The 25th World Scout Jamboree was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to say the least! No Jamboree in the past has been anything like it... and no Jamboree in the future will be either. With floods, a typhoon, a heatwave, a lack of food and being evacuated off site 8 days early, you might expect that it was all nothing but chaos and misery... but it was quite the opposite.
What is a ‘World Scout Jamboree’?
A World Scout Jamboree is a celebration of youth around the world, a gathering of around 50,000 people from all across the globe in a different country every four years. After a rigorous selection process for some - and simply just applying for others - Scouts from nearly every country on the globe attend the event. A World Scout Jamboree provides the opportunity for 14-17-year-olds to share their cultures, make friends and try to push themselves out of their comfort zone to see what they’re truly capable of.
How did you get selected?
With Britain being the home of Scouting, we had the largest contingent in the world attend the Jamboree! The U.K. had 90 units each comprising of 36 participants and 4 leaders (and that’s excluding IST, CMT, CMST, etc). Getting selected to go was by no means an easy process. For me specifically, it was a process that started in November 2021. I had to submit a video explaining why I thought I would the best candidate for the Leicestershire Unit (Unit 13) and what I’d get from the Jamboree. I’d never been on a Jamboree at this point though so I just had to make up what I thought it would be like - having absolutely no clue that the Jamboree would give me so much more than I could have ever imagined. On November 23rd 2021, I received an email from Gareth Lewis (a stranger at the time who ended up being one of my 4 unit leaders) informing me that I’d be selected! Well… whilst I was overjoyed with the news, it was only as I read further down the email that I realised I I had been selected to attend a ‘Selection Day’.
The selection day was so bizarre- so unusual. In order to test our communication and teamwork skills, the 137 applicants met up at the Outdoor Pursuit Centre for some of the most random activities I’ve ever done in Scouting. This included pitching a tent… blindfolded, playing ‘Chinese-whispers’ but with lego, giving presentations on an international event we’d like to do in the future and more. Our selection day, as if foreshadowing the Jamboree itself, was called off early because of the weather. Not quite a heatwave though, it was absolutely freezing! The snow made the majority of the activities undoable so we all head inside and made friends whilst awaiting out parents’ arrival.
The days after the selection day felt like weeks and the doubt that I’d not put my best foot forwards during the time I was being assessed grew and grew and grew. But sure enough, on Sunday 12th December 2021, I received yet another email from ‘Leicestershire Scouts International’ reading “I am very pleased to inform you that you have been selected to be a member of the Leicestershire Scouts Jamboree Unit. This is an enormous, once in a lifetime opportunity, which I am sure you will remember for the rest of your life”. Looking back now, this was the understatement of the millennia.
How did you prepare for the trip?
Between December 2021 and our departure in July 2023, our unit of 36 participants and 40 leaders had countless meet-ups. We had activity days, training camps, fundraising events, hikes and even a Christmas party together all before the big trip! Bearing in mind that the unit first met as a whole on January 16th 2022, some of us were complete strangers! But by July 26th 2023, it felt as though I was going on holiday with this new family that I’d formed over the last 2 years. It felt as though I’d known these people my whole life - and though through the 2 years we’d had our ups and downs, we were all so close! Physically, I feel like I was as prepared as I could have been given that I’d been warned about the hours of walking you have to do on a Jamboree but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the 8km trek from one side of the site to the other in 44℃ heat!
What did you do before the Jamboree?
Before the Jamboree, we had what was known as a ‘post-tour’. The idea of a ‘post-tour’ is to familiarise yourself with the culture of the country that you’re visiting and understanding a bit more about its traditions, values and language. I must admit, whilst I tried to learn as much Korean as I could, it ended up being just many of the basic phrases that I learnt (hello: ‘annyeonghaseyo”, please: ‘juseyo’, thank you: ‘gamsahabnida’, sorry: ‘mianhamnida’, nice to meet you: ‘bangawoyo’, etc). There was actually one funny incident when Eles and I were in the train station and I tried to speak Korean to a local who was waiting for the same train as we were. I went up to him and in response to my trying to say ‘Hello, how are you?’ in Korean, he responded in perfect English: ‘Sorry… I don’t speak English’ as though I had absolutely no idea what I just said!
Our ‘pre-tour’ in Seoul was absolutely amazing! We got to travel around the city and see some of the wonders we’d only ever seen on social media like N Seoul Tower, the DMZ, etc.
