HAVING spent months rebuilding a scrap moped before it was stolen, Dwayne Fields was not about to let the thieves keep it.
Marching on to their estate in East London, he grabbed hold of the bike and got into a scuffle with one of the youths.
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The next thing the then 21-year-old Dwayne knew, the barrel of a gun was pointing at him from 15ft away and he heard it click. Twice.
Both times he saw the bullet shoot out from the side of the misfiring weapon rather than at him.
Dwayne recalls: “As he was wrestling to reload it, some of the boys grabbed him and said, ‘Don’t waste the bullets.’ ”
That moment changed Dwayne’s life.
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Today he is recounting that story with a scarf tied around his neck and wearing a hooded top with the words “Chief Scout” on it.
It was the first time I got to feel I had something to offer because I could take part in what was happening and give advice.
Dwayne Fields
It’s fair to say that the new face of the 114-year-old youth organisation has experienced even more life-and-death situations than his daredevil predecessor Bear Grylls.
Dwayne has been stabbed above the heart and in the abdomen.
As an explorer, he’s also been hunted by a polar bear and faced a deadly viper.
His background could not be more different from Old Etonian Bear: he barely knows his father, is estranged from his mum and spent time homeless.
These days, he goes on adventures with movie stars such as Will Smith and presenter Ben Fogle, and he’s had a message from the Princess of Wales saying: “Looking forward to working with you!”
This week, The Sun joined married father-of-four Dwayne as he gave out his first badges to young Cubs in his new role.
He sees the Scouts as a “wholesome” place in the community, which offers youngsters experiences that will keep them away from knife crime.
Dwayne explains: “I’ve been stabbed on the streets of London.
“To me, that’s an extreme survival experience.
“There are so many young people who pick up knives and don’t respect life.
“The Scouts teaches us respect for your teammate, respect for your peers, respect for your community — which I think is lacking in a lot of places.”
Dwayne, 41, had been “an unexpected pregnancy from a short relationship” and has had almost no contact with his dad.
Born in Jamaica, the youth leader arrived in North London just before his seventh birthday, and shortly afterwards a friend introduced him to the Scouts.
He recalls: “I was anxious and nervous, I was shy.
I hadn’t had any arguments. I had not stepped on anyone’s shoes. I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I lost a lot of blood.
Dwayne Fields
“But before I knew it, we were doing all the things that I was used to doing in Jamaica.
“I was using ropes and logs and planks of wood to make bridges between two benches.
“It was the first time I got to feel I had something to offer because I could take part in what was happening and give advice.”
A few months later, though, his family moved to Stoke Newington in East London and he was unable to continue as a Cub Scout.
The first time he saw a knife was at the age of ten — and nine years later one was plunged into his chest when yobs gatecrashed a friend’s social event.
He recalls: “I hadn’t had any arguments.
“I had not stepped on anyone’s shoes.
“I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I lost a lot of blood.
“And I remember just pointing the knife out to one of the friends to kind of, you know, come to my rescue. And I remember him shouting, ‘He’s passing out.’”
The blade had hit the second rib down.
Any lower, the doctor who saved him at the Whittington Hospital in Islington told him, and it could have punctured his lungs.
His friends urged Dwayne to get revenge on his assailant — but he says: “I don’t harbour ill will towards anyone, even people who have done me harm.
“I decided I was going to use this as a catalyst for me to change my direction and do something positive.”
By the age of 20, his mum, from whom Dwayne is estranged, told him to find his own place to live.
Without the money for a hotel room or rent, he ended up walking more than ten miles from Stoke Newington to Streatham in South London every night, fearing being attacked if he slept on the capital’s streets.
After receiving some kindly advice from a Tube driver after sleeping in an Underground carriage one night, he found himself a place to stay.
Dwayne, whose jobs have included working for the High Street chemist Boots, in a bank and as an apprentice engineer, got his life together after the shooting incident.
‘Fired shots in the air’
He became involved again with outdoor pursuits, taking part in a half-marathon and the Three Peaks Challenge, which sees enthusiasts climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales.
Then, in 2008, he saw Ben Fogle and Olympic rower James Cracknell on TV asking viewers to apply to be the third person on their expedition to the South Pole.
He missed out on the deadline because “it took a good few weeks to pluck up the courage to send an email” but was asked if he’d like to join a trek to the North Pole instead.
After knocking on doors, saving half his wages and using his student loan, the University of East London graduate pulled together the £23,000 he needed for the trip in 2010.
While tackling the frozen Arctic landscape, the team spotted they were being tracked by a polar bear.
Dwayne recalls: “It kept coming closer, to the point where we thought, right, let’s put into action everything that we’ve done in training.
“Let’s make ourselves look big.
“Open your jackets, flap, bang your skis, bang your poles — anything you can do to make noise. And it just didn’t seem to work.
“Eventually, we fired off some of the flares to try to scare it off.
“It slowed it down, but it didn’t stop it.
“As it kept advancing, my teammate took the shotgun and fired a couple of times in the air to scare it off.
“That’s exactly what it did.”
But adventure really starts at the green space at the end of your road or in your local park, if you’re lucky enough to have access to it.
Dwayne Fields
Since then, Dwayne has appeared on the BBC’s Springwatch and Countryfile, worked with Will Smith on his Disney+ documentary series Welcome To Earth and joined Ben Fogle for Channel 5 show Endurance: Race To The Pole.
Now he fronts his own adventure programme, 7 Toughest Days, on the National Geographic channel, visiting far-flung places such as Gabon in Africa and Kyrgyzstan in Asia.
This month, Dwayne will fly to Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania to film a new TV series about the source of the river Nile.
He also founded the #WeToo Foundation, which plans to take ten underprivileged young people to the Galapagos Islands this year.
He says: “I’m really fortunate that I get to go on these big expeditions.
“But adventure really starts at the green space at the end of your road or in your local park, if you’re lucky enough to have access to it.”
Plenty of youngsters are searching for real-world adventures, with 107,000 on a waiting list to join the UK’s half a million active Scouts.
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His mission as the new Chief Scout is to encourage enough adults to volunteer to work with the association so that all those kids can find a group local to them.
As he hands out badges to Cubs and Beavers at Kingsbury Scouts in Brent, North London, it is clear that children are inspired.
Dwayne, who was an ambassador for the Scouts for seven years prior to taking over from Bear, says: “Every single one of those badges, to me, is a lesson learned.
“It’s setting yourself a goal and taking the steps to reach it.
“The badge represents dedication, perseverance, resilience, determination.”
And few people represent those traits better than Dwayne.
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