South Angus at the World Jamboree

Two of our Explorers, Zac and Logan, were part of the UK contingent at the 24th World Scout Jamboree (WSJ), jointly hosted by Scouts Canada, Asociación de Scouts de México and Scouts BSA in West Virginia, USA.

Background

This year’s WSJ theme was “unlock a new world” – to unlock new adventures, cultures and friendships in the New World of North America. The aim was to unlock the potential in every young person and volunteer – empowering them to find solutions to international challenges and return to their home countries as Messengers of Peace (find out more about world Scouting’s Messengers of Peace programme here [https://www.scout.org/messengersofpeace]).
The jamboree was held at Summit Bechtel Reserve, located in the Appalachian mountains. The Summit is one of four “high adventure bases” in the US, including the longest combined ziplines in the world and the largest man-made outdoor climbing centre in the US. The reserve stretches over 4,290ha and is surrounded by a huge area of wild space which makes the whole jamboree site expand over 28,328ha!
The 24th WSJ brought together over 45,00 young people, as well as volunteer contingent leaders and International Service Team (IST), from 167 countries. The programme included such diverse activities as aerial sports, a cultural celebration day, shooting, model UN and extreme sports.

Global Ambassador Zac

Each country represented at the jamboree elected a Global Ambassador of Scouting, and Zac was chosen as Scotland’s ambassador! He kept a blog of his time at the WSJ which you can find here [www.2019wsj.org/ga/gbr-zac]. He also set up the East Scotland WSJ Instagram page, worldjambams [https://www.instagram.com/worldjambams/].
I’ve included some highlights from both below.

Pre-Jamboree

After a six hour plane journey, the contingent landed in New York, where they did some late-night sightseeing and can now attest to the truth of the old saying that New York is “the city that never sleeps”. The next day they had an adrenaline filled boat tour around the Statue of Liberty, before a seven hour bus ride to West Virginia.

At the Jamboree

The WSJ had a number of adventurous activities, such as kayaking on a local river and the Big Zip, a zipline with a birds eye view of the camp which reaches 50mph! This was Zac’s favourite activity.

Embed https://www.instagram.com/p/B0bBUCsJ_rM/
A great activity, which was brand new for the 24th WSJ, was Summit Stories- at which guest speakers talk about issues which matter to them and are prevalent throughout the world. The talks were given by people both within and without Scouting.

One of the talks Zac went to was on gender equity – meaning the fair treatment of genders according to their needs – a controversial subject which is often mocked or dismissed and thought of as extreme. He says that it was the one of the most worthwhile things he did or could have done at the jamboree, opening his eyes to some difficult truths, leaving him with much to reflect on and giving him tools to speak to others about things he’s passionate about. He says that if there’s one thing from the jamboree he’ll keep with him forever, this is it.

Want to Get Involved?

The 25th World Scout Jamboree will take place in South Korea in 2023. You can be a participant if you’ll be between 14-18 at the time and you can volunteer as IST, unit leader, contingent leader or a range of other volunteer roles if you’ll be 18+. Expressions of interest for volunteers are open now. You can sign up here [https://www.scouts.org.uk/international-events/wsj-2023].