The World Scout Jamboree – a Scouts Adventure!

Occurring every four years, the World Scout Jamboree is the largest gathering of Scouts with the purpose of sharing culture, making new friendships, and educating young people about global issues. This year the event was held in South Korea with 43,000 Scouts from 158 countries.  

Three years ago, I accepted a role on the UK Management team for the Jamboree, tasked with taking 4,500 UK Scouts to South Korea. It was a fantastic period working with a volunteer team that had different skills and backgrounds, as well as different geographies (made extra challenging when I moved to Australia for work part way through, proving digital technology can keep us connected). The team sorted everything from initial recruitment of a wider support team, travel, kit, event management plans, welfare and training. My particular role was recruiting and training our fantastic international service team (IST). An 800-strong collective of adult volunteers willing to give up their time to support the Jamboree. The team that I recruited were fantastic. We aimed to be the most diverse and inclusive UK Contingent yet and the team worked hard to ensure we achieved this. We ensured the IST had training about how to deliver a Jamboree, survive the challenges of different cultures and climate and worked to bring them together as a team. We also put plans in place to support those with additional needs to ensure they could contribute within their own limitations. However, in all our planning we could never have foreseen the challenges that we eventually faced.  

You may have seen coverage from the BBC and other international media organisations documenting the initial challenges of a site recovering from flooding pre-event, followed by an unseasonal 30+ degree heatwave whilst we were there. However, these events only exaggerated other challenges we faced when a small advance team and I arrived on site. Delivering a Jamboree for 40,000 people is like setting up a town two thirds the size of Loughborough from scratch, and providing all the core facilities needed such as a hospital, food supply, water, and sanitation. The truth is that when we arrived these basics were not in a place to support the wider arrival of young people from around the world. Over the days before the event, we worked long hours with the organisers mobilising our UK adult volunteers to get the site ready for the Jamboree. As well as the heat, making progress at times was challenging, as we quickly learnt how to work with our hosts whose hierarchical culture and different approaches often delayed important decisions being made. Our young people were having a fantastic pre-event in Seoul and therefore we initially made the decision to delay their arrival for 24 hours. We then brought them to the site for the opening ceremony once we assessed the site could host our UK Contingent with further promises from the Korean government of more support.

Unfortunately, progress was not made once the whole UK Contingent was on site and our red lines (food dietary requirements, sufficient medical provision, waste management and cleaning) had not been met, meaning we had to make the hard, but correct decision to move ourselves back to Seoul. A logistical challenge, pulled off successfully by my team arranging the relocation transport and new hotel bookings for 4,500 UK scouts in under 24 hours. We were shortly followed by other nations and regretfully the Jamboree was closed early due to a Typhoon which eventually swept through Korea, further complicating our time in the country.  

Now in an unplanned phase of our Jamboree I am most proud of my team and the UK adult volunteers who, benefitting from the generosity of the Korean people and help from the UK embassy, delivered a very different but equally engaging Jamboree for our young people. This programme was put together in a day from scratch and showed how creative and resourceful Scouts can be. Activities included visits to the Demilitarised Zone to learn about reunification efforts, cultural performances, visits to palaces and temples, and city-wide games and challenges produced for UK participants. We culminated the two weeks with a cultural event generously hosted by SaRang Community Church (the largest underground church building in Korea) where we came together with other nations to share our different cultures, taste different foods and listen and watch music and dance performances. The Jamboree ended on a high with the closing ceremony at the Seoul World Cup stadium with an out of this world K-Pop concert that the participants marveled at.  

I reflect on the three weeks with admiration for those who volunteered their time alongside me, who made the Jamboree a safe and successful event despite the challenges. Every young person I spoke to had a fantastic time and they demonstrated the resilience Scouting teaches you and took away special memories from Korea. As a country it is a place I will definitely be visiting again. The kindness and generosity of the people will stick with me. Despite the long hours I put in, I did get a few hours occasionally to marvel at the cultural beauty of the country; from its wilderness to grand palaces; fantastic food to creative arts scene.  

