The Al-Mabarrat Scouts Association held a large celebration marking twenty-five years since its founding, at Al-Saha, the Lebanese Heritage Village - Airport Road, attended by the president of the Al-Mabarrat Scouts Association Dr. Mohammad Baqer Fadlallah, the director general of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Dr. Fadia Hallal representing Minister Georges Kallas, the general commissioner of the Al-Mabarrat Scouts Commander Mustafa Abdo, members of the administrative board of the Lebanese Scouts Federation, the regional commissioners of the Al-Mabarrat Scouts, the presidents and representatives of scout associations, the directors of Al-Mabarrat's institutions and the directors of the association's departments and sections, and a crowd of scout leaders.
The ceremony opened with verses from the Holy Quran, then the Lebanese national anthem and the anthem of the Al-Mabarrat Scouts Association. A documentary film about the silver jubilee events was then shown, followed by a video about the leading scout activities during the scouting year.
Speaking at the celebration, the deputy head of the Lebanese Scouts Federation Commander Hassan Ajami said: “The difficulty of the circumstances our country Lebanon is passing through confirms the need for support in order to carry on, and requires us to combine our efforts as a federation and as varied scout associations within the unique and distinguished Lebanese social fabric, rich in its human resources and its youthful energies, which must be used properly and purposefully. We must cooperate together to address the social crises that grow day by day and have come to threaten our social security, with growing anxiety for the generations over what is coming and unknown, whose danger grows day by day. So we find ourselves before an added responsibility toward those we work with and for, and toward intensifying the efforts to keep meeting and communicating in order to set purposeful programmes that reassure us about the future of those we represent - promising and open young people - on the basis of brotherhood and cooperation, and that a scout is a brother to a scout and a friend to all.”
After that the director general of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Dr. Fadia Hallal spoke, saying: “In the name of His Excellency the Minister of Youth and Sports Dr. Georges Kallas and in my own name, I offer congratulations to Al-Mabarrat Association on its twenty-fifth anniversary; it has been and remains like the seasons of the year in giving and in continuity.
She added: “Twenty-five years have passed since the birth of the Al-Mabarrat Scouts, and they still speak to us of one of the great figures of this nation and this homeland: His Eminence the late religious authority Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, whose pure soul still carries on its sails the message of the just and moderate human being - a distinguishing mark in a strange society.
She addressed the scouts, saying: “Scouts, how much our country needs today thought that works, an arm that builds, a mind that plans and efforts expended to achieve unity. How much we need young people who count their age by the second, invest their time by the moment and give their homeland everything they have. How much our country needs a citizen bound to its heritage, in love with its land and holding its flag sacred. It was to create such a citizen that the scouting movement came into being - raising generations on love of the homeland and sacrifice for it, and directing them to serve their people after teaching them the finest meanings of volunteering for the homeland. And from the womb of these principles came Al-Mabarrat Association.”
The president of the Al-Mabarrat Scouts Association Dr. Mohammad Baqer Fadlallah then delivered a speech in which he said: “Today we celebrate twenty-five years since the founding of the Al-Mabarrat scout troops - these long-established troops which have planted in the hearts of all their successive young members the values of sacrifice, giving, discipline, sincerity and public service. The slogan ‘Generations grow and resolve is renewed' is the best expression of our blessed journey, as we always look toward a bright future, drawing on the humanitarian thought of the scholar and religious authority Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah(RA) open to all people, who believed in the importance of scouting in social life.”
He added: “On the occasion of the silver jubilee and under the title ‘Generations grow and resolve is renewed', we are holding the general scouting conference to review our achievements and draw the features of our future, committed to the spirit of collective and voluntary work in the service of our society. This conference is an opportunity to exchange expertise and strengthen the bonds between members and scout leaders, renewing the pledge to carry on the journey with unflagging resolve, drawing from the values of Imam Hussein the meanings of sacrifice and altruism, so that we may always be in the vanguard of those seeking growth and development for society, and building generations that grow up in joy and sharpen their resolve so as to be able to bear responsibility and make a future in harmony with the vision and mission of the parent association, which seeks to build a righteous person who believes in God and His messages, educated, cultured, aware, productive and open to the issues of the age.”
He pointed out that “this engagement and practical involvement is shown in the scouts' varied activities, which include volunteering in humanitarian work and taking part in community service initiatives. The scout members and all their troops stood firm in the darkest circumstances during the crises that buffeted the homeland - during the July 2006 aggression and in clearing the effects of the port explosion in Beirut in 2020 - and helped provide aid to thousands of families through community service within the available means… and they are still present with our people in the South, providing support and community services to those displaced from their homes by the enemy's attacks on our villages”.
He said: “The Al-Mabarrat Scouts Association has successfully established distinguished scout leaderships, and contributes effectively to achieving progress and sustainability for this homeland, through its care for the diversity of its components and religions and the rooting of values that know no bigotry - generations that love the other, far from sectarian, denominational and political division… We have been able to raise generations that respect the other as a partner in this homeland, that believe difference is a mercy and that love is life, while rancour and spite are death and ruin, and that believe they embody God's mercy, love and inexhaustible giving…
He continued: “The success of the Al-Mabarrat Scouts Association has been achieved through many factors, including the great support of society, the partnerships with other scout associations and with sponsors, and the dedication and sincerity of the scout leaders and volunteers, who gave what was dear and precious to achieve the association's aims. We take pride in our good relations and our partnership with most of the scout associations in Lebanon, as well as in our relationship with the Lebanese Scouts Federation that brings us together… We have also woven friendly relations with Arab scout associations through the conferences we used to attend in Egypt, the Emirates and elsewhere… and we continue to look toward building partnerships on a wider level outside the homeland.”
At the close of the celebration, the veteran leaders who had accompanied the association's work since its launch were honored.
