Scouting Nederland
| Scouting Nederland | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Scouting Nederland | |||
| Headquarters | Leusden | ||
| Country | Netherlands | ||
| Founded | 1911 / 1973 | ||
| Membership | 90,000 | ||
| Patron | Princess Máxima | ||
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Scouting Nederland is the national Scout organisation of The Netherlands with approximately 78,000 member Scouts and Guides, around 35,000 adult members (leaders and non-leaders), as of 2005. Scouting Nederland is open for everyone irrespective of belief, race, skin colour, handicap, political context, sexual preference, or age. Scouting Nederland is co-educational and open, but single sex Scout Groups and Scout Groups with a religion are allowed.
History of Scouting Nederland
Scouting for boys was started in the Netherlands in the summer of 1910 when the first Scout troops were formed in a few cities. Scouting started about a year later for girls. Dutch Scouts were among the founding members of World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1928 and also among the charter members of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1920.
On 7 January 1911 the first national organisation was founded, the Nederlandse Padvinders Organisatie (NPO, Netherlands Pathfinder Organisation). They merged with the Nederlandse Padvinders Bond (NPB, Netherlands Pathfinder Federation) on 11 December 1915 and became known as De Nederlandse Padvinders (NPV, Netherlands Pathfinders). In 1933 some Scout Groups broke away from the NPV to form the Padvinders Vereniging Nederland (PVN, Pathfinder Association the Netherlands), because difficulties concerning the Scout Promise arose. The difficulty was that boys who recognised no god still had to promise "To do my duty to God and my country". The Scout Groups found that one grew hypocrites this way. The NPV and the PVN (almost) reunited in 1940. Although the NPV was open to boys of all religions, a Roman Catholic organisation was founded in 1938, the Katholieke Verkenners (KV, Catholic Scouts).
Girls had been member of the NPO and NPB but the NPV was boys only. Girls got their own organisation on 16 January 1916 with the Nederlands Meisjes Gilde (NMG, Dutch Girls Guild), which later changed its name to Nederlands Padvindsters Gilde (NPG, Dutch Girl-pathfinders Guild), followed in 1945 by the founding of a separate Catholic organisation, the Nederlandse Gidsen Beweging (NGB, Dutch Guide Movement), which later changed its name to Nederlandse Gidsen (NG, Dutch Guides).
During World War II all Scouting movements were prohibited in the Netherlands, because the organizations refused to merge with Youth Storm, the Dutch National Socialist youth organization. Still, many continued their activities secretly. After the end of the war, Scouting again became very popular and therefore many of the current local Scout Groups in the Netherlands were founded in 1945 or 1946.
The four separate organisations (NPV, KV, NPG and NG) existed until 1973, when they all merged into Scouting Nederland (SN).
The official patron of Scouting Nederland is Princess Máxima of the Netherlands, the wife of the Dutch heir to the throne, Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.
Motto, Promise and Law
Scout Motto
The Dutch Scout Motto is Weest Paraat, which is the Dutch equivalent of the universal Scout Motto Be Prepared, as it was coined by Lord Baden Powell in his 1907 book Scouting for Boys.
Scout Promise
The Dutch Scout Promise is one of the few in the world where the reference to God is optional. It makes the Netherlands an exception to the WOSM guidelines. The Constitution of WOSM states that the Promise should include a reference to Duty to God [1], but six countries, including the Netherlands were granted the right in the 1920's to additionally use an alternative promise without a reference to God. [2] WOSM stated in 1932 that no new exceptions will be made and has expressed the hope that the few remaining countries will stop using any promise lacking a reference to Duty to God.
The Dutch Scout Promise:
| “ | Ik beloof mijn best te doen (met behulp van God) een goede Scout te zijn, iedereen te helpen waar ik kan en mij te houden aan de Scoutwet. Jullie kunnen op mij rekenen. |
” |
The English translation of the Dutch Scout Promise:
| “ | I promise to do my best (with the help of God) to be a good Scout, to help everybody whenever I can and to follow the Scout Law. You can count on me. |
” |
Scout law
All Dutch Scouts pledge faith to the Scout law in their Scout Promise. The Dutch Scout law is:
- Een Scout trekt er samen met de anderen op uit om de wereld om zich heen te ontdekken en deze meer leefbaar te maken. Een Scout is eerlijk, trouw en houdt vol. Een Scout is spaarzaam, sober en zorgt goed voor de natuur. Een Scout respecteert zichzelf en anderen.
Which translates to:
- A Scout explores the world together with others and tries to improve it. He is honest, loyal and doesn't give up easily. Further, a Scout is efficient and sober, takes good care for nature and respects himself and others.
Programme
In the Netherlands, most Scout groups are regular scouts, but special programmas have been developed also for sea Scouts and air Scouts. Apart from the standard age groups, Scouting in the Netherlands has a separate division for handicapped members, called the Blauwe Vogels (BV, (Blue Birds) or Bijzondere Eisen (BE, Special Needs).
The Crown Scout rank was the highest a Boy Scout could achieve in the Netherlands, until the mid 1970s.
