Scouts embark on prisons mentorship campaign

Uganda Scouts Association (USA) has embarked on a prisoners' mindset mentorship campaign to make them better persons for the future that awaits them outside prison.

Addressing the media at the launch of the campaign, the association's commissioner in chief, Gen Katumba Wamala, said that change in the transforming world always exists and criminals can also transform for the better.

"We want prisoners to have a mindset change to understand that they are not condemned and will come back to the society" Wamala said.

"Some criminals are arrested for minor cases like stealing chicken and turkeys. We mentors hope we can transform their morals to become better people in the society" Katumba added.

Mentorship will be done through initiating prisoners in Uganda Scouts Association vocational institutions and invitations to association workshops on how their products are made such as uniforms.

This is intended to show them it's not the end of the world and they still have a journey to earn a living and create a better tomorrow.

Uganda Scouts Association is the nation's largest scouts association that provides a program for young people to build character, trains them on responsibilities of participating citizens and develops personal fitness.

However, the association calls upon parents to mentor their children gradually right from birth with personal responsibility for better growth.

"I always ask myself as to why many parents complain about ‘abaana b'enaku zino'. Ask yourself; what have you done to engage them in productive activities?" Katumba stressed.

The associate has taken an initiative to enable parents groom young children since they face a lot of challenges in the society and need to be helped.

Maggie Kigozi the chief scout of the association said that the association intends to promote self-esteem, discipline, impart skills, and build the whole human being.

She added that this will fill the missing gap between school and home since a child discovers knowledge beyond the classroom.

Environmental campaign

Meanwhile, the association has embarked on an 8-year Go Green campaign across Uganda, in which 5,000,000 million scouts shall plant over fifty million trees by 2025.

"Many Ugandans have raped the environment by cutting down trees which has increased drought in Uganda. We have made our efforts as scouts to make Uganda go green through planting trees" Wamala said.

Each scout will be expected to plant two trees each month with parents expected to enable children fulfil their dutiful obligation as scouts by giving them sh500 to plant two seedlings every month.