Southern Region Jamboree Weblog

A night at the jamboree site……

Well….I suppose that we should start with the morning. We are trying to make our morning rounds early to catch the units doing “off-site” activities before they bug out. It was a bit on the cool side this morning but still bright and sunny. The units in Volcano camp were doing “Choice” and “Aquaville” with a later start time so I caught them in the early stages of breakfast prep. Most of the boys from Houston (including their leaders) were still in their tents when I first stopped by. Plateau units had already bugged off to their Starburst (service projects) activity. Canyon and Glacier units were doing breakfast prep and getting ready for their on-site activities in “Global Development Village” and “Elements” respectively. All reports from all activities are very positive. There is the occasional facet that is not deemed “perfect” but it a rare comment.

Barry Smith from Troop 219 (Central NC) was inducted into the Baden-Powell Fellowship at a luncheon on-site and he and I were honored to meet the current Robert Baden-Powell (grandson of the founder) and to sit with His Majesty Carl Gustav the King of Sweden at lunch. (I know I have my royalty right on this one since I met him previously this past fall in San Francisco). His Majesty is a very active supporter of Scouting (a Scout himself in his youth) and has attended most world jamborees since he became monarch 50 years ago. He is well loved by most of his people and he really enjoys being a part of Scouting events.

As mentioned in the Monday blog I had decided to spend the night at the jamboree site in anticipation of the Scouting Sunrise ceremony on Wednesday. I dropped my sleeping bag and gear off at Troop 217 and then proceeded to the Troop 212 site to see if I could scrounge some dinner. To my delight I was in time as their chili supper was just being finished. There were several groups of Scouts and young ladies from around the world chatting around the site and a small group of Scouts (boys and girls) from a nearby German troop were on the way to join us also. I think that a group of the TN boys were also headed to the German site for their dinner. Both the food and the fellowship were excellent and I spent a delightful hour there.

After dinner I checked on the Scouts from Troops 205, 207, 208, 219 and 220 and found them in fine form. Some units were having troop meetings; others had already cleaned up the dinner dishes and headed off to “see the world”. I have certainly enjoyed my assignment as Regional Chairman, but being in the subcamp in the evening, seeing all of the fellowship activity and fun, reminded me just how special it is to be a unit leader and spend 24/7 with the scouts as they soak and bask in the world jamboree experience. Our “rookie” unit leaders finally understand what we “vets” have been trying to tell them. It really is one of those things that you cannot describe – it simply must be experienced in person.

When I arrived back at the Troop 217 site I found a handful of the Scouts and the Polish girls who are camped adjacent redoing the flag assembly to hoist the flags even higher above the campsite. These young ladies have been next door for several days but it seems that the 217 guys have just noticed how cute they are and decided to open international relations – so to speak. All very innocent, of course. SM Robbie Hill mentioned that one of the young men standing nearby (who shall remain nameless) seemed to disappear whenever allowed to visit a new found “lady friend.” So I took him aside and asked him what unit/country his new friend was from. He shared as how “they” were Spanish – but in two different units so as not to cause conflicts. How clever!

Being a little tired from some late night demands on Monday night I decided to turn in a bit early since our reveille on Wednesday is 500AM to draw our food and mobilize for the Scouting Sunrise Ceremony. It didn’t take me long to drop off although I was awakened several times by the chatter of the Polish girls who had decided to just stay up all night.

A brilliant full moon (or near full) filled the sky and there was a chill in the air outside for those who continued to fellowship and visit but I needed a bit of sleeeeeeep…….