Scouting in Baghdad. Yes, Baghdad.

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

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.
[…]
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.

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.

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From the UK Times Online, h/t Lucianne.com.