Posted on 12/27/2002, 10:38:40 AM by kattracks
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Thousands of boy and girl scouts from around the world will have access to free condoms during an international gathering beginning Saturday in Thailand, a country known for its thriving sex industry.
Bangkok's public health ministry announced this week that condoms would be handed out to participants in the 20th World Scout Jamboree on request.
Around 20,000 scouts aged between 14 and 17, from some 80 countries, are expected to attend the 11-day event starting Saturday, together with another 6,000 adult and youth volunteers.
A ministry spokesman was quoted as saying the aim was to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as AIDS, not to promote sexual activity.
The event is being held at Sattahip, about 180 kilometers southeast of Bangkok, on a plain adjoining a beach.
Nearby Pattaya, a city of 100,000 is known as one of the world's most popular "sex tourism" destinations.
Approached for comment, jamboree spokesman Richard Amalvy said it had been the scout movement's policy for more than 10 years "to have condoms freely available in each health center of the [jamboree] event for any participant that makes this request."
As a result of the spread of AIDS and other STDs, he said, the movement had in coordination with U.N. agencies, set up programs "for the emotional and sexual education of young people."
"These programs integrate both the emotional development of youth, boys and girls, and the prevention of risks related to sexually-transmitted infections."
Amalvy pointed out that scouting was present in a number of countries especially hard-hit by such infections.
One of the workshops in the jamboree's "global development village" program is entitled: "Your body, my body," and is described in the program as "Sex education (for young people by young people), responsible parenthood, prevention of AIDS and STDs, being a man, being a woman ..."
Another burning issue on the minds of the organizers will be the youngsters' physical safety at a time of increased terrorism.
Last month, jamboree officials met with representatives of more than a dozen foreign embassies in Bangkok to discuss security concerns.
Lutz Kuhnen, head of the Geneva-based World Scout Bureau's risk management department, said organizers were cooperating with the Thai government, police and military.
"We have been working together closely as a team and are ready to take action as quickly as possible to any situation when needed," Kuhnen said.
Thailand has thus far escaped the type of terrorism that has hit nearby countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, but in recent months it has featured in travel warnings issued by Western governments anxious about the safety of their citizens.
This week, a senior Thai general conceded that one of the region's most-wanted terrorist suspects, closely linked to last October's Bali bombing, had visited his country early this year and was likely getting support from locally-based Muslim groups.
i gib ju san nooky good time.
Given the known level of the ABC Propaganda Ministry's hatred for the Boy Scouts this unexpectedly favorable bias should alert anyone who is unfamiliar with the Thailand free rubbers story that a bit of proactive whitewashing was afoot.
And while the subject is on the table...
What sort of MORON would send their Scout to a filthy, dangerous, disease infested whore-hole like Thailand?
Despite their numerous lunacies, the Brits still have some foundation beneath their feet.
I'd be somewhat concerned about their recent problems with BSE tainted meat, and whether it was safe to eat there, but -even so- England is still head and shoulders above Thailand.
Be prepared! That's the Boy Scouts' marching song, Be prepared! As through life you march along. Be prepared to hold your liquor pretty well. Don't write naughty words on walls if you can't spell. Be prepared! To hide that pack of cigarettes. Don't make book if you cannot cover bets. Keep those reefers hidden where you're sure that they will not be found, And be careful not to smoke them when the scoutmaster's around, For he only will insist that they be shared, be prepared! Be prepared! That's the Boy Scouts' solemn creed, Be prepared! And be clean in word and deed. Don't solicit for your sister, that's not nice, Unless you get a good percentage of her price. Be prepared! And be careful not to do Your good deeds when there's no one watching you. If you're looking for adventure of a new and different kind, And you come across a Girl Scout who is similarly inclined, Don't be nervous, don't be flustered, don't be scared. Be prepared!
words to live by from Tom Lahrer
Pattya, in particular, is breathtakingly beautiful...incredible beaches with the accompanying activities that would appeal to boys...skiing, scuba, snorkeling, jetski, surfing, paragliding (I think that's what they call it: the participant soars in a parachute while being towed by a boat.)
On to rubbers: I would definitely object if they passed these out to all participants, but I'm not so sure I object to them being available to boys who ask. Some of these Scouts are 17, and as I noted above, sex-for-hire is not all Thailand has to offer, it IS available. And easily available at that.
I admit to being muddled on this issue. I don't like the notion of condoms being handed out in schools, but I'm not as worked up about their availability to Scouts in Thailand...
Maybe it's because I'm certain that the dangers of unprotected sex are far, far greater in a Thailand house-of-ill-repute than in suburbia...I don't know...
Except to note that I suspect (by the tone of your remarks) that you're an optimist by nature...
I signed off on a trip to Italy a couple of years ago for my daughter, with only those normal reservations that any father would have regarding his teen-age daughter going halfway around the globe.
But my son would have to be on his own, paying his own way, to go to someplace like Thailand.
And I'd sneak up behind them with a baseball bat and break their legs, if that's what it took, to keep EITHER of them from going anywhere in Africa.
I judge each place by its merit, or its lack of merit.
Not all destinations are equally desirable ones.
And I'd sneak up behind them with a baseball bat and break their legs, if that's what it took, to keep EITHER of them from going anywhere in Africa.
I try to temper my expectations of my son (only 7 now, but time, it is a-flying) with my recollections of my own reckless past. With the wisdom that comes with maturity, I can see the dangers of teen sex, both emotional and physical. Those dangers were not as clear (well, they were paid scant attention) when I was in my teen years. I want my son's first experiences with sex to be vastly different from my own, but I'm not going to bet the ranch that they will be. When the time is right, I intend to talk with him myself about these issues, and I'm going to include protection as one of the topics of discussion.
In the highly unlikely event that he is running loose in Thailand at age 17 without my supervision, I do hope someone will give him a condom if he's hellbent on getting laid.
Be Prepared...as thru life you march along.
Don't solicit for your sister..that's not nice.
Unless you get a fair percentage of her price.
Apologies to Tom Leher
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