First of all, we do not have any girls only guiding in Norway. We are boys and girls together, and we use the term scout, or scouting for both.
The structure
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Lets first of all talk about scouting, as you can see to the right in the figure above.
We have one federation, 'The Guides and Scouts of Norway'. The federation holds memberships in both WOSM and WAGGGS, but only girls are members of WAGGGS and only boys are members of WOSM. Such an organisation is named a SAGNO. In Europe WAGGGS and WOSM cooperates well, which means that all our members have full access to all events and trainings in both world organisations regardless of memberships.
In the federation in Norway, there are two associations.
1.The Norwegian Guide and Scout Association with approximately 20 000 members, and
2.The YWCA-YMCA Guides and Scouts of Norway with 14000 members. That is us!
To the left in the figure above, you can see a similar structure within the YWCA and YMCA. This is really even more complicated than it looks like, but we won't go into details here. Main thing is that everybody, boys and girls, in our scout association are members in the World YMCA. Only girls are member of YWCA.
So, the following information is all about the Y-Scouts (short for YWCA-YMCA Guides and Scouts of Norway!). Please bear in mind, though, that the two scouting associations in Norway are really very close to each other in every way, so much of the following will also be true for the other association (the uniforms are different).
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The 20 districts have all togheter about 350 units all over Norway. A unit can consist of separated age groups like beavers in flocks, brownies/cubs in flocs, junior scouts in troops, senior scouts in troops, rovers/rangers in teams.
History in a few words
Here is a little jump-back in the recent history. In 2003 the YWCA guides (founded 1920) and the YMCA scouts (founded 1945) merged into the YWCA-YMCA-Guides and Scouts (or, in short, Y-Scouts). The structure and program of the two associations were quite similar, but not entirely the same. So after the merging into one association, we have two sets of programs, two sets of names and two sets of structures. All local units chooses for them selves how to deal with this. From day one in the new merged association (11th october 2003), we have had one new uniform for both boys and girls.
Through history there has been different structures. We know for sure that there were norwegian scout troops in 1909.
The very recent history
Mid April 2007, we finally decided on a new structure, new names and outlines for a new co-educational program. From this national assembly and up to today, we are a fully united association with absolutely no differensiation between girls and boys. It will give no meaning to talk about boys program/badges and girl program/training/badges/whatever. We are all scouts, and do not count how many girls or boys we have in our association. We do not use the term guides. All members in our association are named scouts.
Our branches are (from the 15th of April 2007):
A change in branch is done in the summer, as in schools, as follows:
8/9 to 9/10 years: Oppdagere (discoverers)
10/11 to 11/12: Stifinnere (pathfinders)
12/13 to 16/17 Vandrere (wanderers)
17+: Rovere (Rovers)
Beside this structure, we have «family scouting» groups, where the small children (under 8) do Scout activities with their parents and/or other families. We consider this as a good option in rural districts where there are no units nearby. This is also a way to start new units where there is not enough children and youth to start a full scale scouting unit.
Back to Now!
Most troops with scouts from about 11-16 have both girls and boys, but most often they are seperated in different patrols. Some have mixed patrols. Still today, we have a few troops with girls only or boys only.
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| World Organisation of the Scout Movement |
Objective
Our mission statement is: The YWCA-YMCA Guides and Scouts of Norway promotes and operates guiding and scouting to help young people develop a Christian faith, and teaches them to think responsibly, to develop independence, to be socially involved, to have an international awareness, and to respect the values of nature.
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| World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts |
International memberships
The Y-Scouts of Norway is a member of four world organizations:
WOSM (www.scout.org/)
WAGGGS (www.wagggsworld.org/)
YMCA (www.ymca.int/)
YWCA (www.worldywca.org/)
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| Young Men Christian Association (world) |
Our values
We use four key values to describe our work:
Christian faith
The YWCA-YMCA Guides an
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| Young Women Christian Association (world) |
Experiences in nature
Guides and Scouts spend much time in the outdoors all year round, in all types of weather. The challenges grow with our members, from simple outdoor activities to mountain climbing and glacier walking.
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| Y-scouting in Europe (ESG) |
Development of the whole person
Guiding and Scouting gives development for both the spiritual and physical side of a person. The Guide and Scout activities give young people responsibilities, leadership training and a close relation to nature.
Fellowship
We are members of a fellowship, both nationally and internationally. Our association has more than 350 local groups spread throughout the country. We are also a member of four world wide organizations.
Our Emblem
Our emblem consists of the lily, trefoil and triangle.
The trefoil is the symbol of WAGGGS, and the orange colour is taken from the WAGGGS emblem. The french lily is the symbol of WOSM and the lilac colour also comes from WOSM. The triangle is the YWCA and YMCA symbol and the green colour represents nature.
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Food
We don't have much written information in english, but I can give you a short description of a popular dessert in Norway, fried bananas with chocolate!
