Photo of the Month - December 1999

Andrew Yeung is the Bagheera of the 19th Lower Plaines Wilhems Scout Group, Mauritius. The group has more than 180 members shared among its Wolf Cub pack, Boy Scout troop, Girl Scout troop and Senior Scout unit.

This photo, snapped during the 2nd Indian Ocean Jamboree held at Belle-Mare, Mauritius, shows Cubs of the 19th L.P.W Pack brushing their teeth using our special camp sink. This gadget was given a special remark for its originality

The following information was taken from the 19th L.P.W. web site at http://pages.intnet.mu/19lpw.

The Scout movement started in Curepipe (nowadays found in the Upper Plaines Wilhems District (U.P.W)) in 1912 by a youth of 17 years, Samuel de Burg Edwards, who himself was impressed by this new movement while studying in London. The troop which was only four members, grew to sixty by 1922. Scouting began to spread all over the island, so that in 1932, was founded the 2nd Mauritius Troop, the 3rd Mauritius troop in 1936 at Quatres Bornes (L.P.W), the Mauritian Diocesan Boy Scout Association in the same year at Vacoas (U.P.W), the 1st St. Louis Group in Curepipe in 1938, the 1st Tamil troop and the 1st Muslim Scout Troop in 1939 And 1940 respectively and the 1st Hindu Troop in Rose Hill in 1946. The Scout Movement was, since its inception in Mauritius in 1912, a branch of the United Kingdom Association known as the Mauritius Boy Scout Association and later the Scout Association (Mauritius Branch). Today the Association is known as the Mauritius Scout Association (M.S.A). The Boy in MBSA has been removed as Girl scouting had been introduced in the early nineties. The Movement became autonomous on 9 June 1971 with the adoption of a new Scout constitution. In August 1971, Mauritius was admitted a full member of the World Scout Conference by acclamation at its 23rd meeting in Tokyo. In September 1976, the Mauritius Scout Act was passed at the legislative Assembly, thereby conferring a legal status on the Scout Movement.

The origin of the 19th L.P.W is quite difficult to explain. In fact none of the actual members of the troop knows exactly how it really started . Investigations are made to find out how we were born. Our actual archive can only give precise details of what happened as from 1994. The only thing for sure about our creation is that it that it was at the initiative of a priest: Late Father Pang. Though there may have been Girl Guides and Cubs in the early eighties and even before, during the start of the 90's only Boy Scouts were still present. In the January 1994, Kenny Kong was appointed Scout leader and in replacement of Maurice Wan, his first duty was to re-open Cub Scouting & to introduce Girl scouting. Some Boy scouts were promoted as Cub Leaders. Scout Leaders & Lady Scouters were enrolled together with some other Lady Cub Scout leaders. The first official meeting of the 19th L.P.W. Wolf Cub Pack & Girl Scout Troop was held on the 15th January 1994. In August 1995 the Group with its new troops participated in the 7th National Jamboree and was actually, with about 150 members, the second largest group to participate to the event. The 19th L.P.W Cub pack exists since January 1994. It was introduced at the same time as the 19th L.P.W Girl Scouts Troop. The creation of the Cub pack & Girl Scout troop coincided with the last decision taken by the, at that time, Boy Scout leader Maurice Wan Sai Cheong. Since then, the pack has known a constant growth in its number of Cubs & up to now i.e. May 1999, it has 53 Cubs aged between 8 & 12 under its responsibility. Since the beginning of this year some changes occurred in the aims of Cub Scouting. The newly appointed National Cubs Commissioner Pascale Chan Shin Yu introduced 2 new aims to be achieved by Cub Scout leaders. Today the leaders not only have the duty to develop the physical aptitudes, general knowledge and spiritual values of the Cub but also their understanding of our cultures and their emotional development.