By the time this edition of the St. Albert Gazette hits newsstands, five local youths will have embarked on an incredible adventure on the other side of the world.
Five members of the 12th St. Albert Scouts’ Venturers group, along with two leaders and a group of volunteers, by now are scheduled to have landed in Hong Kong for a three-day pre-jamboree in advance of the 23rd World Scout Jamboree in Kirara-Hama, Japan.
The youth involved as participants – Brandon Chorley, Nathan Koesveld-King, Thomas Randall, Chelsea Rasmussen and Lucas Sande – said large-scale events like this can help dispel the stereotypes that scouts just spend their time in the woods starting fires by rubbing two sticks together.
“It isn’t just people going out and camping, it’s people connecting,” Venturer Lucas Sande said. “Just think of a group of people sitting around and having fun together; that’s what this jamboree’s going to be but on a larger scale.”
All told, the trip will cost a total of around $90,000 to send everyone including the leaders and volunteers, and the scouts have been raising money for the better part of two years to make it happen – including a large garage sale in the spring and Christmas-tree sales for two winters.
But for all the hard work that went into it, there was no doubt earlier this week the group saw it as a worthwhile investment of their time.
“You don’t really get the opportunity to go across the world very often,” King-Koesveld said. “It’s an exciting thing; once in a lifetime.”
While they were unsure of the specific agenda of what they would be doing and when, it will include a pre-jamboree gathering in Hong Kong, followed by the jamboree itself from July 28 to Aug. 8. Following that, Rasmussen and King-Koesveld will also be taking part in a home stay to learn a bit more about Japanese culture.
“It’s an extra four days where you spend with a family,” Rasmussen said. “We’ll try not to insult anybody!”
The culture shock, including the language, customs and foods popular in Japan, is one of the things the youth said they’re feeling some trepidation about, since the food is so different and standards of behaviour can be very different from Canada.
And while a little variety in food isn’t necessarily a bad thing, there are some concerns on that front as well.
“They really like lots of nuts and shellfish, which are really common allergies for a lot of people, including me,” Randall said.
While the five participants and two leaders will be spending their time hobnobbing with scouts from all around the world – “Imagine a country and you’ll see scouts from there,” as Sande put it – another half dozen members of the 12th St. Albert Scouts Rovers group will be volunteering their time to help the event run smoothly.
“We’re the ones that help feed the volunteers, help do security, and help run the activities,” Sylvia Church said. “We’re going to work.”
She conceded as far as work goes, volunteering at a scout jamboree in Japan isn’t the worst way to spend a week.
While the event itself is clearly a huge benefit for this group, scouting for them is not just about the fun stuff you get to do. There’s a significant amount of personal development involved, as well.
“It teaches a lot of virtues and skills – leadership, teamwork and that sort of thing,” Rasmussen said.
