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What Is Scouting?

You may be familiar with Scouts in your everyday life. You saw them in schools and now in grown up world. If asked what is scouting, the answer you will receive is camping, campfire, hiking, helping people and many more. But what actually is scouting?

Scouting basically is an activity program full of fun and challenges for the kids and youth between 8 to 40 years of age.

Scouts is an international youth organization to train the youth to be a useful citizen. It's training is based on the Scout Law and Promise, also with the basic principles laid by Lord Baden Powell.

How Scouting Starts?

Born on the 22 February 1857 at Hyde Park, London, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden Powell was the fifth son from seven siblings. His father, Reverend H.G. Baden Powell was a professor and sciences expert in Oxford University.

While still studying, Baden Powell loves hiking and inventing in outdoor and observing skills. He holds the rank of First Lieutenant in The-13 Hussars Troop at the age of 19 and was promoted to Captain when he was 29 years old. While at the army as an officer in places such as India, South Africa and Mediterranean, he starts to create outdoor activities on nature observing.

Baden Powell widen his ideas in a book called "Aids to Scouting" while in his service at South Africa. After the Boer War, he commanded the South African police as Inspector General Police and rearranged the small units under the responsibilities of lower rank officers to train them. The uniforms that Baden Powell created - shirt, short pants, scarf and wide hat influences the Scouts uniform and he took the color green and yellow from that uniform for the Scouts.

Now the Scouts Associations start accidentally from the results of trail camping for boys on August 1907 at Brownsea Island in Dorset, at the shore of South England Beach. With his effort, Baden Powell successfully gathered 20 English boys.

Baden Powell felt very happy with the results of the camp. At 1908, he published "Scouting For Boys", the book on where he gathered all his experiences.

On 30 October 1912, he married Miss Olave St Claire Soames, whom he met onboard the ARCADIAN at the Atlantic Ocean while traveling around the world to meet fellow Scouts. As the results of their marriage, they were rewarded with a son, Peter (born 1913) and two daughters, Heather (born 1915) and Betty (born 1917).

On 1913, an International Camp was held in Birmingham and a year later, the Boys Cub was born. At the year 1919, one camp site was founded and was known as the Gilwell Park in London. Due to the responses including from girls, Baden Powell with the help of his wife founded the Girls Guide.

The Scouts kept on growing and on the year 1920, the First World Jamboree was held at Old Deer Park, Richmond in Olympia where Baden Powell was appointed as the World Scout Chief. Nine years later, Baden Powell was awarded Lord Baden Powell of Gilwell by King Edward VII and by the year 1928, he was awarded again with the Grand Garden of Honour by France.

Lord Baden Powell died at the age of 84 on January 8, 1941 at his cottage, Paxtu in Kenya.

Scouts In Malaysia.

F.C. Sands from London founded two groups of Scouts in Singapore (1910) for 30 Englishman children. Then on 1919, Captain N.M. Hashim and A.Z. Alsagoff introduced Scouts for the Malay boys who knows English in Singapore.

At Pahang, G.M. Laidlow introduced Scouts but stopped due to his death, then it was continued by H.P. Hertslet on 1927 and was founded by Wheeler and Frisby. At Pulau Pinang, it was introduced by H.R. Cheesman on 1915, meanwhile at Perak by I.R. Wheeler on 1926.

At Kedah, it was founded by E.C. Hicks, E.A.G. Stuart, R.P.S. Walker and C.W. Bloomfield. Johor later was introduced again by H.R. Cheesman on 1928 meanwhile at Melaka by R. Brunstone on 1926.

Scouts was introduced at Perlis on 1931, at Negeri Sembilan on 1926 by Bird and Roger Smith,  at Selangor on 1926 by Ameen Akbar and by A.J. Gracle at Terengganu on 1927.

In Kelantan (1927), Scouts was introduced by Y.M. Tengku Ahmag Temenggong, Sabah (1915) by Rev. Canon Thomas Alexander and Sarawak on 1913.

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