‘Be prepared!’

Do you have a message forthe parents who wish to in-volve their children in thisorganization?We tried to gain the new mem-bers’ parents’ trust by putting attheir disposal the regulationsand the scouts’ laws. I noticedthat other parents got the bugtoo and they’ve helped us atneed and mostly they’ve al-lowed their children to partici-pate at Deva L.C.’s activitieswhich means their approval andtotal back up. A scouting organi-zation can keep its members andlive a long life only if the activi-ties are well displayed and themembers participate with pleas-ure and excitement. My advicefor the parents is to supportscouting activities as the major-ity of the scouts are pupils andthe time dedicated to such activ-ities is limited as precious timeis accorded to school.

� ada.rascol@infoscout.ro

involvement ECOLOGY

www.infoscout.ro

Each one of us, with his wayof living, influences Earth,the planet we live on. Thisinfluence is called environ-mental impact, ecologicalfootprint, pollution...Becauselately environment is an im-portant issue and our influ-ence is important, we decidedto talk a little bit more aboutthis subject, from a verydown-to-Earth perspective:realizing if the way we live

has a negative impact on theenvironment.

The ecological footprint repre-sents a measure of how muchland and water a human popu-lation needs for producing thenecessary resources for sustain-ing themselves and for absorb-ing waste, considering thepresent regeneration rate of theEarth. Environmental impact isthe society’s impact on the

health of the individual and na-ture and the environmentalchanges caused by any under-going project.

The Ecological Footprint is aninstrument who can determine ifour lifestyle is sustainable, bothfrom an individual point of viewor concerning the community welive in. All types of human con-sume can be reduced to the landsurfaces capable of producingresources and absorb wasteproducts from the point of viewof the land’s capacity of regener-ation. Practically, the “footprint”represents the land we need forfood, houses, transport, services.

This type of analysis offers in-formation about individuals,communities, regions and evenworld areas. Generally, we canobserve that developed coun-tries have the highest ecologicalfootprint. For example, in 2004,USA had the highest interna-tional ecological footprint: 23.6acres/inhabitant, consideringthat the average is 4.6 acres/in-habitant for durable living. Like

NATURE, SWEET NATURE

DID YOU EVER ASK YOURSELFHOW MUCH “NATURE”

DO YOU NEED?

The Ecological Footprint is a measure ofhow much land and water a populationneeds to produce the resources needed tosustain itself and to absorb its waste if ithas the necessary technology.

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involvementECOLOGY

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this, the differences in the worldand their effects over Earth’shealth are accentuated. Africancontinent, with a bigger popula-tion than USA has an ecologicaltrack far less than USA.

By the global measurements,in 1970, the ecological foot-print of the humanity sur-passed the limit of durabilityand until today, this thing has-n’t been solved. Until 2000,

ecologic deficit was almost of1 acre/person. Still, the eco-logical footprint of nationsdon’t include, for example,the toxic pollutions or disap-pearance of species, whichmakes it imperfect, and bythat we mean that it doesn’tevaluate the entire impact wehave. Do you realize what itwould be like if we couldmeasure how what we’redoing affects the environ-ment? Maybe not...

The report regarding ecologicaltrack can be watched here:http://www.rprogress.org/publi-cations/2004/footprintnations2004.pdf

In 2004, Romania’s ecologicalfootprint was of 2.46 globalhectares/ inhabitant. Consider-ing the tendency of expandingafter “European standards”, itprobably growth in last fewyears, because most of Euro-pean countries have an ecologi-cal footprint higher than4.5hectares/inhabitant.To see what’s your ecologicalfootprint, you can have an on-line test, onwww.myfootprint.org. By this,you will see how you can con-tribute at reducing Romania’sfootprint on Earth.

� Ioana Lucaciu

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about us TOGETHER

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Name of the Local Centre: “Licos” Timişoara

Short history: The Local Centre of Timişoara,“Licos”, was founded on May 8 2003 by Co-dreanu Mihai, a former member of the LocalCentre of Deva. At first there was only a patrol,whose members made the sacrifice of becomingleaders far too soon. This was the only waythrough which a local centre could have beencreated in Timisoara. At least 200 people havebeen a part of Licos, but only few remained.“We are now 6 leaders and 20 explorer scouts.We are planning to look for cubs in 2-3 months’time.” says Speedy (Ursu Iuliu Mihail).Number of legitimate scouts: 26Active age groups: explorers, seniors and cubsin near future :D

Presenting the Local Centre

“LICOS”TIMI{OARA

about usTOGETHER

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The Local Centre’s Motto:“Who gets up early in the morn-ing is a friend indeed!”National events that Licos tookpart in:“Unitate şi Prietenie” (Unity andFriendship) 7,8,9,10,11; “BalulScout” (Scout Ball) 1, 2;“ScoutLand” 2004; “CuibulScout” ( The Scout Nest) 2004,“În căutarea înţelepciuniimuntelui” (Searching for thewisdom of the Mountains) –Râuşor 2005; “Big AdventureFor Scouts” 2005; “Saturnalia”2007, “Festivalul Luminii” (TheFestival of Light), etc.National events that Licos or-ganized:“Big Adventure for Scouts” istheir only nationwide camp, butits members have contributed toorganizing activities and campsof many other local centres.

