– Marco Carvalho
One initiative canceled and three others on the tightrope. The new coronavirus outbreak has forced the Lusophone Scout Group of Macau (GELMac) to cancel one of the main events of the year, but the spring camp is not the only project shrouded in doubt. “This year won’t be easy,” a member of GELMac admits.
The public health crisis caused by the rapid dissemination of the new coronavirus has forced GELMac – the Lusophone Scout Group of Macau to cancel one of the main activities it had planned for this year. Macau’s Catholic scouts were planning to hold a Spring Camp in the neighboring Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, but the epidemiological situation in the former British colony – where almost a hundred and fifty cases of Covid-19 were already detected – and the fact that Macau still keeps the main contingency measures enacted, prompted the cancellation of the initiative.
The camp, which should happen next weekend, on the 20th and 21st of March, is not the only project shredded in doubt, a member of GELMac told “O Clarim”: “Given the circumstances, our Group had to suspend or cancel a series of events and activities, some of them very important. Once that most of the Scouts are also students, some of them will have to submit to national exam, this won’t be an easy year”, he admits.
In addition to the Spring Camp that was scheduled for this month, three other initiatives that were planned for April will probably meet the very same fate if we don’t witness any relevant changes to the epidemiological panorama. Camps and training activities were planned for next month, in collaboration both with entities from Portugal and from the neighboring Hong Kong SAR: “In April, a Youth Survival Camp was scheduled in Hong Kong, another Survival Camp, but for grown ups, should happen also in Hong Kong and there was also a workshop to form new leaders that should be held with the National Corps of Scouts, from Portugal. These three activities may be postponed or canceled ”, the same source told “O Clarim”. “A youth camp in Hong Kong, with a surf workshop associated, is still part of GELMac’s plans. We still hope we can promote this initiative in May”.
The last major initiative promoted by the Lusophone Scout Group of Macau took place in December, in Thailand, in a joint initiative promoted in cooperation with the Chiang Mai scouts. Christmas vacation first, the Lunar New Year period later and, almost simultaneously, the new coronavirus outbreak forced GELMac to suspend its activities:“The last major initiative we took part in was a Camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in collaboration with the local Scouts, last December. Then Christmas came, the Chinese New Year and the coronavirus crisis. Hopefully the second half of the year will be better”.
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