Anyone got a Scout or Explorer going to WSJ in South Korea?

[lazylittlelucy]

Just thought I'd start a thread for parents if there are any on here.
My 17yo DD is going as an Explorer and is getting excited now.
Anyone else?

Oh wow! Hope they were looked after? Hopefully, larger contingents have looked out for the smaller groups

Seychelles and Fiji have nine each, there are quite a few small ones. (I watched the opening ceremony where they listed them all but only remember a few)

Looks like Taiwan also asked to leave before the official evacuation order: https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202308070015

I get the impression from reading the Czech Scout twitter account that smaller contingents are being looked after well by the larger ones who are thinking about them rather than forgetting about them.

They are sticking together in groups where appropriate - for example those needing halal provisions look to be staying together precisely to ensure that their needs aren't forgotten.

It would be strange for scouts not to do this as a matter of routine tbh. Whether that's in the heads and thinking of the South Korean government is a completely different story.

Today's news does seem to indicate a lack of trust by numerous contingents who did stay on site in the Korean authorities. There is undoubtedly a huge amount of 'winging it' going on and a certain amount of utter chaos during the evacuation process with a real inability to pass information to parents back home. No one knows what the plan is for the next couple of days (beyond don't forget your raincoat and the K-pop closing ceremony).

None of it is ok though.

Arguably there should be an evacuation plan as part of standard planning for the site in case of emergency for an event this large. Hard to see that there was one.

Surely it should be standard to have an evacuation plan for an event like this

There was a letter in the Guardian today asking about the wisdom of tens of thousands of kids flying to a jamboree in todays environmentally conscious world at a cost of several thousand pounds each, and wouldn't they have been better doing charity work at home.
It also made a point about the "middle class-ness" of kids who can afford these trips.

Norway (700), Sweden (1400), Taiwan (1500), US(1500) and UK were all bigger delegations and went early by themselves (makes sense with so many to consider tbh).

Just reading that the Danes also went with the Norwegians and Swedes to the US base. So a big group altogether there.

Singapore had about 67 and their plan seemed to be to 'link up with the British'.

The Czechs were working with the Slovakians and the Ukrainians.

Indonesia, Portugal, Bangladesh, Poland, Malaysia, India, Egypt, Ecuador, Ireland and Mongolia remain nearby in North Jeolla Province - one of the reasons given for this was to maintain access to halal food.

There's a snippet in one article:
A total of 3,133 participants from eight countries are staying at 17 accommodations across Seoul, and 13,568 people from 88 countries are staying at 64 accommodations in Gyeonggi Province. In Incheon, 3,257 people from 27 countries are staying at eight locations, while in Daejeon, 1,355 people from two countries are staying at six accommodations.
In Sejong, 716 people from two countries are staying in three accommodations, and in North Chungcheong Province, 2,710 people from three countries are staying at seven accommodations. In South Chungcheong Province, 6,274 people from 18 countries are staying at 18 accommodations, and 5,541 people from 10 countries remain in North Jeolla Province.

But a theme in reporting I've seen for going to Seoul and surrounding is 'to meet up with the UK contingent again'. This strikes me as there being something of either confidence in the UK leadership / the Koreans have hashed some kind of programme together at this point (or both).

I think that Thursday/Friday will be interesting with the weather. It will almost certainly be wet (I'm not betting against the closing ceremony getting canned due to the weather at this point!) But it didn't look like Seoul was going to get the worst of it either.

Seen German media saying the same and how the Scouts were used in a pr exercise by the South Koreans to santitise a project which was environmentally highly controversial and really against current scouting values which are being promoted by the organisation.

It was interesting to read that in 2017 when Scout Korea was awarded the event there were only two countries who volunteered to host - South Korea and Poland. And Poland have the next one.

Unless they also object to all other international sporting events or conferences as well then I think this criticism is unfair. Is the World Cup in NZ right now OK?

(also there are all sort ways of funding the trip. The Scouts have their dream fund and many groups, such as Rotary, are often happy to help as well. I know my nephew's unit did lots of fundraising together).

Maybe it will all go the same way as the Commonwealth Games...

Thank you @AnotherThingToThinkAbout
I couldn't quite articulate why that letter in the Guardian irked me, but it did and I'm glad I'm not the only one.
I do understand that travel in its many forms is environmentally unfriendly, but lack of exposure to other cultures and experiences is also detrimental to society as a whole.

Am heartened to hear of groups sticking together and looking out for one another.
I have been involved in scouting for 35 years and as @RedToothBrush says it completely natural this would happen as a matter of course. And of course all of those 40,000 attendees went there explicitly for the shared cultural opportunities.

