Link With Minsk

The Story of our Link with Minsk Guides

Girlguiding Lincolnshire South is proud of its strong connections with Guiding in Belarus. Our link helped to support the development of their Guiding programme after the fall of communism in the country. It continues to grow year by year.

How did it all start?

The link was established in 1992 when Lincolnshire South Guide Association hosted a small group from Minsk, Belarus at ‘Poacher’, Lincolnshire’s International Guide and Scout Camp. This group was searching for a worthwhile Youth Association to replace the collapsed Pioneer Movement and had come to find out about Scouting and Guiding. The group camped with Long Sutton Guides and experienced something of the fun and friendship that the Movement has to offer at Poacher ’92. Their first taste of life at a Guide and Scout Camp was followed by a few days in home hospitality in Dunston. On departure, Ludmila Zybina, their leader asked Phyll Sands if she would promise to take a party out to Minsk the following year. Phyll did so and sure enough the following April an official invitation arrived.

So, in 1993 a County group of Guides visited Minsk for two weeks. They stayed in Gomel with children recovering from the Chernobyl disaster, and also in homes in Minsk.

What happened next?

Most years between 1994 and 2006 visits were made alternately from the two countries by groups of Guides and Senior Section. Visits to Lincolnshire included trips to the seaside, a novelty for those living in a landlocked country, exploration of places of cultural interest and participation in adventurous activities. These were particularly popular as there was little opportunity to try these in Belarus. According to the girls visiting here in 1998 it was a ‘dream come true’ with new friendships developing and guiding skills, crafts and ideas to take back and teach others in Minsk. Our visits to Belarus included reciprocal visits to places of cultural interest and the opportunity to be welcomed to a country and lifestyle rather very different to our own.

In 1998 the Association of Belarusian Guides gained Associate membership of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. This was swiftly followed by Full Membership in 2002.

In 2002, the 10th Anniversary year of our link, thirteen girls and three leaders visited Minsk in late July/August followed in the September by a visit from four Minsk leaders to share our celebrations. This included a visit by the Belarusian Ambassador to the UK.

In 2003 eleven of our Senior Section members and four Guiders from Lincolnshire South attended the first Belarus International Camp held in Gomel. They participated in the ten day camp and stayed with families in home hospitality in Minsk for three days. Since then, alternate visits have continued and have incorporated elements of Girlguiding UK’s Senior Section programme, in particular ‘In4mers’, the peer education project.

Girlguiding Lincolnshire South supports the visits of our Belarusian friends with fundraising throughout the county. Without these generous donations, and support from Connect Youth International/British Council, the link could not have been progressed and would not exist in the format it does today.

What is the next Minsk/Lincs Event?

In the summer of 2009 we were expecting to welcome a group of young guiders and two leaders to our Training and Activity Centre at Trusthorpe. This would have been followed by hospitality in the homes of our young people for a few days before overnighting in a youth hostel in London prior to their flight home. Sadly, less than two months before their arrival, the visit had to be postponed due to the difficulties and complications the Minsk group were experiencing obtaining their visas.
However, a group of 3 leaders from Minsk attended the County Centenary event at PGL in July 2010, and the Link will continue in 2011.

How can we get involved?

Most years there are opportunities for Lincolnshire South Guides/Senior Section members to take an active part in our Link with Minsk Guides, either participating in a visit to Belarus, or forming part of the Lincolnshire South team who live and work with Minsk Guides when they visit Lincolnshire, and maybe also offer home hospitality to our visitors.

If such an opportunity might interest you, please contact Vicky, our County International Adviser.

How can we celebrate the Minks/Lincs Link in our Units?

Girlguiding Lincolnshire South has produced an Activity Pack suitable for all sections which is full of fun activities (crafts, games, recipes etc) for you to try in your unit and experience a taste of the culture of Belarus. If you would like a Pack (cost £4 plus 60p postage), please contact us.

There is also a ‘Belarus Box’ which can be borrowed to use in your unit. It contains activities and artefacts from the country.