Webscouts TFX

Detroit-born educational adventure series tackling cyber safety, digital citizenship, and empathy. The first-ever Afro-Arab superhero as a symbol of unity and cultural pride. The series combines storytelling and gamification to teach real-world online safety skills.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Your name is Joan Washington. Joan Washington. All right, Joan,
welcome to The Bushman Show. I'm glad to have you here,
and I'm very interested in what you are doing is
called web Scouts TFX. Now tell me what web Scouts is.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
First of all, thank you so much for allowing us here.
I cannot believe I am here at our Heart radio
with the bush Man. We've made it. It's such an
honor to be here.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
To stop making me blush.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well, well, web Scouts, you know, is a groundbreaking digital
adventure and it's born from the heart of Detroit. Web
Scouts TFX is an educational adventure series refining how young
audiences learn about cyber security and safety, digital citizenship, and empathy.
Blending the creative and the resilience that defines Detroit's cultural spirit.

(00:57):
This series turns complex online challenges into dynamic stories, an
interactive mission that inspires awareness, responsibility, accountability, and compassion in
the digital realm.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Now, before we got on, you were telling me about
your background. You lived overseas, you did all this stuff,
and then when you came back, tell everybody about that
because that is really interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Okay, thank you. Well, I was overseas for eleven years.
I worked for the US Empathy in so many different countries,
put them together international education and cultural capacity building programs.
I worked in Saudi Arabia, young in Istanbul, South Africa.

(01:42):
I was the first person of color to ever teach
at Hindrick Revuot High School in how Tank Providence in
South Africa. Because I put together international education programs and training,
the training programs for the Ministry of Education, and that's
how I got over. South Africa was the first place,
you know that I was working in education and going overseas,

(02:07):
and then I went over to Saudi Arabia for about
six or seven years. Then I was in Yemen and
East Africa, in ushabor Berandi, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and so
on and so forth.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Can I see your passport? I just want to see
all those stamps.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
So in that capacity, in foreign countries, it's so different
than here, although America is number one and everything. However,
I noticed that in the foreign countries, even in the
lesser countries, but the other countries like Finland and Singapore
and China, they have such strict restriction when it comes

(02:48):
to online safety for their children. And so when my
mother got sick. She asked for me to come home.
I was on my way to China, and so when
I got back to the States, I was shocked how
Americans allow their children to go online like free range chickens,
with safety precaution, not none of that. So then I thought,

(03:10):
we got boy Scouts, we got girls Scouts. Now we're
going to have web Scouts, and web Scouts teaches kids
about empathy, about online safety and security, and teaches kids
how to profile a threat. And that's how web Scouts
was born.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Now web Scouts is going to be a series that's
gonna that's going to be online.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Web Scouts is already online.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Now, King News, it's already online.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
It's already online. So and if you go to www
dot web Scouts tfx dot online, you know that's our website.
It will take you to all the different trailers. And
our first series is called Before the Supermoon.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
Now, what's Before the Supermoon?

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Before the Supermoon? Oh my goodness. Right, Well, you know
what web Scouts deals with the first ever Afro Arab
superhero and the reason why is Afro Arab because we
have the largest amount of Arab Americans outside of the
Middle East. And so what I wanted to do was

(04:19):
showcase Detroit. Detroit is known as the city of international nations,
you know, and so we want to showcase all the cultures.
And so what I wanted to do, which has never
been done the first ever, I wanted to show the
subcultural I wanted to show our relationship with our Arab
brothers and sisters in a series that going to promote diversity,

(04:44):
going to promote brotherhood, is going to promote what it
looks like and feels like to be bullied and how
he handles that throughout the series.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
Oh wow, now this is animated serious?

Speaker 2 (04:57):
It is, Yes, it's an animated series.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Who's writing.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
I'm the writer and the creator.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
How did you learn to do all that?

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Well, I've been writing and doing poetry, you know, since
I was a kid. I went to Hawker School here
in Detroit. I went to Tappan, I went to McKinsey,
I went to Open University, and then I went to
Immittal Aviation Aeronautical University. But I've always wrote stories and
poetry and I just never let that go and put

(05:27):
together different shows and different things when I was overseas,
and so it was just something that I was born with.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
That's awesome, and it's awesome that you're doing this for
the kids, absolutely, because they definitely need to learn how
to navigate online and know the ramifications of them commenting
on certain things a certain different way, because you can

(05:54):
get tracked down, you can be found. It can cause
you a lot of stress and anxiety by saying and
doing the wrong things online.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Absolutely, and not only that, Bushman, but there's also an
application for the parents. Parents have got to understand what
their kids are doing online. Sixty seven percent of kids
do stuff online that their parents don't know about. Now,
as parents and those grandparents, we have to be able
to communicate those dangers but also give them tools and

(06:29):
materials so they can use but can be also at education,
but can be fun. And this is where the edutainment
part comes in.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Well, I'm going to go take a look at the
first series because I'm intrigued now by this. I'm thank
you for coming by and basing it out of Detroit.
So this is super cool, super different, and let's spread
the words so more people can go see it.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
Give them the website again.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Okay, it's www dot web Scout t f X dot online.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Now are you on Instagram and TikTok on Instagram?

Speaker 2 (07:08):
We're on TikTok, We're on Facebook. We're all over social media.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
And what are those handles?

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Web scouts TFX.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Okay, awesome, Definitely I'll go follow because I want to
keep up with everything going on. Joe, thank you for
coming by and spreading this knowledge with us today.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Me it was a pleasure to be here at I've
heard so much about you for years and years and years,
and to meet you in the flesh is awesome.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Thank you, Thank you. Maybe I can end up being
a character on one of your series.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Well you know what, you just never know?

Speaker 3 (07:47):
Push Man animated a watch out now