Subscribe

News

Treading New Paths in the Middle East

Source: Adventist Review

[April 30, 2007] Nearly 50 youth leaders and pastors from across the Middle East pledged to launch about a dozen new Pathfinder and Adventurer clubs within the next few months during a week-long training seminar in Cairo, Egypt, in mid-February. This was the first seminar of its kind held in the region.

“There is an eagerness to launch clubs across most of the 14 countries which comprise our territory,” said Amir Ghali, Youth Ministries director for the Adventist church in the Middle East. “This is very good news for all our young people who are looking for outlets which are inspiring, recreational, and confidence-building.”

The adaptation and translation of the Pathfinder and Adventurer curricula and awards into Arabic was the key to facilitating the launching of the program, said event organizers.

“With the help of generous funding from offerings contributed at the 2004 Oshkosh [Wisonsin] Pathfinder Camporee in the United States and the 2006 European Camporee in Stevninghus, Denmark, we were able to undertake this huge task, which puts instructional material in the hands of all local Arabic-speaking clubs,” Ghali says. “This is the only sure way of guaranteeing the long-term success of this venture.”