ScoutsCymru was delighted to visit 1st Buddha’s Light Scout Group in Manchester earlier this month to learn more about how the community is engaging with Scouting.
Director Kerrie Gemmill and Scouting Support Officer Josh Biundo visited the Fo Guang Shan temple in the city’s Stretford area, where the group meet, to learn more about The Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA), which actively encourages Scouting in its temples across the world.
1st Buddha’s Light Scout Group was founded in 2017 and is the only BLIA Scout group in the UK. Although it caters primarily for young people from the Buddhist community, it is open to all young people who would like to take part in Scouting activities.
The group’s leader Mun-Kit Choy took Kerrie and Josh on a guided tour of the temple and explained that he sees many parallels between the Scouting values and the Buddhist teachings in terms of offering young people positive guidelines to influence the decisions they make and the actions they take.
Kerrie said: “We were delighted to be invited to spend the morning with Mun-Kit Choy, and the team at 1st Buddha’s Light. We were also able to share in the birthday celebrations of one of the Cubs which was a real treat.”
She added: “It was a truly enlightening experience. We learnt so much about Buddhism and the Buddha’s Light International Association. It was astounding to think that there are groups located in temples across the world, and wonderful to hear that the BLIA is so supportive of the Scout movement. It was great to be able to meet the team and to learn about the activities they had completed over the last year. We were envious to hear that they had the opportunity to sleep over in the temple, something the children enjoyed very much.”
When Scouting was first founded by Robert Baden-Powell in 1907, it was closely aligned to the Christian faith. However, for much of this time, the movement has actively welcomed people from other religions. This is the UK’s only Buddha’s Light group, but there are number of Muslim, Sikh and Hindu groups around the country, and Scouts can make their promise in line with their faith or even no faith at all.
You can read more about equity, diversity and inclusion in Scouting here. If you have any questions on inclusive Scouting, email us on admin@scoutscymru.org.uk
