Scouting and Guiding in Laos: Difference between revisions

| f-date =1937; 1959

| award-for =

[[File:Guides Lao.svg|thumb|140px|Guides Lao]]

At the present time, there is no known [[Scouting]] program in [[Laos]], one of only [[List of World Organization of the Scout Movement members#Countries with no Scouting organization|four of the world's independent countries that do not have Scouting]].

[[File:Scouts Lao Erawan Scout.png|thumb|140px|left|The highest award, the Erawan Scout, was red with a triple-headed white elephant on a pedestal beneath a parasol, expressing the ancient name of the country, "Land of a Million Elephants."]]

In the 1930s, [[André Lefèvre (Scouting)|André Lefèvre]], chief of the [[Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs de France|Eclaireurs de France]], set up a training camp for 60 Scoutmasters from all over [[French Indochina]]. At the end of 1937, French Scouting sent Scoutmaster [[Raymond Schlemmer]] to the [[Cambodia]]n, [[Laos|Laotian]], and [[Vietnam]]ese areas of [[Indochina]] to oversee the setting up of the [[Fédération Indochinoise des Associations du Scoutisme]] (FIAS, Indochinese Federation of Scouting Associations) in all three regions.

From 1939 through 1945, the political situation affected Scouting activities all across the country, as [[History of Laos to 1945#French Laos|World War II]] engendered a movement for an independent Laos. The French began to lose control and were finally overthrown by [[History of Laos to 1945#Crisis of World War II|Japanese intervention]]. This ceased the French Scouts' activity in Laos, as well as all Scouting activities.

In 1948 a new attempt was first organized in [[Luang Prabang]] high school with French teachers and scouters to gather boys and young men for social and humanitarian works. During the war, they were sent to the front line, delivering food and medical supplies to the bases, then carrying the dead and the wounded back to the safety zones through the jungle of Laos. In the cities, they were assigned to help with refugees, direct traffics and more. They were a big part of labor during the famous Vientiane flood of 1966. The [[Vientiane]] troop was well organized by Mr. George Dulieu in 1952.  

Reestablished after having been closed by the Japanese, six Scout troops celebrated a rally outside of [[Vientiane]] in 1952. At the time, Lao Scouts leadership included Scout commissioner Captain Jean Deuve while members of parliament Pheng Phongsavan and [[Lao National Union Party|Bong Souvannavong]] filled the positions of president and vice president. In [[Luang Prabang]] in early 1953, [[French Far East Expeditionary Corps#Far East Ground Forces (Forces Terrestres en Extrême-Orient, FTEO)|French Far East Ground Forces]] troops used local Scouts as auxiliaries in the [[First Indochina War|first battle of Laos]] against communist forces. The Scouts prepared transport along the [[Nam Ou]] and Nam Suang rivers.<ref>Embodied Nation: Sport, Masculinity, and the Making of Modern Laos by Simon Creak chapter 3 page 94 {{ISBN|9780824853167}}, 2014</ref>

Homegrown Scouting was once again active in Laos, as '''Scouts Lao''' ([[Lao language|Laotian]]: '''ສກຸດລາວ''', pronounced ''skudlao'') between its incorporation in 1959, at which date it numbered 2,300 Scouts.<ref>''Facts on World Scouting'', Boy Scouts International Bureau, [[Ottawa, Ontario]], Canada, 1961</ref> In 1975 the organization was dismantled by the new communist government of [[Pathet Lao]] who took over the country.  

Laotian Scouting in exile existed at least into the early 1990s in [[Los Angeles]] and [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]]. Actualy, a small remnant persists in [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] and [[San Pablo, California|San Pablo]], <ref>[https://www.facebook.com/%E0%BA%AA%E0%BA%81%E0%BA%B8%E0%BA%94%E0%BA%A5%E0%BA%B2%E0%BA%A7-102389631619010 Scouts Lao FB site]</ref> alongside fellow [[Vietnamese Scout Association-Hoi Hung Dao|Vietnamese Scouting]] in exile and [[Scouting in Cambodia|Cambodian Scouting]] in exile groups.

According to [[Eric Khoo Heng-Pheng]] of the [[World Organization of the Scout Movement]], "We hope to work on (Laos and [[Scouting and Guiding in Burma|Burma]]) again... Laos is the closest, as we have got [[National Association of Cambodian Scouts|Cambodia]] in already... Just like [[Vietnamese Scout Association|Vietnam]]... we are working with them through [[ASEAN]] Scouting. We hope to enroll all the countries including [[Scouting and Guiding in Mainland China|China]] in ([[Asia-Pacific Scout Region (World Organization of the Scout Movement)|the Asia-Pacific Scout Region]])."

As of 2016, a Girl Scout group has appeared in Vientiane at the [[Vientiane International School]], and maintains a blog and Facebook presence.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.houeyhongvientiane.com/blog/girl-scouts |title = Girl Scouts}}</ref>

==References==

{{WOSM|asia}}