Afghan Scout Association
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| Da Afğānistān Sarandoy Tolanah | |
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 Afghan Scout Association |
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| Organizational data | |
| Country | Afghanistan |
| Founded | 1931 |
| Membership | 20,000 (estimate) |
 Scouting portal |
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The Afghan Scout Association (Pashto: د افغانستان څارندوی ټولنه Da Afghānistan Sārandoy Tolena, usually shortened to Zarandoi) was officially founded in 1931 in Afghanistan by a royal decree. The site of Baden-Powell's second posting in 1880, Afghanistan was a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1932 until the Afghan government dissolved the Scout Association in 1947.
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[edit] History
The organization was established during the reign of Mohammed Nadir Shah, with approximately 300 members. In 1947 the organization was forbidden by the government, which had accused the Scouts of being fire worshippers, as during a camp they had made music and sung around a campfire.
Scouting was reestablished in 1956, rebuilt in the context of the democratization efforts of Mohammed Zahir Shah, just becoming a ruler in his own right after thirty years of ceding power to his paternal uncles, Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan and Sardar Shah Mahmud Khan.[1]
The organization, named Da Afğānistān Zaranduy Tolanah (DAZT) and was readmitted to the World Scout Conference on June 1, 1964, counting a membership of between 2,000 and 7,000 Scouts, both boys and girls and adult leaders.
The viewpoints of king Zahir Shah at that time were practiced by the organization. The administrators added further obligations to the general principles of the Scout movement, obligation to king, nation and country. Discipline and obligation were welcome educational goals for governing, and Scouting was organized very tautly and almost militarily compared with other nations. The government used this organization for the stability of the state; however the organization made a large contribution to youth work in Afghanistan, above all that of responsibility, self-reliance, sense of community and equal rights, as well as behavior toward girls and women.
The Federal Republic of Germany provided the uniforms for the Afghan Scout Association. Dr. Eberhard Krüger and Mrs. Rosemarie Jungermann came from Germany in order to train Afghan Scout instructors further.
The organization was attached by national authority to the Ministry of Education, under Minister of Education Dr. Omar Wardak and Dr. Ali Ahmad Popal, deputy Minister of Education. A school for the training of Scout group leaders was created in its office.
Starting in 1959, women played a large role within the structure of the organization. In the celebrations and independence ceremonies in the 1960s and 1970s, Afghan Scouts of both genders participated with the structure and the organization of cultural events. Mermon Parwin supported the organization, sang Scout songs and appeared several times in the pavilion of the Scout organization.
In 1961 a group of Scouts took part in the 11th World Scout Jamboree at Marathon, Greece, held concurrently with the 1963 19th World Scout Conference in Rhodes, Greece. Dr. Said Habib, a deputy president of the Afghan Scout Association, supported the establishment of musician Scout groups.
On January 6, 1964 the organization participated in the 4th Asia-Pacific Scout Conference in Malaysia and received the membership document of readmittance to the World Scout Conference.
The youth and woman's work as well as the music, sport and play of Scouting constantly increased in the years from 1964 to 1973. The association, which now had local groups in different parts of the country, created further musician Scout groups, organized camps and accomplished other leisure and educational measures, in which children and young people learned handicrafts, painting and singing. However, most activities of the association were limited to Kabul.
With the 1973 overthrow by pro-Soviet Mohammed Daoud Khan, the Scout association became part of the Ministry of the Interior, took over police tasks and became a part of the Afghan police. Scouting went downhill, as during the years of unrest and war, approximately ten million left the country and looked for refuge abroad. At the beginning of the unrest, the privileged social classes left the country, so that such organizations could not exist anymore in the countryside.
The communist government banned the Afghan Scout Association in 1978, at that date with 11,212 members. By 1981, DAZT was no longer recognized by the 28th World Scout Conference, because of domestic disturbances that deprived Afghanistan of the democratic environment necessary for Scouting to continue.
Until the Soviet invasion, there were American Boy Scouts in Kabul, serving in Boy Scout Troop 1, linked to the Direct Service branch of the Boy Scouts of America, which supports units around the world.
