Youth Organizations

Youth Organizations.

Most young people lack the experience and social maturity needed to function as an adult in most societies today. People are considered socially mature if they can act independently and accept full responsibility for their actions. Most of adolescents welcome the opportunity to take on more responsibility and become more independent. However, they may have difficulty at first in handling the challenge. Adolescents develop chiefly by expanding and testing their social relationships. A young child's social environment usually centers on the home. However, most adolescents become deeply involved with their peer group – that is, their circle of friends and acquaintances. So, the main purpose of any youth organization is to help young people to understand much about themselves and the needs of others in an informal setting.
Scouting is the world's largest youth movement. It is non-political, and open to both boys and girls. Scouting aims to help young people develop physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually through challenging recreation. There are more than 16 million Scouts in 150 countries. Since Scouting began, some 250 million people – many of them later famous – have been Scouts. Scouting is not just "helping old ladies to cross the street". It is an education for life. It complements school and family. A Scout makes a personal commitment to a simple code of living – a duty to God or country, a duty to others and a duty to self. Scouts learn by doing in programs of progressive self-education, working in small groups to develop leadership, group skills and responsibility. Scouts are involved in programs to protect the environment. They work to promote local, national and international objectives, such as world peace and international understanding and cooperation.
Every four years Scouts from many nations meet in a "World Jamboree" to exchange ideas and experiences.
It was founded in 1907. The original Promise and Law were laid down by Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout movement. Each country adapts the original Promise and Law to suit its own conditions. The Scout Promise is:
On my honor I promise that I will do my best:
To do my duty to God and the King (God and my Country);
To help other people at all times;
To obey the Scout's Law.

The Original Law is:
A Scout's honor is to be trusted;
A Scout is loyal;
A Scout's duty is to be useful, and to help others;
A Scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout;
A Scout is courteous;
A Scout is a friend to animals;
A Scout obeys orders from his parents, Patrol Leader, or Scoutmaster without question;
A Scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties;
A Scout is thrifty;
A Scout is clean in thought, word and deed.

Voluntary Youth Organizations.

Voluntary youth organizations form a large part of the youth services in Britain. Most English youth organizations belong to the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS).
Religious organizations in Britain include plenty of different organizations, representing lots of faiths (the Methodist Association of Youth Club, YMCA, Protestant Boy's Brigade, etc.).
Club organizations, which are not religious, include the National Association of Boy's Club, the Cooperative Youth Movement and many school clubs associated with schools and sport centers. These movements are free to decide on their own organization and activities, but they all work on the principle of supplying young people with creative and constructive activities, both indoors and outdoors. Many of these clubs are organized by local educational authorities, but most are run by volunteers. Most clubs are small and open one or more night a week.
Regular activities of youth clubs may include badminton, basketball, darts, fitness, judo and etc. Group of members may also meet for drama, art and music, running a club magazine.
Many youth club members enjoy helping other people, by doing jobs for old and infirm people, or by helping charities.
Boy's Brigade is an international organization for boys from 6 to 18. It works to develop Christian beliefs among its members through educational, religious, physical and social activities. The Boy's Brigade is active chiefly in Great Britain and about 60 other countries, including Australia, New Zealand and many African countries.
The Boy's Brigade was founded in 1833 in Glasgow, Scotland, by Williams Alexander Smith, a Scottish merchant. It was one of the first uniformed youth organizations.
Young Men's/Women's Christian Association (YMCA).

YMCA is one of the largest nonprofit voluntary organizations in the world. It serves about 25 million members in more than 90 countries. The YMCA is a Christian movement. It believes that all people should join together to achieve equality and justice for one another. The organization tries to meet its members' needs with a program that combines services and social action. Membership and all services are open to people of all ages, religions, races and incomes. The World Alliance of YMCA's, an international YMCA organization, has headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Worldwide YMCA's share 5 basic goals:

promoting healthy lifestyle;
developing leadership qualities in youth;
helping young people to develop essential work skills;
working on relief and development projects;
increasing international tolerance and understanding.

It was founded in London in 1844 by a young clerk named George Williams. The YMCA movement spread overseas to the US and Canada in 1851. In that year Thomas Sullivan, a missionary, founded a YMCA in Boston, Massachusetts.
Greenpeace is an international environmental organization. It works to change government and industrial policies that threaten the nature world. Greenpeace calls attention to the dangers to the environment of such actions as off-shore oil drilling, nuclear bomb testing and the dumping of radioactive wastes into oceans.
Members of Greenpeace use direct and nonviolent methods of protest. Without using force they try to stop any dangerous activity.
Greenpeace was founded in 1971. It gained international attention for its efforts to save whales and for its opposition to the killing of baby seals off the coast of Newfoundland.

to lack – испытывать недостаток
adolescent – подросток
to handle – регулировать, управлять, обходиться
challenge – сложная задача, проблема, вызов (на состязание)
recreation – развлечение
to complement – дополнять
commitment – обязательство
skill – мастерство, умение, искусство
objective – цель
courteous – вежливый, учтивый
to whistle – свистеть
thrifty – экономный, бережливый
voluntary – добровольный
constructive – созидательный
authorities – власти
to be run by – руководить, быть владельцем, эксплуатировать,
infirm – немощный, дряхлый
charities (pi.) – благотворительные учреждения или дела
equality – равенство
headquarter – главное управление
goal – задача, цель
tolerance – терпимость
off-shore – в открытом море, находящийся на расстоянии от берега
drilling – бурение
dumping – разгрузка, сваливание в отвал
waste – отбросы, отходы
whale – кит
seal – тюлень

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