As I write these words on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Scout Abou El Hole Group at St Catherine’s Syrian Catholic Church in Heliopolis, I feel I am not only writing a few celebratory lines — I am writing part of a story I lived ten years of.

Ten years out of twenty-five…

I may not be one of those who witnessed the beginning of the story, but I was fortunate to be one of those who carried its trust through a stage of its life, and to stand today at the end of that stage looking with pride and gratitude at what whole generations of leaders and scouts have built.

I did not make Scout Abou El Hole. I am one of those who received its torch, tried to keep its light burning, and to hand it on stronger to whoever comes after us.

That is what leading the group really means.

When you become the leader of a scout group, you have not been given a position — you have been handed a trust.

The trust of children whose parents believed in you,
the trust of young people looking for somewhere to belong,
the trust of leaders who chose to give their time and effort expecting nothing back,
and the trust of a history made by many people whose names some of our young ones may not know today, but who live inside what those people planted.

Across these ten years I learned that the best of scouting is not what we see in the photographs — the camps, the trips, the celebrations.

It is what never appears in a photograph:

a child who became more sure of himself,
a young person who learned to carry responsibility,
a leader who discovered he could make a difference in someone else’s life,
and a friend who became a brother for life.

And here lies the value of Abou El Hole

For me it was never simply a scout group.

It was a home.

A home where we grew up, where we disagreed and agreed, where we tired and rejoiced, where we succeeded and sometimes got it wrong — but where we always came back to the same place: to the spirit of brotherhood, to service, and to the faith that holds us together.

And on this occasion, I cannot speak about the ten years I spent as a leader without saying thank you.

Thank you to every leader who came before me and carried the responsibility ahead of me.

Thank you to every leader who walked the road with me through these past years.

Thank you to every new leader who chose to give their time to our young people.

Thank you to every father and mother who trusted us.

And thank you to every scout and guide who gave us their energy and their enthusiasm, and who may well have taught us leaders more than we taught them.

And to our scouts I say

You are not simply an extension of the past — you are the ones who own the future.

The past twenty-five years are an achievement we are proud of, but the real challenge is what we will do with the twenty-five to come.

Will we only preserve what we inherited?

Or will we have the courage to develop, to innovate, to open new doors, and to build a scouting worthy of the generations ahead — without losing its spirit and its values?

I believe the answer has to be: we will carry on.

Today, as I come to the end of my time leading the group, I feel a mixture of pride, gratitude and responsibility.

Pride in what we were able to build together.

Gratitude to every person who shared this journey with me.

And responsibility towards the day after, because a true leader does not measure success by how much he achieved himself, but by how well he prepared those who come after him to carry the journey on.

I am certain that the finest thing I can leave behind after ten years of leadership is not a name, nor a photograph, nor a position — but leaders able to lead, scouts able to serve, and generations who love this group as we loved it.

Scouting taught me that a leader does not own the road.

A leader only holds the lamp for a while, then hands it to whoever comes next.

And today, as we celebrate the Silver Jubilee

To everyone who made this story, I say:

Thank you for making me one of you.

And to everyone who will carry on after us, I say:

Take up the torch — and make its light stronger.

And to Scout Abou El Hole I say:

Twenty-five years have passed…

but the story has not ended.

This is not the end of a chapter —
it is the beginning of a new one.

May God bless everyone who has served in this group, everyone serving in it today, and everyone who will carry its trust tomorrow.

And may God bless St Catherine’s Syrian Catholic Church, which held this journey in its arms; may He keep its people and its leaders, and make our scouting always a means of good, of service, and of building the human being.

Many happy returns to Scout Abou El Hole…

and here’s to the centenary, with all of us still…
prepared.

Eng. Peter Amin
Leader, Scout Abou El Hole Group — St Catherine’s