Izah Azahari
A Messenger of Peace (MoP) scarf and badge awarding ceremony for 33 recipients of the Scouts COVID-19 Task Force was held at the Multipurpose Hall of the Brunei Darussalam Scouts Association (PPNBD) Headquarters yesterday.
Presenting the badges and scarves was Chief Commissioner of the PPNBD Haji Awang Badar bin Haji Awang Ali.
When the COVID-19 pandemic first affected the Sultanate in March 2020, the Ministry of Health (MoH) issued a call for volunteers to assist as front- and backliners.
The PPNBD responded to this call by activating its COVID-19 Volunteer Task Force consisting of Scout Leaders/Adults in Scouting and a few Rover Scouts from the four districts.
The task force members were backliners for the MoH’s COVID-19 operations, where their first task was to assist in the running of the ministry’s logistics centre at the Health Promotion Centre and later on assisting in the discharge of quarantined people at various hotels and educational institution hostels.
During the recovery phase of the COVID-19 operations, the task force was involved in the cleaning and sanitisation of markets and stalls in the Tutong and Belait districts.
These commitments enabled the task force to achieve the minimum target hours for the MoP project, World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) in their bid to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The MoP programme is WOSM’s initiative for scouts worldwide to create a variety of programmes aimed at peace, harmony, brotherhood, environmental sustainability, social issues and more.
The formation and activation of the Brunei Darussalam Scouts Association volunteers is a milestone in the history of the association, according to the Commissioner of Risk and Safety Management Haji Janaidi bin Haji Gunong.
The Scout Leaders/Adults in Scouting will continue to serve as mentors and resource persons in supporting youth development programmes in line with WOSM’s core business of developing youth that are progressive and responsive to the requirements of the nation.