By Pam Teel
Over 43,000 youth, leaders and volunteers from 150 different countries made their way to the 25th World Scout Jamboree that took place in South Korea, the beginning of August of this year. The event didn’t go as smoothly as planned when mother nature, among other issues came to surface.
Matthew McCormick, from Allentown, NJ, was among those scouts looking forward to the Jamboree. On July 27th, he excitedly boarded a plane bound for South Korea along with many other scouts. The event was to begin on August 1st. Three days before the event, the troops got to do some sightseeing. They toured temples, saw palaces, hiked, saw the Seoul Tower, and according to Matthew, ate lots of rice.
The first major issue they encountered was that the site they were to camp on had been flooded by two previous weeks of torrential rain, causing flooding and unsanitary conditions, and prompting opening night to be moved to the next day. The USA Contingent recognized all the problems with the site and partnered with Army Garrison Humphreys to have over 1000 of their scouts spend the first night in a school gymnasium. They were given military meals to eat before being bussed to the Jamboree site on Wednesday.
Some of the USA Scout troops found that their planned tents and other necessary gear had not been provided and they spent the first night on the floor and in plastic chairs in a headquarters tent without any food or water provided for them on their first night there.
Also, extreme heat prompted many to be treated for heat-related illness. Temperatures reached 105 day and night. No permanent structures were on site but they had green canopies with mist machines to keep them cool. According to the local weather forecast, A typhoon was heading their way.
In an emergency meeting with parents Saturday morning, President, CEO, and 14th Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America, Roger Mosby, announced their decision to pull the USA Contingent from the Jamboree site and return to Camp Humphreys. Other countries also decided the conditions were to poor and dire for them to stay.
Despite oppressive heat, problems with proper food storage, terrible sanitation conditions, threat of a typhoon, and lack of enough medical facilities, Matthew still had a great experience. Through Scouting, he has learned that obstacles aren’t things that stop you from going forward. They just force you to find a new way to proceed. He went for one big jamboree adventure and ended up being a part of another big adventure. Matthew stated that it was a trip of a lifetime for him and that he had no regrets. He did a lot of trading and swapping with other scouts from other countries for some really cool items such as: neckerchiefs, hats, patches, Koala Bucket hat from Australia, a Queen funeral patch, and a King Charles coronation Patch, Woggle made from the tail of a Spingbok by a South African Scout, and neckerchiefs from around the world.
While at the base, they toured around South Korea- they went to a waterpark, an underground mall, a baseball game, more temples, a botanical garden, saw many cultural shows (dancing, drumming, kpop, costumes, etc) and yes, ate more rice.
On their last night, they went to The World Cup Stadium in Seoul to get back together with the whole group for the closing ceremony and the passing of the flag to the Poland Contingent. Jamboree 2027 will be in Gdansk Poland. 20 K-pop acts took to the stage after a ceremonial closing of the 25 World Scout Jamboree. “My grandfather went to the 9th world jamboree in England 1957. He always talked about his trip! He was SOOOOO excited for me to go! He passed away in January. I took his neckerchief and patch with me to South Korea,” Matthew stated. “All in all, it was a very positive experience and it was amazing to be able to interact with people from all over the world!”