Become a volunteer“Have you ever slept on the ground?”
This was asked at the closing ceremony of the World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia this Summer to a stadium full of Guides and Scouts. Needless to say, it got a big laugh.
This question was asked in an advert type video about the next World Scout Jamboree which will be held in South Korea in 2023, and from my experience this Summer, I highly recommend considering applying to go.
But, I’m probably going a bit too fast so let’s backtrack a bit…
This Summer I attended the 24th World Scout Jamboree (WSJ) in West Virginia, USA as part of the International Service Team (IST). The Jamboree is a massive camp that happens roughly every 4 years in different locations around the world.
This year it was hosted by the USA, Mexico and Canada and held on the Summit Bechtel Reserve which is 10,000+ acres and filled with different adventurous activities. To give you an idea of scale, it took 45 minutes to walk from my tent to where I was working and that was less than half the width of the site.
There are lots of smaller Jamborees which happen all over the world more regularly but the WSJ is special because it’s the biggest of the lot and gets the most diverse mix of campers. At the Jamboree this year there were 45,000 Guides and Scouts from over 150 countries, which is just an amazing experience. So many different cultures came together with only peace, adventure and curiosity in their minds.
As a member of the IST I had to work for most of the time as we were the ones who were enabling the participants to have such a good time. But even though there was a job to do, I always had a lot of fun. I was in a team of around 10 people, each from a different country, and we spent each day learning new things about each other’s cultures and just getting along really well.
Our job was to run some activities to do with sustainable communications:
We oversaw a Cyber escape room which, of course, we had to try out. That was really fun and also a great team-building exercise before we started running the activities for all the participants.
We ran a paper-making activity where the participants could make paper from bits of scrap that had already been used. This was a nice activity as it showed how we can recycle everyday materials, and also gave the participants (and us) something tangible to take home that wasn’t just the usual souvenirs and badges.
Our final activity was running Pictionary which is surprisingly fun. It was especially nice to run this between teams from different countries as language wasn’t as much of a barrier as it can sometimes be in teamwork activities. The biggest problem with Pictionary was coming up with ideas that the teams knew. For example, at one point I gave them “Jacket Potato” but had to translate that to “Baked Potato” before they understood what they were supposed to be drawing.
Aside from our activities, there were loads of other activities to get involved with, although IST only got to join in when there weren’t any participants waiting – which makes sense really. There were adventurous activities such as zip wire, archery and kayaking, and less adventurous activities such as exploring different cultures, learning new skills and solving problems as a team. And if all that wasn’t enough, there were food houses to try out different countries’ national dishes as well as lots of people to talk to from all over the world.
A big part of any Jamboree is badge swapping. The basic idea is that when you meet someone and have a conversation with them, you swap badges or little souvenirs to remember each other by. This is still the case but badge swapping also happens between complete strangers (which I felt was a bit commercialised and didn’t really like). But whatever your outlook is, badge swapping is an inherent part of the Jamboree experience, whether you partake vigorously, just watch or are somewhere in between.
Overall, I think I was quite lucky at the Jamboree. I had an amazing team who were all similar ages to me and we were doing some really fun work. Also, we had camp beds to sleep on and quite nice tents to sleep in (although at one point they flooded due to there being a hole for a peg without a peg in it, and at another point, some of the UK contingents had to be evacuated due to a sewage issue…but it’s not a camp without a few issues is it?).
I would definitely recommend going to a World Scout Jamboree if you get the chance. It’s a great opportunity to meet people from around the world, as well as others from the UK and your local area. It can also develop you as a person, whilst being surrounded by supportive people who are always willing to help you along the way. And don’t worry about being the only one you know who’s going; I only knew a few unit leaders and made loads of friends, as long as you’re willing to talk to people, you’ll be fine.
