AlHijjah 05, 1435, September 29, 2014, SPA -- As part of the policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to continue support for the international scouts movement, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has pledged to donate $37 million over ten years to finance the budget of the "Peace Messengers" international project which is projected to reach as many as 20 million peace messengers out of 31 million scouts all over the world by 2020, a report by the Saudi Press Agency on the role of Saudi Scouts Association (SSA) in this year's Hajj recalled. The report traced the commencement of the scouts movement in the Kingdom since late King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud in 1932 when he ordered the introduction of the movement to schools. In late seventies of the lunar year, late King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud granted the scouts movement a large land lot in Makkah to build their headquarters on it. However, the year 1955 witnessed the birth of the SSA upon a royal permission from late King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The first domestic scouts journey, which trekked from Makkah to Riyadh to proceed to the Eastern Region and through Qassim region and Hail before returning to the starting point, has, despite the lack of road facilities at the time, took place in 1962. Several Makkah-based scouts initiated pilgrim services well before the first official participation of the SSA in 1961 presided over by Saleh Ghanim who led 150 scout members from Jeddah and Taif. The great successes achieved by the domestic scout movement encouraged SSA to invite some 120 scouts from 16 countries to take part in the first Arab and Islamic Scouts Assembly which was held in Makkah during 1963 Hajj season. --More 12:35 LOCAL TIME 09:35 GMT تغريد
