DHIAfest | the liberal scout movement in Eleusis
Our sponsors and partners, whose support made this DHIAfest journey possible: Attica Group, KTEL Athens, KTEL Thessaloniki, KTEL Igoumenitsa, KTEL Chania, and Hellenic Train. Thank you! September 20, and I arrived in Eleusis. It is approximately 20 minutes by bus from Athens, a small, cute suburb of the noisy capital. In this small town, I was able to meet some incredible people from the first scout organization in the city. Since DHIAfest is dedicated to the topic of inclusion and diversity, it was important for me to ask them specifically about these topics, but of course I also asked them about the scout movement itself. My interviewees were Dimitrios Elenis (taurus), an air force colonel and head of the scout centre, Konstantina Ntinou (owl), a senior coordinator at the scout centre, Iliadis Nikos (quokka), a senior coordinator at the scout centre as well, Starinna Chatzistarrou, a 10 year old scout girl and Giorgos Chatzistarrou, a 6 year old scout boy. Many people actually have no idea what Scouting really is and only have an image of the movement based on American movies. Unfortunately, movies often show many stereotypes: that Scout organizations are basically small centres where young boys are prepared for future military service, while girls are supposed to sell cookies to their neighbours, cook and sew. Maybe this was the case in the past, but according to my interviewees, the Scout movement has changed a lot over the years.
You can trust scout, any case, any time!
Before starting the article, it is important to explain what the scout movement represents, at least in Eleusis. Every person becomes a scout for different reasons. During the interview, we got the impression that this is a movement focused on adventure and on learning how to make these adventures safe and educational. According to Dimitrios, after spending time training, scouts become somewhat similar to detectives. When entering a new place, they learn to evaluate their surroundings and the atmosphere around them. More generally, the scout centre is a place where you can learn survival skills in nature and in different weather conditions, first aid, how to make and repair things yourself, and how to use different tools.
They try to apply these skills to real life situations where their help is needed. Experienced scouts are resilient, strong and have experience surviving difficult situations, so they always want their skills to be used for real assistance as well. For example, I was told that they volunteered during the earthquake that affected Damasi and Thessaly regions. They also helped during mediterranian cyclone Ianos in 2020 and mega storm Daniel in 2023. “Be prepared to help. Be prepared to include. And be prepared to stand beside people when they need you.”
And this is where I immediately want to break another stereotype, the idea that boys and girls have different responsibilities in the centre. In Eleusis, the coordinators consider it important to support democracy and allow children to choose what they themselves want to do. For example, there are four main disciplines from which participants can choose:
1) Survival. 2) Orienteering. 3) First aid. 4) Creating things and using tools correctly.
In the instructions (you can see them in the photo), each of these disciplines has six levels. How far a person wants to progress in each discipline also depends on their own wishes.
So girls and boys can decide for themselves what they want to do, and nobody prevents them from trying something new. Okay, girls and boys can choose what they like themselves. But how do the coordinators behave when, for example, a boy behaves in a feminine way and wants to participate in activities that are considered more “girly”? Dimitris, Konstantina and Nikos made it clear to me that there are no “activities for boys and activities for girls” in the centre. If a task belongs to one of the disciplines in the table, it is universal. And once again, participants themselves choose what they want to do, regardless of their age. They also have no problem with different types of behaviour among children. Their goal is not to change or “fix” a child, but to teach them the skills they themselves want to learn. Dimitris told me “if I need a task to be completed effectively and quickly, I will give it to a girl.” By the way, there are currently 70 participants at the Eleusis scout centre. The approximate gender ratio is 40% girls and 60% boys. According to the coordinators, the fact that there are currently fewer girls has absolutely nothing to do with girls not wanting to participate in scouting. It is probably simply a temporary period. In the past, there have also been periods when there were more girls than boys. Another interesting fact about the Eleusis scouts is that they choose animal names for each person. Usually, children join scouting at an early age. The coordinators observe the child as they grow and, when they reach the age of 16, they give them an animal nickname that they believe represents them best. This is quite an individual approach to each person.
Eleusis scouts Eleusis scouts
Democracy in the centre and its rules. Scouting in Eleusis is not about “I am an adult, listen to me.” It is about every participant having a voice in the team, regardless of their age. Basically, it is democracy. Their organizational system works like this:
1) Participants are divided into groups according to their interests.
The coordinators, as more experienced people, can suggest that someone move to another group if they believe that the participant would be more interested there.
2) After the groups have been formed, the participants within each group have to choose their own leader through a vote.
There is a rule that the leader should not be chosen because they are your friend, but because of the experience and abilities of the participants.
3) The group leader takes responsibility during activities and for the training of the participants, and reports on the whole team to the centre’s leadership.
It is important to understand that the leader is not a supervisor. You can and should be friends with them. They are simply a person with additional responsibilities, and because they are more experienced, they can give tasks and help with training. At the same time, the centre has a rule of authority: if the leader gives an instruction, the others are expected to listen, not because the leader is forcing them to, but because the leader knows how something should be done.
The coordinators, however, have the right to use a “veto” in one situation: when the safety of a participant is involved. The scouts also sent me several materials about their achievements in the field of inclusion. In their materials, they wrote that they helped syrian refugees during the crisis in their country in 2015. Their volunteers assisted refugees who arrived in Galatsi. They also helped ukrainian refugees in Eleusis when the war began in 2022. This shows that scouts do not only learn theory and go on several day hiking trips. They also try to use their skills to help local communities and people beyond them.
Although scouting itself is not directly connected with improving inclusion and diversity in every area, in Eleusis they have created a structure where these principles are part of everyday reality. They have no problem accepting participants from non greekspeaking families. At the centre, they provide additional support to participants if they have problems with the language barrier. Dimitris has also travelled to exchange programmes with other scout centres in Italy and Cyprus. Sometimes american scout children come to their centre because their parents live in Greece. They can also become members of the centre.
They have successful experience working with children on the autism spectrum. For example, one of the children with autism eventually became one of the main coordinators and completed all six levels of all four disciplines. Today, this person is studying a creative subject at university.
There is also another incredible story about a deaf girl that impressed me so much that I want to write about her separately. Dimitris told me about her. Her name is Zoe (fox). She lost her hearing during infancy. She wears a hearing aid, but unfortunately it cannot fully restore her hearing. However, with its help she can hear vibrations, which already gives her a lot of additional information. Dimitris and Zoe met when she was 10 years old. Gradually, the girl proved herself to be a reliable Scout, and she was able to complete all six levels of all four disciplines. When I asked how she managed to do this, Dimitris told me that Zoe is such a unique person that she learned to lip-read and speak Greek, English, French and Spanish. When we tried to find out more about his method of working with a deaf child, he told me that there was no specific method as such. Zoe can understand almost 100% of what people are saying simply by looking at their lips, so she does not need any special educational materials. She is currently studying at medical university and wants to become a doctor. And to understand just how impressive her achievements are. On August 2 this year, just one day, she was one of the speakers at a forum dedicated to people with disabilities on Mykonos. Dimitris said that she is the most successful scout graduate they have ever had. So this is what scouting looks like today, scouts help during crisis situations and support inclusion in all aspects of their work.
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