The Scout motto is “be prepared.” I am not sure if myself or our management team could have ever prepared for what we faced. However, all the plans we had made and the strong team we put together (termed “team yellow” for our work tops that made us identifiable) meant we were able to adapt when needed and lean on the varied skills each team member possessed from our different work and personal backgrounds, to deliver a unique Jamboree experience.  

As with many fellow pupils at Loughborough Grammar School I got involved in Scouting at an early age, and I know many who enjoyed their weekly meeting in the CCF (Combined Cadet Force) hut. For me Scouting has certainly opened up opportunities at work, for travel, and to make new friends whose paths I would otherwise never have crossed. Scouting has also helped me reconnect with former pupils of LSF over the years as our paths cross again at events. Whether as a child you were in Scouting or Guiding, or you have never been involved before, I would encourage you to reach out to your local group to see how you can help. There is a role for everyone that can fit around the time you can give. I am even lucky enough to be currently using Corporate Social Responsibility investment from my company Arup to assist Scouts UK in achieving greater sustainability and developing fit for purpose meeting places of the Future.

Jonathan Bailey (FFD 2002; LGS 2009) 

One alum that Jonathan connected with at the Jamboree was Pip Cottam (LHS 1998).

Pip said, “We realised that we were both Loughburians in South Korea! It was quite funny and really nice to have the link, I think we both have fond memories and so it was nice to have another connection, over and above the scouting one.”

This World Scout Jamboree was Pip’s second making her very lucky indeed. “Jamborees are a unique experience, hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t experienced one. I’ve only actually been a member of the scouts for 9 years, when my eldest child joined, but its where I’ve found a home and friends for life. It’s given me opportunities to volunteer in ways which I never thought possible and seeing adults and young people develop, grow and improve the world around them is inspiring, humbling and I feel privileged to be a part of the movement.”

Pip’s luck sadly didn’t extend to her children who were unsuccessful in getting a place with over 120 applicants for 36 places locally. As Co-Head of Operations for the Staff Hub, part of the Korean planning team, Pip looked after the 8,000 adults onsite in South Korea. “After meeting the team in Seoul, we travelled to site and found some immediate issues which needed our attention. In the first few days before most of the other adult volunteers got to site, we encountered the local weather and its impact on the site….but we persevered and prepared for the arrival of the International Service Team (IST) and then young people from over 140 countries. Tents were issued, questions were answered and entertainment and activities prepared and arranged. The staff hub was operational!” Pip explains.

And although there were challenges, Pip notes that, “One of the beautiful things about a Jamboree is the coming together of like-minded people from across the world with a common purpose, to deliver the best experience possible for the young people whilst looking after the adults as well.”

No two days were the same for Pip and ranged from sorting out food and tents and driving to the onsite hospital to inspecting toilets, reporting issues, diffusing frustrated adults and literally everything in between. Pip talks about her team with pride, “My team were amazing and I’m proud of every single one of them. We wouldn’t have run as well as we did without their enthusiasm, hard work and fabulousness.”

Just as Pip and her team were just getting into their groove, so to speak, they were thrown a curveball – contingents leaving the site and then its full evacuation due to the impending typhoon. “Mobilising 43 000 in a short space of time is a sight to be beholden. As ever, the scouting spirit was evident and everyone was relocated. This wasn’t the end, but just other areas where the Jamboree could continue. As I was then based in Seoul, I helped out at the worlds largest underground church for a cultural day and spent time exploring with friends I’d met along my jamboree journey as well as attending the very impressive closing ceremony and K-Pop concert,” Pip says.

Whilst it was a different experience to Pip’s first Jamboree in West Virginia, USA, she came away in awe of the dedication, hard work and resilience of the scouting movement and volunteers who make these events possible.

It doesn’t stop here for pip though, her next International Scout adventure is as IST Coordinator for the Roverway planning team, which is being held in Norway in Summer 2024!

Pip Cottam (LHS 1998)