Lord Baden-Powell Society
Chloe’s World Scout Jamboree Experience
The Lord Baden-Powell Society supported four Scouts to attend the World Scout Jamboree in 2019. Chloe was just one, with her experience providing life lessons and cultural adventures.
During July and August 2019, I went to North America to attend the 24th World Scout Jamboree where Scouts from all over the world gathered and met up to experience what Scouting is like in other countries.
World Scout Jamborees only happen every four years and you have to be between the ages of 14 and a half to 17 t be eligible to attend; so this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me.
I left from Melbourne Airport on the 17th of July and flew the 14 hours long journey over to LA, and then connected onto another flight to Washington DC where the adventure began!
We, as an Australian Contingent of 800 Scouts, spent four days in Washington DC visiting museums, seeing famous monuments and adjusting to the American way of life.
After going to a baseball game, visiting the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery, we left Washington DC to fly over to West Virginia where the main part of the Jamboree was being held.
When we arrived, it was nothing like I ever expected. There were people everywhere from all corners of the world. I wouldn’t say that it was a culture shock because there were so many different cultures but it was more like a culture overload. It was hard to comprehend that Scouting was this big having come from my small Unit in the country. I was amazed.
Over the next twelve days at the Summit Bechtel Reserve, a property of 14,000 acres, I made new friends, tasted Belgian cheese, Italian breads and Swiss lollies. I went white water rafting, and saw so many people that I had ever seen all in one place before, all from different backgrounds and countries.
The Jamboree wasn’t all just about adventure. It was also about learning how to look after our world by using sustainable resources, and in doing so we tried cooked crickets, learnt all about mining, and the different ways in which we can reduce our impact on the planet.
What I found was that no matter what corner of the world you come from, we can all be linked through something we all love. Scouting is a great example of this as we all share the love for looking after the planet and other people.
When we left West Virginia, singing, “Country Road” the whole way to Charlotte Airport, we got back on planes and headed off to LA. In Los Angeles, we went to Disneyland and Six Flags Magic Mountain adventure park before we were due to fly back to Australia.
When we arrived at the airport all packed and ready to go home, the Contingent was split-up into three groups for the planes, one group heading back to Sydney, one to Brisbane and the last one to Melbourne. Unfortunately, the Melbourne plane never left because our flight was cancelled and so we had to stay in LA for another three days.
During this unexpected time, we visited the Santa Monica Pier, and were accommodated in five star hotels courtesy of Qantas.
We finally boarded on to planes heading off to Sydney where we joined our connecting flights onto Melbourne. After four weeks of being in America, we were finally back home in Australia.
This has been an experience that I will never forget and wish that I could do it all over again. I couldn’t have gotten there without the financial assistance of the Lord Baden-Powell Society, whom I am extremely grateful to for helping me have the experience I did. Thank you.
Chloe
