20 years after my withdrawal from the 1995 World Scout Jamboree (WSJ) in the Netherlands, I am now finally finding myself at the 2015 WSJ in Japan.
It is indeed an experience of a lifetime to be meeting and working with Scouters from around the world! Over 8,000 International Service Team (IST) adult volunteers from 150 countries and territories have convened in Kirara-hama as of today. Starting tomorrow for the next couple of days, over 25,000 Scouts and unit leaders will arrive at their respective WSJ sub camps.
A big challenge the 23rd WSJ had that the 1993 National Scout Jamboree (NSJ) did not have was to keep personal devices, such as mobile phones and tablets, connected and powered for the duration of the jamboree with limited Wi-Fi access points and charging facilities.
At the IST opening ceremony, the speaker said something that I had not realized till then. The one precious thing that anyone could give to another is his/her time because it is something that cannot be taken back or replaced.
My Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) team was comprised of Scouters from Japan, US, UK, Hong Kong, and Italy. We were responsible for ensuring the 20 tablets, 10 laptops and wi-fi access are functioning properly in each of the three participant subcamps.
We wore two neckerchiefs:
- WSJ neckerchief – the pink band identifies us as IST staff, and
- Contingent neckerchief that identifies the country we represented.
Each neckerchief are tied together with a friendship knot instead of a woggle or neckerchief slide.
I brought two mirrorless digital cameras — Nikon Coolpix A (28mm f/2.8) and Fujifilm X-E2 w/ Fujinon XF 55-200mm f/3.8~4.8 — to cover my WSJ adventure. Unlike at the NSJ where I was limited by the amount of film for my Pentax LX w/ Pentax SMC-M 50mm f/1.4, I had to conserve battery power for my X-E2 at the WSJ. In order to travel light, I had intentionally left my battery charger at home but also inadvertently left behind the additional spare batteries I had bought just for this trip!
The WSJ was very hot and was lacking any wind. I woke up by 5:00 AM every morning to take a shower. The shower unfortunately produced hot water only. The toilet turned into an oven in the afternoon. Over the course of the WSJ, I eventually got darkened by sun burn.
On August 6, a select group of representatives participated in the 70th Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima. For the rest of us at the WSJ, the Boy Scouts of America led an informal gathering that included a moment of silence at 8:15 AM and the singing of Let There Be Peace on Earth, which I had learned from a LP record over 35 years ago.
The small town of Kirara-hama was host to Scouts from around the world for 12 days. People there also gave several parades and shows about Japanese culture. Families from around Japan and Yamaguchi City convened at the WSJ site and bought tickets to join in the Yamaguchi Jamboree Festival.