Ranks/Awards/Prizes:Mister Scout 2006 – Ursu IuliuMihail – remaining irreplace-able till the present day :). Al-though they had many glorious

moments, they didn’t receiveany awards yet. One of theirglorious moments was whenCubu and Speedy won all thetasks of Scout Dance Ball 2 :D(those from Arad can prove it’strue)

Future projects:“International Award” (skills) –juggles, “Oraşul meu” (Mytown) – which we hope will takeplace in all the local centres ofthe western part of the country

this year, the Camp of 22ndFebruary in Retezat or Şureanuin collaboration with other localcentres, “Big Adventure forScouts”2.

Particularities of the local centre:- “Big Adventure for Scouts”which is a survival camp basedon various themes of the worldof games and many others –Licos’ own camp; - Each patrol has its specificscarf.

about us TOGETHER

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How long have you been in thescouting movement?On the 27th of March 2004 Iwent out with a group of scoutsfor the first time. I had a col-league that kept insisting on mejoining the scouts but I keptavoiding the subject till therewas another one who asked meto come with him to Arad to seehis new girlfriend. Of course Iwent. There I met the “7UP” pa-trol of the “Phoenix” Local Cen-tre, Arad, at its beginnings. Agroup of odd yet very coolteenagers at the same time. Thefirst game I played was “aram-sam-sam”. I couldn’t stop laugh-ing. There I also met a veryspecial girl who made me stay ascout. And this was the begin-ning.

What exactly do you do in thelocal centre?I’ve been a unit leader for 2years, I’m responsible for theImage and Communication De-partment, an IA-ro Coordinatorand coordinator of the Festivalof Light 2008.

What do you think about thevolunteer activity in our days’society?My opinion is that volunteeringtoday is a way of expressingone’s own values. Some peoplecan’t succeed in expressing theirtalent and their will to do some-thing and to be appreciated evenfor small things in their day-to-day life. In the voluntary work,which is a very vast domain,youngsters in general begin tofeel important and become moreresponsible. I’m sure that 90%of the people would like to do

something beautiful and usefulfor them and those around them,but for this they need other peo-ple to work with. Now this is thepart where NGOs come in,which are nothing more butgroups of people sharing thesame goals. Over here you areappreciated for everything youdo, you are motivated to go on,you are sustained to develop,because along with your devel-opment comes the organiza-tion’s development. I am veryglad to see that the volunteeringis developing daily under ourwatchful eyes. It is very goodfor society, nature, for each andevery individual. My opinion isthat if you want to change some-thing in the world you can’t doit by election or through your

rulers, but through the fact thatyou work to make that changeyourself. There are surely manyothers in this world that wantthe same thing as you, you justhave to find them and startworking on it.

Where does the name of“Licos” Timisoara comefrom?The name comes from Greek,meaning ‘wolf’ and refers to aritual of the wolves, which wasafterwards taken over by someof the Dacian tribes. The ritualmeant that the youngsters wereexiled and had to confront someobstacles alone. When the taskswere completed, they could re-turn to their tribes and werelooked upon as adults and re-

ADA ASKS, SPEEDY ANSWERS

about usTOGETHER

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sponsible persons. This is whatwe want both as a local centreas well as an organization: toeducate the youth to turn intoresponsible adults.

Which is your most pleasantmemory of the local centre?I don’t actually have a mostpleasant memory, because thereare so many moments that Ikeep in mind. One of them isthat when me and my patrolhave climbed the Peleaga Peak(the Retezat Mountains), whichwas the highest peak I’ve everbeen on until now (2509m). An-other moment was that when wewere all in the woods to makecamp constructions and to raceagainst each other in differenttasks and then Santa Clauscame, in full autumn :)). It wasthe local centre leader who dis-guised himself and brought usthe explorer’s book-notes and anicely made scout promise aswell. I want to thank all themembers of the local centre forall the moments I have spentwith them and for all that we’lldo together.

