To Muslim Girls, Scouts Offer a Chance to Fit In
Fred Goodwin, CMA
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/us/28girlscout.html >
November 28, 2007
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
MINNEAPOLIS -- Sometimes when Asma Haidara, a 12-year-old Somali
immigrant, wants to shop at Target or ride the Minneapolis light-rail
system, she puts her Girl Scout sash over her everyday clothes, which
usually include a long skirt worn over pants as well as a swirling
head scarf.
She has discovered that the trademark green sash -- with its American
flag, troop number (3009) and colorful merit badges -- reduces the
number of glowering looks she draws from people otherwise bothered by
her traditional Muslim dress.
"When you say you are a girl scout, they say, 'Oh, my daughter is a
girl scout, too,' and then they don't think of you as a person from
another planet," said Asma, a slight, serious girl with a bright
smile. "They are more comfortable about sitting next to me on the
train."
Scattered Muslim communities across the United States are forming Girl
Scout troops as a sort of assimilation tool to help girls who often
feel alienated from the mainstream culture, and to give Muslims a
neighborly aura. Boy Scout troops are organized with the same
inspiration, but often the leap for girls is greater because many come
from conservative cultures that frown upon their participating in
public physical activity.
By teaching girls to roast hot dogs or fix a flat bicycle tire,
Farheen Hakeem, one troop leader here, strives to help them escape the
perception of many non-Muslims that they are different.
Scouting is a way of celebrating being American without being any less
Muslim, Ms. Hakeem said.
"I don't want them to see themselves as Muslim girls doing this 'Look
at us, we are trying to be American,' " she said. "No, no, no, they
are American. It is not an issue of trying."
The exact number of Muslim girl scouts is unknown, especially since,
organizers say, most Muslim scouts belong to predominantly non-Muslim
troops. Minneapolis is something of an exception, because a few years
ago the Girl Scout Council here surveyed its shrinking enrollment and
established special outreach coordinators for various minorities. Some
280 Muslim girls have joined about 10 predominantly Muslim troops
here, said Hodan Farah, who until September was the Scout coordinator
for the Islamic community.
Nationally, the Boy Scouts of America count about 1,500 youths in 100
clubs of either Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts sponsored by Islamic
organizations, said Gregg Shields, a spokesman for the organization.
The Girl Scouts' national organization, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., has
become flexible in recent years about the old trappings associated
with suburban, white, middle-class Christian scouting. Many troops
have done away with traditions like saying grace before dinner at
camp, and even the Girl Scout Promise can be retooled as needed.
"On my honor I will try to serve Allah and my country, to help people
and live by the Girl Scout law," eight girls from predominantly Muslim
Troop 3119 in Minneapolis recited on one recent rainy Sunday before
setting off for a cookout in a local park.
Some differences were readily apparent, of course. At the cookout, Ms.
Hakeem, a former Green Party candidate for mayor, negotiated briefly
with one sixth grader, Asha Gardaad, who was fasting for the holy
month of Ramadan.
"If you break your fast, will your mother get mad at me?" Ms. Hakeem
asked. Asha shook her head emphatically no.
The troop leader distributed supplies: hot dogs followed by s'mores
for dessert. All was halal -- that is, in adherence with the dietary
requirements of Islamic law -- with the hot dogs made of beef rather
than pork.
It was Asha's first s'more. "It's delicious!" she exclaimed, licking
sticky goop off her fingers as thunder crashed outside the park
shelter with its roaring fire. "It's a good way to break my fast!"
Women trying to organize Girl Scout troops in Muslim communities often
face resistance from parents, particularly immigrants from an Islamic
culture like that of Somalia, where tradition dictates that girls do
housework after school.
In Nashville, where Ellisha King of Catholic Charities helps run a
Girl Scout troop on a shoestring to assist Somali children with
acculturation, most parents vetoed a camping trip, for example. They
figured years spent as refugees in tents was enough camping, Ms. King
recalled.
But a more common concern among parents is that the Girl Scouts will
somehow dilute Islamic traditions.
"They are afraid you are going to become a blue-eyed, blond-haired
Barbie doll," said Asma, the girl who at times makes her sash everyday
attire. Asma noted that her mother had asked whether she was joining
some Christian cabal. "She was afraid that if we hang out with
Americans too much," the young immigrant said, "it will change our
culture or who we are."
Troop leaders win over parents by explaining that various activities
incorporate Muslim traditions. In Minneapolis, for instance, Ms.
Hakeem helped develop the Khadija Club, named for the first wife of
the Prophet Muhammad, which exposes older girls to the history of
prominent Muslim women.
Suboohi Khan, 10, won her Bismallah (in the name of God) ribbon by
writing 4 of God's 99 names in Arabic calligraphy and decorating them,
as well as memorizing the Koran's last verse, used for protection
against gossips and goblins. Otherwise, she said, her favorite badge
involved learning "how to make body glitter and to see which colors
look good on us" and "how to clean up our nails."
Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. does not issue religious badges, but
endorses those established by independent groups. Gulafshan K. Alavi
started one such group, the Islamic Committee on Girl Scouting, in
Stamford, Conn., in 1990. The demand for information about Muslim
badges, Mrs. Alavi said, has grown to the point where this year she
had the pamphlet listing her club's requirements printed rather than
sending out a photocopied flier. She also shipped up to 400 patches
awarded to girls who study Ramadan traditions, she said, the most
ever.
Predominantly Muslim troops do accept non-Muslim members. In
Minneapolis, Alexis Eastlund, 10, said other friends sometimes
pestered her about belonging to a mostly Muslim troop, although she
has known many of its members half her life.
"I never really thought of them as different," Alexis said. "But other
girls think that it is weird that I am Christian and hang out with a
bunch of Muslim girls. I explain to them that they are the same except
they have to wear a hijab on their heads."
Ms. Farah, who served as an outreach coordinator in Minneapolis and
remains active in the Scouts, said she used the organization as a
platform to try to ease tensions in the community. Scraps between
African-American and Somali girls prompted her to start a research
project demonstrating to them that their ancestors all came from
roughly the same place.
Ms. Hakeem, the troop leader, said she tried to find projects to
improve the girls' self-esteem, like going through the Eddie Bauer
catalog to cut out long skirts and other items that adhere to Islamic
dress codes.
All in all, scouting gives the girls a rare sense of belonging, troop
leaders and members say.
"It is kind of cool to say that you are a girl scout," Asma said. "It
is good to have something to associate yourself with other Americans.
I don't want people to think that I am a hermit, that I live in a
cave, isolated and afraid of change. I like to be part of society. I
like being able to say that I am a girl scout just like any other
normal girl."