Regular Scouts
The regular Dutch Scouting programma is divided into several age groups, although some age groups partly overlap and there are multiple programmes for some age groups. The age group for ages 5 to 8 is called Bevers, the equivalent of the Beavers.
For ages between 7 to 11 the programmes are called Welpen (Cubs), consisting mostly of boys, Kabouters (Brownies), mostly for girls and Esta's for co-educational groups.
Between ages 10 to 15 the groups are the Verkenners (Boy Scouts, mostly boys), Padvindsters or Gidsen (Girl Guide/Scout, mostly girls), and Scouts for co-educational groups.
From ages 14 to 18, the Rowans is the programme for boys, the Sherpa's the programme for girls and the co-educational programme is called the Explorers the equivalent of the Explorer Scouts.
Above 17, the programmes are the Pivo's (Rovers) for co-educational groups from 17 till 23 (called Loodsen for the sea scouts) and the Plus-scouts for above the age of 23.
Sea Scouts
In the Netherlands there are about 300 [1] Sea Scout Groups. Approximately 32 % of the Sea Scouts are girls. The total fleet of all Dutch sea scout groups consists of 54 guard ships, 120 tugboats and motorboats, 100 Lelieschouwen, 1,550 Lelievletten (iron sailboat for 6 persons) and 40 Juniorvletten (smaller size of the Lelievlet). Sea Scouting has its own sections for many age groups, but Cub Scout and Beaver Scout Sections can also be a part of the Group. Officially, there are specialized sea scout progams for 8 years and older.
From 8 to 12 years of age, Dutch sea scouts are called Dolfijnen (which means dolphins) are like Cub Scouts but with a story about a dolphin island. A unit is referred to as Golf (wave). A sub-unit is a Vin (Fin). A Topper is the leader of a Vin and a Tipper is his/her assistant. Dolfijnen use canoes or Juniorvletten. There are about Dolfijnen 2,150 in the Netherlands.
Members are called Water Scouts from 12 to 16 years or more often Zeeverkenners, a unit is referred to as Wacht (Watch). The adult leaders are called Schipper (Skipper) and Stuurman (Coxswain). A patrol is called bak, its leader Boots(man) and his/her assistant Kwartiermeester. Water Scouts (which number 5,400 in the Netherlands) use Juniorvletten or Lelievletten.
The (Matrozen ter) Wilde Vaart (sailors of the high seas in English) are the Sea Scouting version of Explorers, a unit is referred to as Afdeling Wilde Vaart uses Lelievletten or Lelieschouwen. The 1,400 members are aged between 16 and 18 years.
The approximately 2,000 Rover Scouts and Ranger Guides of the Dutch Sea scouts are called Loodsen (Harbour pilots).
Air Scouts
Being not very common, there are only about 15 Air Scout groups in the Netherlands. At the scouts age (10-15), they are called Luchtscouts and Air Scout Explorers are called Astronauten (Astronauts).
Uniform
The official uniform of all scouts in the Netherlands consists of blue trousers, a shirt or sweater, a neckerchief that is different between Scout Groups and sometimes a cap or hat. The shirt or sweater distinguishes the different age groups, the ages 5 to 8 wear a red sweater, the ages 7 to 11 a light green shirt, the ages 10 to 15 a khaki shirt and the ages above 14 a dark red/violet ("brick") shirt. Apart from that, all Sea Scouts wear a dark blue shirt and all Air Scouts wear a light gray shirt.
International Scouting in The Netherlands
The Netherlands has hosted the international World Scout Jamboree twice. The fifth World Jamboree was held in Vogelenzang (municipality Bloemendaal) in 1937 (which was the last World Jamboree attended by Robert Baden-Powell himself) and the 18th World Jamboree in Dronten in 1995.
Besides the World Jamboree, the Netherlands has hosted the European Scout Jamboree in 1994, has organized the Dutch National Jamboree (which is open to foreigners) in 2000 and 2004 and every 5 years a National Jamboree for Sea Scouts Nawaka (national water camp). In addition, several smaller jamborettes and international camps are held regularly in the Netherlands, amongst which the Haarlem Jamborette, Marsna Jamborette and since 2001 the Nederweert International Camp for European Scouts (NICES).
From early 1954 until 1995, Troop 18 of the Transatlantic Council of the Boy Scouts of America was active at Camp New Amsterdam, near Soesterberg. Camp New Amsterdam was a U.S. Air Force base that was closed in 1995. There was also, and possibly still is, a troop at the NATO Headquarters in Brunssum.
See also
- Boy Scouts van Suriname, Surinaamse Padvindsters Raad, Scouting Aruba, Scouting Antiano (Scouts of the Netherlands Antilles) and Gerakan Pramuka (Scouts of Indonesia), all of which share a common history with Scouting Nederland.
- Piet J. Kroonenberg, a Dutch Scouting historian.
References
- ↑ "Presentation Dutch Seascouts Eurosea 8 Seminar" (powerpoint). http://europe.seascout.org/eurosea/8/presentations/Dutch_Sea_Scouts.ppt. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
- Official Homepage of Scouting Nederland
- A brief history of Scouting Nederland
- Piet Kroonenbergs Padvinderskroniek
- Hoe scouting ontstond (Dutch)
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