Cut the banana half through along on "inner side" of the banana. Put a few bits of pure milk chocolate in the banana and wrap it in aluminium foil. Put it in the fire for 7-12 minutes (until the chocolate is melted and the bana is all soft.).
Unpack the aluminium foil and eat out of the banana skin with a teaspoon.
This might look a bit disgusting, but it tastes delicious!
In Norway, we prepare much of our scout food on open fire.
Question from US/Canada: What is a popular ice cream topping in Norway?
I don't think we have any particular ice cream toppings in Norway. Different sorts of chocolate, caramel and strawberry is the most usual I guess
Crafts
When it comes to crafts I guess we do what most european scouts/guides do, everything and nothing in particular. We focus on outdoor activities, skiing or glacier walking in the winter, canoeing, bicykling, climbing and so on in the summer. Overnight hikes are popular for all age groups, in particular in summer time. Our activites are very broad, meaning that we do a little of everything, but we don't do much of extreme sports.
Games
Again, we don't have anything in english. We use games from all over the world, and then I don't know what is norwegian and what is not. Anyway, this is one of my favorites:
The sheriff
Several scouts are standing in a circle (there is next to no upper limit). A chosen sheriff is in the middel. He folds his hands with his pointing-fingers straight to make a gun. When he points at one scout and shouts BANG, the scout must sit down. The scouts to the left and to the right of him, tries to be the first one to shoot the other. (pointing with both hands and shouting BANG). The sheriff decides who is dead. If the scout pointed at by the sheriff is too late to sit down, he is the one who dies. If he is quick enough, and the person the right shoots first, then the person to the left is dead, and so on. If a scout does something wrong the sheriff decides if the scout is out of the game or not (shooting the wrong scout. Shooting when she is supposed to sit down, sitting down when supposed to shoot. Shooting when he is supposed to do nothing at all). Dead scouts sits down, while the other scouts are still standing and continues the game.
At the end, there will be only two scouts left. They will now be lined up back to back, shoulders to shoulders. The sheriff says for example: When I say a number containing seven, you shoot! Then he starts shouting out numbers, one at a time. For every number the scouts takes one little step away from each other. He could say 56 – 98- 456 – 9648 – 4 – 172.. Then the scouts have moved five steps from each other, and on the sixth number, the first one to turn and shoot is the winner. As before, if one of the two does anything wrong, he or she is out. This final stage can be done in many different ways. (When I say a word containing T... When I name something thats usually yellow, when I name an item that is eatable.. When I shout a name belonging to someone in this game...)
This is just one of hundreds of games we use. We play a lot.
Oat and Law
Norwegian scout law:
1. A Guide and a Scout are open to God and His word
En speider er åpen for Gud og Hans ord.
2. A Guide and a Scout feel responsibility for themselves and others
En speider kjenner ansvar for seg selv og andre
3. A Guide and a Scout are helpful and considerate
En speider er hjelpsom og hensynsfull
4. A Guide and a Scout are a good friend
En speider er en god venn
5. A Guide and a Scout are honest and reliable
En speider er ærlig og pålitelig
6. A Guide and a Scout know nature and protect it
En speider kjenner naturen og verner om den.
7. A Guide and a Scout think and act on their own and try to understand others
En speider tenker og handler selvstendig og prøver å forstå andre
8. A Guide and a Scout do their best in hard times and difficulties.
En speider gjør sitt beste i motgang og vansker
9. A Guide and a Scout are modest and try to manage on their own.
En speider er nøysom og prøver å klare seg selv.
10. A Guide and a Scout work for peace and understanding among people.
En speider arbeider for fred og forståelse mellom mennesker.
Norwegian scout promise/oath:
| In belief of God's help, I promise to serve God, help others, and live according to the scout law. |
I tro på Guds hjelp lover jeg å tjene Gud, hjelpe andre og leve etter speiderloven. |
Norwegian scouts also have their own scout prayer (a song).
| The guide and scout prayer: Dearest Father, high in heaven, Hear the prayer of my heart: In every corner of this world Let me travel as your son; Let me live life to your glory, Honour Norway, and my parents, Be of help to other people And obey the Scouts' law's words. |
Speiderbønnen Kjære far i høye himmel hør mitt hjertes stille bønn. Hvor jeg er i verdens vrimmel, La meg ferdes som din sønn. La meg leve deg til ære, hedre Norge far og mor, andre folk til nytte være, lyde speiderlovens ord. |
Other questions:
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BUT, it is possible to answer. We have a norwegian scout museum. Maybe I can get this information till next years thinking day.
Scout Shop:
We have our own scout shop with lots of badges and other items with our emblem. Please visit
www.speiderbutikken.no
Click on NETTBUTIKK to see more items.
These pages are all in norwegian. You'll just have to click randomly to see pictures.
If you want to buy something. Please send an e-mail to speiderbutikken@kfuk-kfum-speiderne.no
For more information and pictures of norwegien girl guides, please see the menu to the left.
The brochure might be of interest as well.