[edit] Revival
Several times in the 1990s, and again in 2002, political and social changes in Afghanistan opened opportunities for the rebirth of Scouting in Afghanistan. In early 2002, the Interim Administration of Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested embassies of selected countries to assist in reviving Scouting in Afghanistan, and groups began to emerge, led by adults who had been involved with the program prior to 1978.
The fledgling group is Da Afğānistān Sarandoy Tolanah, the Afghan Scout Association, which started as of February 2004 and is working toward WOSM recognition. The national office in Kabul, which operates out of two rooms in the Ministry of Education building, estimates there are about 20,000 Scouts across Afghanistan. All groups are sponsored by the Ministry of Education.
Adult Scout leaders for all sections are usually schoolteachers, but others volunteers may join, subject to the approval of the Ministry of Education. All Scouts work in the schools, acting as hall monitors, crossing guards and honor guard for school visitors. Some groups are beginning to work outside the school as well, making public announcements in the bazaar, cleaning mosques, helping firefighters, performing first aid and helping injured people get to hospital. The Afghan Scout program is focused more on civic duty rather than as a pastime.
Currently the Afghan Scout Association is for boys and girls, men and women, and offers Cubs (ages 8 to 12), Scouts (ages 12 to 18) and Rovers (ages 19 to 25). Cubs, Scouts and Rovers all wear their uniforms to school or university, as that is where they perform most of their duties.
The period of war left Afghanistan with a broken communication system, so word has been slow to spread between Scout groups. There are very few computers, almost no Internet access and no countrywide telephone system. Scouts have to be counted during visits to the regions. New ideas from Kabul are difficult to spread. As a result, each group designs its own uniform and badges. Scouts have to make their own uniforms, buying the tan-colored material from the bazaar and then having it tailor made into a shirt and pants (boys), or long shirt and baggy pants (girls).
Boys also must tailor make a pillbox hat from the same tan material. Girls wear either the pillbox hat or a chador. A leather Scout belt with a brass belt buckle completes the uniform. The total cost for these items is about 500 Afghanis, or ten dollars; a huge sum when one considers the monthly salary for a teacher in Afghanistan is about 30 dollars. Scouts usually perform odd jobs to earn the money a few Afghanis at a time and often a Scout group will pool its money to buy a uniform for a new member.
Although Afghanistan does have a Guiding organization (possibly coeducational, or in a separated body), work towards World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts membership recognition remains unclear.
The Scout Motto is Tayar Osay, translating as Be Prepared in Pashto.
[edit] Associations for Afghan minorities abroad
In Germany there is a Scout Fellowship founded by Scouts and Guides from Afghanistan, named De Afghanistan Zarandoi Tolana-Afghanische Pfadfinder Organisation (Afghan Scout Association) and affiliated to the Verband Deutscher Altpfadfindergilden e.V. (Fellowship of German Former Scout Guilds), a member of the International Scout and Guide Fellowship. The Chairman of this Scout fellowship, headquartered in Lingen, is Dr. Said Habib, former vice president of the Afghan Scout Association. [2][3][4]
[edit] Emblems
 The membership badge of the Afghan Girl Scouts incorporates elements of the coat of arms of Afghanistan |
 Boy Scouts of America Troop 1 membership badge |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Chesterman, Simon; Michael Ignatieff, Ramesh Chandra Thakur (2005). Making States Work: State Failure And The Crisis Of Governance. United Nations University Press, 400. ISBN 928081107X.
- ^ De Afghanistan Zarandoi Tolana- Afghanische Pfadfinder Organisation (German). Retrieved on 2007-12-15.
- ^ Afghanische Altpfadfindergilde (German). Retrieved on 2007-12-15.
- ^ Die örtlichen Gilden (German). Retrieved on 2007-12-15.
- Scouting in Afghanistan is back. Kids' Turn Central. Retrieved on January 28, 2006.
- Scouting 'Round the World, World Scout Bureau, Geneva, Switzerland, 1977
- more recent details distilled from an article by Lieutenant Colonel David Ross, UNAMA Military Liaison Officer, Kunduz, Afghanistan
- Homepage De Afghanistan Zarandoi Tolana (German)
- Parts of this article have been translated from the German Wikipedia at de:Zarandoi
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