How do you imagine scoutingin Timisoara and also in Ro-mania in 10 years’ time?In Timisoara it’s very hard to cre-ate a strong centre, even if at firstsight it seems very simple, be-cause it is a well-developed cityfrom all points of view, so it hasits claims. There are so many op-portunities to spend your freetime here. If what you offer isnot good enough, people getbored and go elsewhere to spendtheir time. We work as much aswe can to develop more andmore activities to the point thatwe manage to have at least 2 im-portant activities a month duringthe entire year. Besides the lackof activities, it is harder to findsome capable, reliable and will-ing leaders. And the scouts that

come from other towns losethemselves when coming toTimisoara. They arrive here, theybegin their studies, they have atight schedule, and in their shortspare time left they rest or go outto have a drink with their col-leagues. The University Centrehas its advantages, but day byday fewer people put some boneinto it. People are beginning towait for activities instead of mak-ing them or helping create them.Each year, in Licos we have mo-ments when it seems as if we are

re-establishing the centre, whichis the saddest thing. What I stillfind hard to believe is that lastsummer we wanted to make ourB.A.S. camp and take part inother camps in the country aswell, but no one joined so weonly went us, the leaders, byourselves. In Romania, at thistime, it’s almost the same prob-lem. Instead of working as agroup and making as many com-mon activities as possible, theactivities within the local centreare preferred. Instead of findingsolutions to problems, we aremaking them worse by throwingwords randomly at one another.It’s a stupid competition betweenactivities, where everyone wants

to show what he/she has donewithout sharing with the others. Iam mostly sad because we don’thave a Board Committee moti-vating us a lot. The Board Com-mittee, in my opinion, should bethe pillar of the organization to-gether with the National Teamsand/or Departments. One shouldsee those from the B.C. (thosefrom the N.T. are seen, fromtime to time) in camps comingwith new ideas, working hardwith those from the nationalteams and doing a good job to-gether. I think the members ofthe committee and those of thenational teams should be themost active persons, the most in-terested and motivated, the im-pulse needed in this country toget things working. If those cho-sen to represent the organizationon various fields can’t makethings work then in 10 years’time we will be exactly thesame. I am very optimisticthough, as always, and I’m surethat the development will startslowly from the bottom to thetop. The administration will be-come formal as the organizationwill pass to intense collaborationbetween the local centres. Thecrowd decides, the leader is onlyleader as long as the crowd hasnothing to say. I am sorry forthose who I have offended and Ihope that you will all react in apositive way and not criticizeone another again.

And Speedy’s thanks:I am honoured that we still haveamong us two of the initialmembers and I want to give outgreat thanks to Eduard Tur-cuman and especially to CălinAdrian, who for so many yearshave been involving themselvesin scouting and didn’t give up,whatever the situations the localcentre has come through.

� ada.rascol@infoscout.ro

international ACTIVITIES

24www.infoscout.ro

The National Programmes Teamfor the Scouts Age Section re-opens the gates of a programmeoffered by the European ScoutRegion,” Lands of Adventure”,which aims to:• Encourage collaboration andopening new horizons to scoutsfrom other countries• Encourage the patrol system• Encourage the use of newtechnologies as part of our scoutprogrammes• Introduce and develop theProject Approach in the Scoutage section

Episode 1- Europe at EUR Door(Intercultural and intellectualadventure)

The first and the easiest LoA proj-ect, Europe at EUR Door is thechallenge “About others”. Thisproject has two parts:1. Documentation: exploring tradi-tions, customs, culture or weirdthings of another European coun-try.Do you remember the project youmust do for school? Don’t worry,this is not like that! This mustn’t bemade on cardboard to be put onthe wall. The key-word is “interac-tive”: visit embassies, read articles,write e-mails to your pen-palsfrom that country, chat about yourexperiences or others and don’tforget that information is power!Encourage the exploration of vari-ous aspects of a culture: music,dance, cooking, sports, movies etc.2. Activities: apply the most at-tractive and interesting informa-tion. For example, organize atyour home a British gamesevening or Irish dances, Frenchcookery or Spanish movies.Meanwhile, take pictures or makea short movie and show everyonewhat amazing things you havedone!

For information,signing-up and leader’s guide,

contact Diana Slabu, at diana.slabu@scout.ro

PATROLS GUIDELINESFOR LOA DAY

LoA Day is almost here! Thefollowing guidelines tell yourpatrols everything that they needto know to be successfully in-volved in the activity. Pleasepass these guidelines to your pa-trols WITHOUT DELAY. Thankyou!