@lazylittlelucy are they getting more exposure now to other cultures than they were when they were on a campsite

I must admit I do struggle slightly when the young people who have gone from our area are from families who could pay for their DC to go without fundraising, but they have been fundraising (as is part of the whole process and working as a team) and asking people who could never afford a trip like that to give donations

Unless they also object to all other international sporting events or conferences as well then I think this criticism is unfair. Is the World Cup in NZ right now OK?

You have no idea what the author thinks about the World Cup. They don't have to discuss every event in their letter order to be able to criticise the Jamboree. I'm no fan of The World Cup or The Guardian but they certainly had several critical articles about the World Cup in Qatar too. And the Jamboree is nowhere near as beneficial to the economy of the hosting nation as the World Cup. It's not even close. I do think that we'll see an end to many of these huge events due to environmental concerns and the cost of hosting them and that's no bad thing imo. There are plenty of other ways to experience other cultures now.

What happens to all the tents after a jamboree?

What happens to all the tents left after Glasto?

Another event which pitches it's green creditals.

Really there should be much more thought given to this as a rule for all events. I don't think there is a substitute for meeting people in person. I do think there are much better and more considered ways to do it in a less wasteful manner.

Certainly maybe a challenge could be to get to the event in greener ways and to leave less damage and waste after these events.

I don't think it's currently part of planning and really that should be happening by now given the ethos of scouting.

It's another of those big questions going forward I think.

@toomuchlaundry no of course not. A purpose-built, functional campsite is the absolute best place for that. But given the situation they now faced with, contingents sticking together and looking out for one another facilitates co-operation and cultural appropriation.

I agree that I don't know what they think. My point (sorry if unclear) was that if they have a blanket criticism of all international events due to the carbon footprint then I admit that I cannot argue with that. But I felt it was unfair if they had singled out the WSJ for opprobrium. Maybe they haven't, I don't know. But I was trying to explore the idea or which trips are / are not seen as worthy.

I do actually think a debate about the eco credentials is valid and maybe should be part of the bid. Let's hope lots of participants going to Gdansk consider the train, for example.

It may be true that the benefits to the host nation financially may not be at world cup scale. I don't know anything about that. Certainly current commonwealth games developments show that hosting these events can be financially problematic. It would seem that the Korean government wanted the prestige of this event to maybe greenwash views of the particular site and also to help them win the 2030 World Expo.

The benefits I see of the jamboree are of the world youth meeting each other through a shared interest. Others are free to disagree. But I do think that is worth a huge amount and hard to replicate. I personally had encounters on a trip to Japan at a similar age which have stayed with me and changed me forever.

I am interested to hear what you do suggest as ways of experiencing other cultures? Maybe you should send your ideas to UK Scouting as I am sure they will be doing a big post mortem after this.

Copy of email to all adult leaders in UK

......

As you may know, over 4000 UK young people and adult volunteers are in South Korea at the moment to attend the 25 World Scout Jamboree.

You may have heard there have been challenges on the Jamboree site. On Friday 4 August, we made the tough decision to transfer our young people, and the adults supporting them, from the Jamboree site to continue their international Jamboree experience in Seoul. This decision was taken to keep our young people and adult volunteers safe.

Everyone from the UK contingent has now arrived in Seoul and allocated hotel accommodation.

Matt Hyde, Scouts CEO, has shared a direct update from South Korea on how UK Scouts are getting on with their new Jamboree programme in Seoul. He has been doing some media interviews to address some of the concerns being reported.

The reasons for our decision

We know there has been disappointment for some about the UK leaving the site. We worked hard with the organisers to do everything we could to be comfortable with keeping our contingent on site. While some areas had improved before we transferred to Seoul, others simply did not show the changes we needed to see.

The heatwave undoubtedly made for incredibly difficult conditions for those on site. However, our decision was led by the heat combined with:

•	The lack of shelter from the heat
•	Sanitation and toilet facilities not being kept a hygienic level for an event of this scale and length of duration, which was causing a public health concern.
•	Food provision that was variable and not meeting many of our group’s dietary needs
•	Waste collection was not at a level required to keep everyone safe on site.

Many of you may have seen images of flooded areas of the site which the teams were managing on arrival. We were also made aware of predicted heavy rainfall during this week which added to our decision making and forward planning.

The safety and wellbeing of our young people is always the primary concern.

Jamboree programme for UK contingent

The volunteers in Seoul with the UK contingent have worked incredibly hard to rapidly pull together a Jamboree programme that shows off the best that Seoul has to offer. The UK embassy, the Mayor’s office, local businesses and community leaders have been very generous in supporting this and offering up opportunities.

