The Egyptian Federation for Scouts and Girl Guides (''EFSGG'', ''Al-Ittiḥād al-`Ām lil-Kaššāfah wal-Muršidāt'') is the national

Scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

and Guiding federation of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Scouting was founded in 1914 and was among the charter members of the

World Organization of the Scout Movement The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM ) is the largest and, after the Order of World Scouts (formed in 1911), is the second-oldest international organization in the Scout Movement, having been established in 1922. It has 176 members. ...

in 1922, while nominally independent from

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. Guiding started in 1913 and became a member of the

World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS ) is a global association that supports Girl Guides, female-oriented and female-only Guiding and Scouting organizations in 153 countries. It was established in the year 1928 in Parád, H ...

in 1931. The EFSGG serves 79,611 Scouts (as of 2011) and 92,000 Guides (as of 2003).

History

The first Scout group was founded in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, brought to Egypt by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

during their occupation.John S. Wilson (1959), Scouting Round the World. First edition, Blandford Press. p. 86, 194, 275

Mohamed Ali Hafez Mohamed Ali Hafiz () of the Federation for Scouts and Girl Guides served on the World Scout Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1957 to 1963 and again from 1965 to 1971. In 1957, an Arab Scout Bureau was established, ...

served on the

World Scout Committee The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM ) is the largest and, after the Order of World Scouts (formed in 1911), is the second-oldest international organization in the Scout Movement, having been established in 1922. It has 176 members. ...

of the

from 1957 to 1963 and again from 1965 to 1971. In 1965, Hafez was awarded the ''

Bronze Wolf The Bronze Wolf Award is an award presented by the World Organization of the Scout Movement for outstanding service by an individual to the Scout Movement. Just over 400 people have received the Bronze Wolf since its creation in 1935. WOSM has r ...

'', the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting. Other recipients include

Aziz Osman Bakir Aziz Osman Bakir () served as the General Secretary of the Arab Scout Bureau. In 1971, he was awarded the 58th ''Bronze Wolf'', the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement The World Organization of the Scout Moveme ...

in 1971,

John M. Lioufis John M. Lioufis (, ) served as the Commissioner of the Greek Scouts in Egypt. In 1978, Lioufis was awarded the 127th ''Bronze Wolf'', the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement The World Organization of the Scout Mov ...

in 1978, and Gamal Khashaba in 1982.

Structure and program

Most Scout troops are associated with schools, clubs, mosques and churches. Rover units are associated with high schools and universities. Egyptian Scouts play an important role in community service. They are involved in projects of desert reclamation, work camps, blood drives, medical care and other projects. Scouts are offered vocational training and the skills needed to help develop communities. Scouts learn the importance of planting trees where firewood is scarce, building energy efficient stoves and making good use of their skills of carpentry, electricity and plumbing. The EFSGG has four central associations: * Boy Scouts *

Sea Scout Sea Scouts are a part of the Scout movement, with a particular emphasis on boating and other water-based activities on the sea, rivers or lakes (canoeing, rafting, scuba, sailboarding). Sea Scouts can provide a chance to sail, cruise on boats, ...

s *

Air Scouts Air Scouts are a part of the Scouting, Scout movement with a particular emphasis on an aviation themed programme and/or flying-based activities. Air Scouts follow the same basic programme as other Scouts, but they devote certain amounts of time ...

Girl Guides Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...

- ''Gamiet Morshidat Gomhoriet Misr al Arabiah'' Each of these central associations has a correspondent regional association in the 26

governorates of Egypt Egypt is administratively organized under a dual system that may consist of either two or three tiers, with further subdivisions occasionally resulting in an additional layer. It follows a centralized system of local government, officially term ...

; a coordination committee in each governorate organizes the activities and the cooperation between the associations. *The Girl Guides association has three age divisions: ** Brownies ** Girl Guides ** Rovers The Cairo International Scout Center is a lavish six-floor building next to

Cairo International Stadium The Cairo International Stadium (), formerly known as Nasser Stadium, is an Olympic-standard, multi-use stadium with an all-seated capacity of 75,000. The architect of the stadium is the German Werner March, who designed the Olympiastadion (Berli ...

that welcomes all Scouts, nonScout organizations and individual guests. The home of the Arab Scout Region, it hosts both conference areas and hostel quarters. In addition, Egypt has a national Scout center, El-Seleen. The

Scout Motto The Scout Motto of the Scout movement is, in English, "Be Prepared", with most international branches of the group using a close translation of that phrase. These mottoes have been used by millions of Scouts around the world since 1907. Most of t ...

is ''Kun Musta'idan'' or كن مستعداً, translating as ''Be Prepared'' in Arabic. The noun for a single Scout is ''Kashaf'' or كشاف in Arabic. The Scout emblem incorporates elements of each of the four central associations, as well as a lotus.

Emblems

File:Egyptian Boy Scouts Association.png, The Egyptian Boy Scout emblem incorporates the sacred blue lotus File:Scouts Wadi el Nil (Copts and Egyptian Catholic Christians) 1930s.png, The Scouts Wadi el Nil from the 1930s for

Copts Copts (; ) are a Christians, Christian ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligious group native to Northeast Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt since antiquity. They are, like the broader Egyptians, Egyptian population, des ...

and

Egyptian Catholic The Coptic Catholic Church (), also known as the Coptic Catholic Church of Alexandria, is an Eastern Catholic particular church in full communion with the Catholic Church. Along with the Ethiopian Catholic Church and Eritrean Catholic Church, i ...

Christians superimposed the national Scout emblem atop an

ankh The ankh or key of life is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol used to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself. The ankh has a T-shape topped by a droplet-shaped loop. It was used in writing as a tri ...

, the ancient

Egyptian hieroglyphic Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined Ideogram, ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct char ...

character that read "life"

International Scouting units in Egypt

In addition, there are American Boy Scouts in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

and

, linked to the

Direct Service There have been American Scouts overseas since almost the inception of the movement, often for similar reasons as the present day. Within the Scouting America formerly the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), these expatriate Scouting, Scouts are now se ...

branch of the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

, which supports units around the world. There are also Greek Scouts of the

Soma Hellinon Proskopon Scouts of Greece or Soma Hellinon Proskopon (Σώμα Ελλήνων Προσκόπων, ΣΕΠ) is the National Scouting Association of Greece and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognized member organization for Greece. Scout ...

in Alexandria.

References

External links

Official Homepage

Homepage of the Girl Guides
{{WAGGGS, arab World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts member organizations World Organization of the Scout Movement member organizations Scouting and Guiding in Egypt