By Yulia Grisunt: One of the most ambitious and popular movements of all time – the pioneer movement celebrates its 95th anniversary today. The President of the country sent his congratulations to the organization. Currently, Belarus has more than 650,000 pioneers. And today, boys and girls from Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan gathered together to congratulate each other and sing songs.
Svetlana Akulich, head of the cheerleading school: "This year, our federation has officially recognized cheerleading as a sport and included it as a temporary member of the NOC, so the cheerleading movement is now huge, the interest is very high, all children are very energetic, so cheerleading is now at the height of popularity."
Elena Dmitriyenko, president of the Union of Children's Public Organizations of Kazakhstan: "We are very interested in your experience, your legislation on the state support of youth and children's non-governmental organizations."
Among the guests of honour is Gerardo Suárez Alvarez, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Cuba to Belarus. Back on the Island of Freedom, he was part of the pioneer movement from the age of 9. The ideology of organizations is certainly similar, but there are certain distinctive features.
Another surprise for the pioneers was that today the Palace of Youth officially opened a museum, which presents nearly all the pioneering attributes of different years. It is a museum of the history of the pioneer movement, beginning with the 1920s. Here, visitors can trace the entire history of the organization, beginning with the first charter and ending with the stories of the grandchildren of the first pioneers.
Maxim Ryzhenkov, the First Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration: "I remember with great love, that every morning I would iron my pioneer’s tie so that it would be neat. I was really proud to be a pioneer. It was an entire ideology that maintained that the pioneer is the youngest assistant of the political configuration of the whole country."
Today, pioneers help veterans, disabled people, and orphans.
Victoria Mennanova, the Chairman of the Belarusian Republican Pioneer Organization: "The pioneer is an example to all. You know, sometimes I ask my children answer the question"Who is a pioneer?" – and they tell me "A pioneer is someone whose soul is a pioneer."
A big holiday of generations will end in Minsk only tomorrow. The whole day new pioneer songs that were written specifically for the anniversary will be sung. The slogan "Always ready!" is passed from one generation to another, as well as through hashtags – all over the world.
