Scouting Is Alive In Iraq

It is easy to get so pessimistic about the news coming out of Iraq that you sometimes think that it is only shooting and killing going on for the people there. And then you see a story that gives you hope for the future. Scouting is alive and getting stronger in Iraq.

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.

This is truly a sign of normalcy for the children of Iraq and a sign of hope.

Supported by American funds and aided voluntarily by US soldiers, the clean-up is part of a drive to revive Iraq’s 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.

It is surely a pie in the sky dream but if you got boys together from different ethnic groups in Iraq; Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis and Christians and had them learn to be Scouts together then maybe, just maybe, something good could come from it.

I get excited about Scouting because I am a Scout leader myself. I have a Cub Scout den of 8 boys and I am also Cubmaster of a Pack of 65 boys and there is not a better program for boys, anywhere. They are taught to work together, to do their best and to help other people.

If the boys and girls in Iraq are taught and learn the basics of Scouting then that is a good thing and a sign of hope.

Scouting was hugely successful in Iraq after being introduced by the British but Scouting there was disbanded in 1999 when Saddam Hussein used scout camps to train Iraqi boys to do other things including how to use guns and girl scouts were neglected.

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.

This isn't going to happen overnight and there is so much to do to just get the country back to the stability it had under Saddam Hussein but this is as good a place to start as any.

The constant struggle in Scouting in this country is to get parents to step up and be leaders. The distractions and stresses of daily life in this country are placing Scouting in third or fourth position after soccer, baseball and other sports. And then this puts it all into perspective, for there are in Iraq parents and leaders willing to die to show their children a better way.

There is good news coming out of Iraq.

Jim Martin

Thanks to Jules Crittenden, and Rantings, Ramblings and Other Misc. Stuff for the links.