Scouting, Volume 84, Number 6, November-December 1996 Page: 31
50, [20] p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Scouting, Not Gangs
By Lynda Natali
Photographs by Rob
Nelson/Black Star
WHEN Po-
lice Offi-
cer Ayin-
de Afiba
was as-
signed to the Hitch
Village housing project
in Savannah, Ga., he
noticed something
troubling. Young boys
living in the inner-city
housing development
weren't getting along
with youngsters at sur-
rounding public hous-
ing neighborhoods.
Without some type of intervention, Afiba
feared gangs would soon be forming.
A police rookie at the time, Afiba remem-
bered what Scouting had meant to him while
growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y. It had given
him confidence, taught him about leadership,
courage, and achievement—all lessons he
wanted to give to these boys. So he bor-
rowed the number from his Brooklyn troop
and Troop 219 was formed.
"When I told other police officers and peo-
ple what I was doing, they said it couldn't be
done," Afiba remembered. "They said, 'You
can't havr a Scout troop there.'"
That was eight years ago.
Today, Troop 219 is an urban Scouting sue-
J
Troop 219 gives Scouts
like Christian Simmons
opportunities to excel,
serve, and experience
the world beyond their
urban neighborhood.
Others said
a troop in
public housing
couldn't
succeed, but
a Savannah,
Ga., police
officer was
determined to
offer youth the
same kinds of
opportunities
he had once
received.
cess story. Dozens of
boys, living in one of
this historic city's most
economically deprived
areas, have joined the
troop and excelled. For
them, Scouting, not
gangs, is a part of their
lives.
Immediate changes
It started out as a
way to bring the boys
together, said Afiba.
"And it worked; I saw
the changes in them al-
most immediately."
Every Saturday since 1988 when the troop
isn't off camping, the Scouts meet at an
apartment that serves as the Hitch Village
police office.
Although the public housing development
is being renovated, back along Hitch Drive
where the boys meet, many of the pale yel-
low and blue apartments sit vacant. Entire
blocks, clustered together and many named
after characters in the Bible like Gideon and
David, are boarded up and covered with ply-
wood and graffiti.
The Scouts often head across the street to
a small park. They practice skills there for
future outings, such as setting up tents and
Scouting November-December 1996
31
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 84, Number 6, November-December 1996, periodical, November 1996; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353678/m1/51/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.