Scouts are now taking part in experiences that include:

•	Learning about the UK contribution to the Korean war
•	Cultural evening with Scouts from Singapore and other international Scouts
•	City bus tours
•	Live interactive sessions with our very own Polar explorer Dwayne Fields
•	Visiting the Han River Water Park
•	Going to local professional league Football matches
•	Visiting the palaces, temples, cultural centres and tourist sites that Seoul has to offer

Towards the end of our time in Seoul we will all come together for a final gathering to celebrate our time in this fantastic city.

Our UK International Service Team (IST)

The brilliant IST made up of UK adult volunteers are also all allocated hotel accommodation in and around Seoul.

We have been working to redeploy the IST to support the UK contingent in their new Jamboree base, covering tasks such as:

•	Delivery of the new Jamboree programme
•	Supporting the logistics and administration of the experience in Seoul
•	Overseeing hotel management where we have Units based
•	Dedicated to welfare support for young people when required

We are also in discussions about our IST supporting Scouts from other international contingents as they leave the Jamboree site and arrive in Seoul too over the coming days.

Weather conditions

It continues to be very hot in South Korea but our contingent is able to manage this better with options for shade and shelter indoors when needed.

It has been reported that a typhoon is expected to hit South Korea later this week. We are tracking the path of the typhoon and it is part of our constant dynamic risk assessment as we deliver the Jamboree experience in Seoul. We are currently comfortable we can manage the risks now the UK contingent all have indoor accommodation for shelter and indoor programme activities being developed in case required.

What are other contingents doing

Over the weekend some other contingents, such as Singapore, USA and Australia, made the decision to leave the Jamboree site. WOSM (World Organisation of the Scout Movement) has announced an early departure for all contingents from the Jamboree site.

Covering the costs

The safety and wellbeing of our young people is always our priority so we are funding all of the activities that will be provided for the rest of the Jamboree experience from our charitable reserves, as well as covering all the accommodation and food for Units and volunteers.

Contact within the UK

We have been working hard to keep County/Area/Region Commissioners and InTouch contacts up to date on the details of the revised World Scout Jamboree experience, often on a daily basis over the last week, as well as contacting the parents of the young people directly.

The Scout Information Centre continues to collate and triage all contact and questions from those in the UK. If you have specific queries or concerns please do send these to [email protected]

Planning for future international contingent events

As Scouts, exploring new cultures, meeting Scouts from around the world and taking on new adventures is part of what we do in providing skills for life for our young people. Following our return home from South Korea we know we have many learnings from this World Scout Jamboree experience which will put us in an even stronger place to prepare our contingents for Roverway 2024, World Scout Moot 2025 and the 26 World Scout Jamboree in 2027.

Support for the team

We have been overwhelmed with the generosity of volunteers getting in touch to offer their support for our difficult decision making, and offering time if needed to help as we rapidly change our plans: a true show of Scout values. We are pleased to say we have a strong team in place both in Seoul and in the UK fully dedicated to supporting the remainder of the Jamboree.

It has been incredible to see our inspirational team of volunteers pull out all the stops to make the rest of our time a fantastic experience for our young people, and to see how much our young people are getting out of their adventures in South Korea. While it is not the Jamboree we thought it was going to be, it will still be the adventure of a lifetime learning skills for life and making connections with Scouts from around the world.

I am in South Korea myself with the team and we thank you for your support as we focus on delivering a great week of activities in Seoul before the Units start to depart for the UK, as planned, from 13 August.

Carl Hankinson
UK Chief Commissioner

Few really interesting bits in that email:

We are also in discussions about our IST supporting Scouts from other international contingents as they leave the Jamboree site and arrive in Seoul too over the coming days.

and

As Scouts, exploring new cultures, meeting Scouts from around the world and taking on new adventures is part of what we do in providing skills for life for our young people. Following our return home from South Korea we know we have many learnings from this World Scout Jamboree experience which will put us in an even stronger place to prepare our contingents for Roverway 2024, World Scout Moot 2025 and the 26 World Scout Jamboree in 2027.

Certainly strike me.

OMG I did NOT mean cultural appropriation. I meant appreciation (of other cultures) 🙈

Also I don't know if it's been mentioned but they expect to spend £1million on this from reserves.

@DinnaeFashYersel that will need to be recovered in some way

Reserves means money allocated to future projects and events that now need to be cut back, delayed or axed. Unless they can recover compensation from south Korea for being corrupt bastards.

Hear Hear.

Though sadly, media, as a whole are very difficult to engage in any good news.

The benefits I see of the jamboree are of the world youth meeting each other through a shared interest. Others are free to disagree. But I do think that is worth a huge amount and hard to replicate. I personally had encounters on a trip to Japan at a similar age which have stayed with me and changed me forever

I agree with this,