#KSA-VKSJ

[jackfrostsander]

Could you explain to me what are all those Scouts dorp people in Belgium are doing now? 🤔

Ok, first disclosure, I've not been a member of the Scouts so I cannot give you any inside information...

There are several "jeugdbewegingen" (youth movements) in Flanders and there are some differences between them in focus on different kinds of activities. For example, the scouts fall in two big divisions: the land scouts and the sea scouts. Members of the sea scouts spend a lot of time in and around the water (including on boats). Hence, they learn about meteorology, knot types, morse code, water currents, how to sail, etc...

The most popular youth movement is the Chiro with about 93,000 members followed by the Scouts with 68,000 members. On third place is the KSJ-KSA-VKSJ with about 32,000 members. Those are the "big three".

Roughly, there are about 1.4 million people under the age of 19 in Flanders. Of those, about 220,000 are a member of a youth movement. That's about 16% but in reality its higher because youth movements start at age of around 6 (I didn't spend the time to go to all the demographical data to tease out just the 6-18 year old population size). So, probably around 1 in 5 young people is a member.

Their activities typically happen in the weekends. So, generally a few hours on Saturday or Sunday. But in the summer they also go camping together for a week or two. There they learn to set up tents, chop wood, cook their own food, etc... But the main activity in the weekends and on camps is to play games and have fun. If it's bad weather then they stay indoors and do crafts or play board games and the like. If it's good weather then they go out to the forest, go on walks, do outdoor sports, play mystery games (like something is lost and they have to find it back and there are clues along the way),...

[erfgoedcelleieschelde]

Erfgoedcel Leie Schelde plaatste afgelopen week een deel van het beeldarchief van een eerste jeugdbeweging uit haar regio, KSA-VKSJ Nazareth, op de Erfgoedbank. Het betreft dia's genomen eind jaren 1980, begin jaren 1990 die de jeugdbeweging tonen toen ze nog in hun vorig clubhuis aan het gemeentehuis van Nazareth zaten. Met deze actie hoopt de erfgoedcel dat er nog jeugdbewegingen inspanningen zullen doen om hun archief (gedeeltelijk) te ontsluiten via de Erfgoedbank.