18 young people aged 14 to 18 and 4 adult volunteers from the Isle of Wight will be attending the 25th World Scout Jamboree at SaeManGeum, South Korea in August 2023.
The Jamboree in Korea in 2023 will be the largest Scout camp to be held since the start of the Covid Pandemic with over 40,000 young people from almost every nation on earth taking part, including 3,240 young people from every corner of the UK.
The Jamboree is a skills, cultural, and adventure festival happening in a scenic area of South Korea. The young people from the Island will be meeting thousands of Scouts from nearly every country in the world: sharing their skills and learning new skills that they can use in other aspects of their life as well as campaign for change on key world issues that matter to them.
The World Scout Jamboree will be the culmination of 18 months’ work for the young people and their volunteer leaders, who together are called the UK Contingent. In preparation for a ‘roarsome’ time ahead, young people from the UK Contingent have adopted a logo featuring a Siberian tiger, the national animal of Korea. They have named the tiger ‘Chingu’ a word that means friend in Korean.
Between now and July 2023 the young people from the Island will attend training camps and team building events, preparing them for living in the heat and humidity of Korea.
The cost of attending the World Jamboree and the associated training is £3,995 per head. Island Scouts are busy fundraising with aim of achieving £44,000 (£2,000 per head) by August 2023. The rest of the cost will be met through personal contribution.
The Korean hosts of the Jamboree have challenged participants to “Draw your Dream” and, as part of their Jamboree journey, Island Scouts will have the opportunity to discover new cultures and take part in activities focusing on the environment, skills development, and global development issues.
Harry Taylor, an Island Explorer Scout, says:
“This is a fantastic opportunity, and I’m really looking forward to meeting so many different Scouts and learning new skills.”
Lily Blake, another Island Explorer Scout, has said:
“This is a huge but exciting undertaking for all of us – a once in a lifetime experience. We have a lot of fundraising to do and hope the Island will support our efforts.”
