Amid death and chaos, the Scouts revive an idea of fun for children

[fgoodwin]

Amid death and chaos, the Scouts revive an idea of fun for children

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1907350.ece

http://tinyurl.com/37jtpv

 

June 9, 2007

 

A cordon at the camp protects them from unexploded bombs but the tradition lives on 80 years after it was introduced by the British

 

Armed with rakes and wheelbarrows, a group of Iraqi Scouts and Guides is clearing a patch of Baghdad woodland. For many it is their first normal outing with friends in more than four years of violence.

 

The concrete bunker and taped cordon that guard them from unexploded bombs give this Scout camp a slightly edgier feel to jamborees in Britain, where a grazed knee or getting lost represent some of the biggest hazards.

 

For 13-year-old Fahad Abdul Sammed, however, it offers a rare chance to leave his house and play with his friends. For the last few years I have not had any fun. This is the first time I have gone away from my family, Fahad said.

 

He is one of about 40 Iraqi boys and girls who teamed up yesterday to clear away dead branches and shrubs from the unused land in Baghdads fortified green zone the slightly more secure area of the city that also houses Iraqi government buildings and foreign embassies.

 

Supported by American funds and aided voluntarily by US soldiers, the clean-up is part of a drive to revive Iraqs esteemed Scouting past introduced to the country by Britain in 1921.

 

We want to teach the children about team spirit and how to be a good person, Abdul Salam, chairman of the Iraqi Scouts, said.

 

Joining the Scouts provides an opportunity for children to come together, whatever their ethnic background, he said, hoping that this would eventually help to ease the sectarian tensions that have fuelled the chaos in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.

 

We would like every boy and girl in Iraq to join the Scouts whether they are Shia, Sunni, Christian or Kurd, Mr Salam added.

 

The green zone youngsters, aged 12 to 17, signed up only two days ago but Scout clubs have re-emerged across Iraq over the past four years, with the total number of boy and girl Scouts rising from, in effect, zero to about 150,000.

 

At the prospective campsite in Baghdad, the Iraqi girl Scouts clambered out of a minibus and stood in a line wearing brand-new blue shirts and skirts topped off with a bright-green necktie and a baseball cap worn on occasion over a headscarf.

 

The boys were less well turned out because there were not enough new uniforms to go around but once all the children had assembled the Scout leaders instructed everyone to change into cleaning gear namely football shirts.

 

We are going to have lots of fun today, First Lieutenant Sharon Burns, one of the American military volunteers, shouted through an Iraqi translator.

 

We have rakes and we are going to use them to clean up this place so we have somewhere to play. This is your camp so lets make it the best we can.

 

The boys marched off to one corner of the site which was about the size of a football pitch and the girls took their rakes to another. Within minutes clouds of dust puffed into the air as the children dragged branches, picked up leaves and raked twigs.

 

About ten American soldiers also pitched in with the effort made particularly tough by the punishing morning sun.

 

Leaning on her rake, 14-year-old Batoul al-Timimi said that she was glad to be part of the action. I decided to join the girl Scouts because I did not want to stay in my house during the summer, she said.

 

Many parents in Baghdad are afraid to let their children play in the street even inside the green zone, where these children live because of the threat of bombs and kidnapping.

 

Woroud al-Kanani, another 14-year-old girl, said: I would prefer for the camp to be outside the green zone. It would be more dangerous but I think it would be more fun.

 

Unfortunately the other girls are scared because of the bombs and explosions.

 

There are two other Scout campsites in Baghdad, but they have been borrowed by the Ministry of Interior to use as land to train the Iraqi security forces.

 

Scouting in Iraq became hugely popular after it was introduced by the British military.

 

During Saddam Husseins time, however, many Scout camps were used to train boys to use weapons rather than to do a good deed every day, while girl Scouts were largely neglected.

 

As a result Iraq was ejected from the World Organisation of the Scout Movement in 1999.

 

With clubs re-forming across the country holding twice-weekly meetings at schools and arranging camping trips when possible, depending on the security Iraq hopes to regain its full membership to the movement next year. It also plans to send ten Scouts to England next month to take part in the World Scout Jamboree in Chelmsford, Essex.

 

Despite the progress, there are setbacks, as is often the case in Iraq since the invasion.

 

By lunchtime there was mutiny among the boys at the green zone Scout camp.

 

Instructions about the days activities had been lost in translation and everyone thought that they were supposed to be on the camping trip for four nights rather than spending only a morning clearing up a plot of land to build a campsite next month.

 

They are big liars. This is just a game for them, Ali Haider, 13, said with tears in his eyes. He had been left stranded as a result of the mix-up because his entire family had gone away to Hilla, south of Baghdad, and left him on his own.

 

Saef Mohammed, 16, vowed never to go on another Scouting trip. This is very bad. I will not come back, he said.

 

First Lieutenant Burns said that the boys had unfortunately been misinformed by their Iraqi Scout leader about the plan but assured them that the site would be up and running in a couple of weeks.

 

Crisis resolved, the girl Scouts picked up their rakes again and went back to work, while the boys decided to have a game of football, using orange plastic cones as goalposts, until it was time to go home.