LoA Day Website

The LoA website can be foundat www.loaday.landsofadventure.eu, and the following items canbe found on the website:Patrol List A full list of partici-pating patrols including photos.Tasks There will be 3 tasks to becompleted on Saturday 28th ofFebruary or Sunday 1st ofMarch. Details of these taskswill be available on the websiteon Friday 27th February after7.00pm (Central EuropeanTime).LoA Day Times

The LoA Day activity will takeplace on the following times:* Saturday 28th February 11.00– 19.00 (Central European Time)

Land for the new millennium... fot Scouts Age Section

LANDS OF ADVENTURE

internationalACTIVITIES

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* Sunday 1st March 11.00 – 19.00 (Central Euro-pean Time)

LOA DAY HELP & INFORMATION

A team of LoA Ambassadors will be on-line to an-swer any questions that patrols might have aboutthe tasks during the following times:* Friday 27th February 19.00 – 23.00 (Central Eu-ropean Time)* Saturday 28th February 11.00 – 19.00 (CentralEuropean Time)* Sunday 1st March 11.00 – 19.00 (Central Euro-pean Time)If the patrols have some questions they could e-mail it to the following e-mail address:loaday@landsofadventure.euCLUEDOEach patrol has to find out the solution of a mys-tery: we can’t tell you what, but big trouble liesahead...TasksThere are three easy tasks, concerning Europeancountries and culture. The patrols will have to dosome pictures or easy videos.Videos and pictures will be put up on the websiteas they are received.Finally … the Reward!All patrol members who complete the task, solv-ing the CLUEDO, will receive a LoA Day pin

from the European Office. The fastest and themost original patrols will get a special mention.And well done!!

diana.slabu@scout.ro, laura.hen@infoscout.ro

THE AMBASSADOR’S MESSAGE

Dear Leaders,The next ‘LoA day is rapidly approaching and wethink that we should inform you about our plansfor this big celebration (as we like to call it) of‘Lands of Adventure’.As you probably know from the previous times,the ‘LoA day’ is an event dedicated to Europeanpatrols that are participating in the ‘Lands ofAdventure’ programme, a day where all Patrolsinvolved in the project will do something to-gether, all over Europe. It is a very simple ac-tivity and every Patrol can do it without leavingtheir hometown.It is held for a whole weekend and this year’s dates are

Saturday 28th of February and Sunday 1st of March .So, get ready!!!! Please inform your patrols aboutthe dates so that they can plan their activities. Aswe are, get ready to provide them with all the nec-essary help.If you want to be part of it, please send your appli-cation to your Ambassador, by filling in the file at-tached together with a photo of your Patrol (and apicture of their fingerprints if they want) till the15th of February.Material Required: video camera, photo camera.And then you will get more information aboutthe day.

Yours in Scouting,The ambassador

principles and values THOUGHTS

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‘Have you read this book?’ afriend of mine asked me 12-13years ago. ’No’ I answered witha shadow of guilt as I haven’teven heard of it until then.’Here, take it and read it. It’syours’. From all the memories Ihad, this was conversation thatstruck my mind when I redis-covered it on a bookshelf. Ap-parently an unimportant dialog

between two friends over a cupof coffee or a beer or a cup oftea... But after which I began tounderstand what joy reallymeans, to feel it, to open myheart to it and to accept it in mylife and to try to share it witheveryone around.

It’s Sunday night, a new yearhas begun. I listened to a few

thoughts of an old friend talkingabout how serious, hopeless andfull of sorrow people have be-come nowadays. We forget toappreciate what we have and westruggle day by day to get some-thing we wish for, but which weimmediately forget after obtain-ing it. He then continued talkingabout what we do as scouts: wetry to make as many activities aspossible, we put great effort inachieving them but we forgetwhy we do them, their impor-tance to us and to those whotake part in them. We forget toobserve, to feel and we forget tolive.

And the challenge launched bythe Albanians for UP 11 comesto my mind: ‘When did you feelas a scout?’ which I hope will beput again into practice from timeto time so that we can redis-cover those feelings, thosepleasures, that scouting spirit wefeel when we take part in thoseactivities; so that we can realizewhat motivates us in our organi-zation; so that it help us whenwe are disappointed, tired; sothat we remember friends andfriendship.

This year I’ve made a promiseto myself: ‘everything I do mustbe led by joy and to do every-thing that’s in my power toshare it with my dear ones andwith those I haven’t met yet andto be aware that all these dependon me to be accomplished.’

I’d like to finish with PhilBosmans’ book intro: ‘Man, Ilike you’ but with a personaltouch. So I say: ‘Scout, I likeyou! Don’t forget this joy!’

� adrian.secal@scout.ro

DON’T FORGET THIS JOY

Recently I rediscovered, among all thosebooks I’ve read long ago, a book that seemedunimportant at first sight: ‘Don’t forget thisjoy’ by Phil Bosmans.