Gulf Stream Council launches its first Muslim troop

[fgoodwin]

Gulf Stream Council launches its first Muslim troop

 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-bc28troopjul28,0,7633613.story

http://tinyurl.com/hejed

 

By Lisa Bolivar

Special Correspondent

Posted July 28 2006

 

Hassene Chaabane has been a Boy Scout all his life, so he jumped at the recent opportunity to introduce scouting to a new group of youths.

 

Chaabane, 31, who attends religious services at the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, is spearheading the formation of Cub Scout and Boy Scout Troop 394, the first Muslim troop in the Gulf Stream Council, which covers Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Hendry counties.

 

"I can't imagine the life of a boy without Boy Scouts," Chaabane said.

 

Chaabane, a native of Tunisia, drives from his home in Hallandale Beach to attend the Boca Raton mosque and help form the troop. Participating in scouting in his homeland helped him grow into the man he is today, he said.

 

"It taught me self-confidence, values, you name it," he said. "At an early age boys have a lot of energy, and if you don't direct the energy in the right direction, they will go and do bad stuff. ... That's why you see kids on the street doing bad things. Some do drugs, some go toward sex, so this is an opportunity for kids to learn about life."

 

Members of the mosque approached Jennifer Thomason, district executive of the Gulf Stream Council, about starting a new troop.

 

"We are very excited about it, because Boy Scouts are for no specific faith, and we look to any community organization of faith or not of faith to take our standards," Thomason said, adding that there are several new troops forming in Boca Raton, two at synagogues.

 

She is helping the elders at the mosque train to become troop leaders for the more than 40 children already signed up, while learning about the differences between the Islamic way of raising children and traditional American ways.

 

"I am definitely learning things about the culture, especially the difference between men and women," she said. "In the Islamic center, they keep the boys and girls completely together until they are teenagers, then they separate them, which is opposite from what we normally do."

 

Normally, little girls join Girl Scouts, Thomason said, and later in high school, boys and girls come together for Venturing, a form of scouting that is coed.

 

Muslims, on the other hand, separate the sexes once they become aware of each other's differences to guard chastity and moral behavior, said Mohammed Sanhaji, who represents the Islamic Center of Boca Raton at the Boy Scouts.

 

"I am excited about the fact that we can get our kids to be a part of activities that are not just Islamic. We want activities that are meant for community leadership," Sanhaji said. "Boy Scouts is mixing the religious background and civic duties and other standard morals, and they will become good leaders and model citizens."

 

Troop 394 will approach scouting from a family perspective, Thomason said, involving girls and parents in activities.

 

Annie Lin of Delray Beach was quick to volunteer as a den mother. Her son, Yusuf Lin, 6, is eager to begin his scouting experience, she said.

 

"I'm very excited about it, and I am very supportive of anything that complements Islamic values, traditions and morals," said Lin, an accountant for a family-run Chinese vegetable farm. "Cub Scouts is an American thing, and it's an organized group, and they promote self-confidence and teaching survival skills and boys getting together and doing outdoor things."

 

Lin looks forward to watching her son grow with scouting, both in his faith and as an American.

 

"We can be Muslims and can be a Boy Scout also, and I want to make sure that the children understand that just because we are Muslims, we can involve them in other things that are along the same things that Islam teaches us. We are American, we were born here," Lin said. "I don't want them to feel like they are different."

 

Mazin Musallam, 12, of Lake Worth is looking forward to the physical activity of Boy Scouts.

 

"It's pretty good. We get to play outside a lot," he said. "We have snack time, and we get to learn stuff from the Red Cross like if firemen come, don't be afraid."

 

It is about time that scouting evolved to reflect the community, Thomason said.

 

"We do tend to be seen as predominantly white and Christian, and that is not what we are," she said. "We're having to change and accommodate, like with the Jewish units we have to change a lot of our events to Sundays [to accommodate the Jewish Sabbath on Saturdays until sundown]. We should have been changing and accommodating long before this."

[packsaddle]

I'm just sorry Rooster7 isn't here to comment.

[acco40]

Den mothers? Somebody is showing their age!

 

Also, I didn't know that vegatables had ethnicity or am I interpreting "a family-run Chinese vegetable farm" incorrectly. I know there are Chinese Muslims but talk about a melting pot - Annie Lin a Chinese, Muslim, BSA den leader! America, you've got to love it!

 

If ever in Hamtramck, MI - check out the Polish Muslims mucsical group. They are fantastic. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)