Current Events

Sikh Scouts

by RAMNEET KAUR SACHDEV

As Sikhs, almost all of us have encountered some form of bullying in our childhood, sometimes even in our adulthood. Either we are teased because of our outward appearance, or we are picked on because of our beliefs.

Some of us have experienced racial slurs and, sadly, a few, even physical attacks.

In 2007, The Sikh Coalition surveyed over 1,000 New York City Sikh students and discovered that over half of them reported being teased or harassed because of their Sikh identity.

Upon hearing this, a Baruch College student who resides in Queens was inspired to do something. He reached out to the Sikh Student Association at his college and started a group called Sikh Scouts.

Sikh Scouts is essentially a small-scale Sikh youth mentoring event that aims to forge and develop a long-lasting relationship with children in need of good Sikh role models to help them guide them on the path of Sikhi.

As a freshman at Baruch College and a former intern for Sikh Coalition, I felt an immediate desire to participate in the second annual Sikh Scouts event. And so, I, along with eight others, woke up at 7:30 am on a Sunday and trekked out to Richmond Hill, Queens (New York) for a fun-filled day at the New York Hall of Science.

We were each paired with a same-gender child ranging from the age of five to twelve, based on mutual interests, and off we went to the NY Hall of Science.

Boy, was that a great place to spend time with the children!

We went from activity to activity, laughing, learning, playing games, making shadows and blowing bubbles. I forgot how much energy kids these days have! I think it's safe to say that most of the mentors got "schooled" by the 10-year-olds, instead of the other way around.

After they warmed up to us and broke through their initial shyness, the kids couldn't stop talking about their favorite movies, TV shows and music - the Jonas Brothers and what not. And in between all of that, we got down to the serious issues: a majority of the kids did not enjoy school and felt uncomfortable because of harassment or teasing by their peers.

We told them that we could relate to them, that we had been through it as well and that you have to try and go to school with your head held up high and not show any fear - that everyone at school is going to be different from each other in some way

After our outing, we headed back to Baba Makhan Shah Lobana Gurdwara to say our goodbyes. The mentors and mentees exchanged numbers and email addresses. All of the mentors made it clear to the kids that they shouldn't hesitate to contact us. We wanted them to know that all of us have been through some sort of teasing or harassment during our childhood, too, and that it was okay for them to call us if they needed someone to talk to.

We gave them goodie-bags and they wrote us the sweetest letters. We received hugs for goodbyes.

Before attending this event, all of the mentors knew that Sikh kids, especially in Queens, NY, face tremendous amounts of bullying because of their faith. But it was only after the event that all of us understood the enormity of the situation. I especially was angered that these cute little kids did not like to go to school because of the bullying - a place where they should be happy and feel safe.

At the end of the day, Sikh Scouts was a great success and we would do it again in a heartbeat.

This event can be implemented with any Sikh Student Association around the world. It is important to lend a helping hand to our Sikh youth, so that they do not get lost amidst all the pressure from society.

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