The DMZ was actually one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had on any trip. Having studied the topic in GCSE History, visiting the place was entirely different to my expectation. I was predicting guns blazing, soldiers shouting, bombs, mines, barbed wire, etc. But with a 4km no-man’s land boundary between the two countries, it’s in fact the most peaceful place I’ve ever been. Wildlife had taken back no-man’s land and the ‘agreement to disagree’ between the two countries acted as a barrier in and of itself. Both nations’ flags were hoisted high and proud as though single-handedly defending each nation against the wrath of the other, fighting against the wind.
What was life on-site at the Jamboree like?
There is absolutely no way whatsoever that I’ll ever be able to describe the feeling of being on the Jamboree site. The feeling of being surrounded by 50,000 like-minded individuals who were all gathering for the same purpose. The feeling of being one in tens of thousands of Scouts all from different countries, speaking different languages, with different cultures and traditions, sharing different stories about their experiences, their home life and Scouting in their country. That was when I truly felt ‘in my zone’. I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and the stresses of the heatwave, the flooding and the lack of food just disappeared.
The heat was probably the biggest problem on site. The hospital was, in fact, full of patients suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion by August 1st (before any of the participants had even arrived)! There was such little shade provided to the extent that the shaded walkways/tunnels ended up becoming a hotspot for thousands of Scouts. People from all over the world began to set up trading stalls and little markets where you could swap anything from badges to scarfs to t-shirts to hats or even socks! The harsh temperatures ended up resulting in the majority of activities being called off so trading was a massive part of this Jamboree! Whilst at the time it just seemed like an excuse to start conversations, I’ve returned to England with so much memorabilia from all of the friends I made in Korea. Each single item of clothing comes with its own memories, whether it be the Germany t-shirt from Magdalena (who’s friend brought a guitar to Korea!), the necklace from my friends in Malaysia, the scarf from my Korean and Vietnamese friends or even the Malaysian shirt that I managed to trade for on my last day!
I’m not going to lie and tell you that being on-site was easy because it was far from it. Temperatures peaked at 44℃, so humid that I’d wake up in the tent with Myles (another participant from my unit) physically dripping in sweat. My dinner on day 1 was a bowl of plain, cold (but cooked) rice. My lunch on day 2 was a singular croissant - after realising post-translation that the ‘100% Plain Potato Crisps’ contained beef, pork and other ‘unknown meat substances’. My lunches on days 3 and 4 were just banana after banana after banana but as time passed, dinners did gradually get easier as we started to eat more and more at the food houses. The food houses were a collection of marques set up to display the culture of various nations and to sell their most traditional foods. There was an Italian food house, serving pizza and pasta; a British food house, serving fish and chips; an Australian food house, serving fairy bread (plain white bread with butter and sprinkles - much nicer than it sounds, trust me) and so much more! There was even live entertainment daily on the stage at the centre of these marques with everything from a traditional Korean percussion group to a classical guitarist to a Kpop group!
Why was the Jamboree closed early?
There wasn’t one reason. It was a combination of everything from the scorching temperatures to the poor sanitation in the bathrooms to the lack of food but most importantly: the looming typhoon heading straight for us! There’s so much speculation as to what went wrong with the planning of the Jamboree and a lot of talk about corruption, exploitation of the funds, the list goes on. At the time is was… disappointing to say the least. That was the day I had my big breakdown. My first point of call was my parents and just hearing their voices brought me that bit closer to home, and being that bit closer to home was just what I needed when I was at my saddest point 5,559 miles from home. This feeling that I was exactly where I was meant to be - my euphoria - was being taken away from me. Looking back, it was definitely the right thing for the UK Contingent to do and ultimately, it meant that after the Jamboree we got to stay in hotels instead of universities, military camps or village halls like the other contingents.
Was it worth it?
This is a question that I’ve been asked more than any other since my return. “Was it worth it?” And yes, we got kicked off site 8 days early. Yes I struggled at points with the food, the temperature, the constant activity, etc. But it was 100% worth it.
The Scouting motto is ‘Scouts: Be Prepared’ and if I could change anything, it would be just this. There was no way that we could have prepared for such an experience. There was no way of predicting what happened and most of activities were planned either on the day of or the day before we did them. So no, I wasn’t prepared. Nobody was. But we did adapt. This experience forced me into adapting in a completely new and unfamiliar environment. To make the best out of an unfortunate situation and to see the ‘silver lining’ in what was essentially a big mistake. I regret nothing from the experience and honestly… I wish I was back there right now.
Scouts: Adapt.
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