Jamboree 2007

Terence Vrugtman
Gauteng
Scout - Tugela Troop

Clang! Bash! Bang! It was an early morning wake up for those still dreaming about last night. It was 05:30 am on 01 August 2007, the 100th birthday of scouting. I was on wake up duty on this cold yet exciting day. I walked past 19 tents and banged on pots and pans by the doors of tents to get every one to wake up.

Once we were up we waited for our Troop Scouter (adult leader) to come out of his tent for flag break. Flag break was done every morning; I would walk up, pull the main rope and then show a display of a three-finger salute while watching the South African flag open up in the breeze.

It was a great feeling to wake up that early - it was a stunning feeling to watch 2000 scouts of different nationalities slowly start to crawl out of their two-man tents. It was at 07:oo am that 2000 scouts from just our sub-camp were all standing ready in a bright and colourful scouting uniform with the same yellow edged scarf to show we were all part of the same worldwide record holding movement.

As the time drew closer to the Sunrise ceremony at 08:00 am we started to march into a globally used arena. This arena could hold 65 000 people of which 41 000 were proud, noisy scouts. There were over 2000 flags of different origins waving through the air as we anticipated the biggest scout opening ceremony any human or country had ever experienced.

At the sunrise ceremony, Lord David Baden-Powell, Lord Robert Baden-Powell's grandson gave a scintillating and interesting speech and then visited with us. We were then privileged enough to watch a live feed from Brown Sea Island where 2 scouts from every country gathered to re-enact the first ever scout camp held 100 years ago. Finally it came, 21 million scouts from all over the world said their version of the scout promise. In our arena, on the Jamboree site, to hear 55 000 people say the same Scout law and Promise simultaneously in 200 different languages was a indescribable feeling that just made you want to cry,

" I promise to do my best,
To do my duty to God and my Country
To help other people at all times
And to obey the Scout Law"

I even had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. This promise took on a whole new meaning for me that day. I am apart of something a lot bigger than just a group of boys having fun. I am proud of being a scout and not just any Scout but one of the BEST Scouts. On this day I understood that to be and do the best, I have to persevere, work hard and never give up no matter how hard the task is. As the eighth Scout law state: A Scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties. Scout Law number 4 states: A scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout. This once again reminded me of how the Scout laws and Promise relate to each other. As Helena from Poland said, "Today means all of the scouts that have made friends over the past 100 years will be together in spirit". This summed up the Brotherhood of Scouts!

The day was then continued with a new scarf handed out with a challenge to gain over 300 signatures from people we did not know once again an activity relating to the Brotherhood and friendships of the Scouting world.

The 12 days were completed with fun filled activities such as splash (canoeing), trash (recycling), Gilwell Park (obstacle course, rock climbing, slip and slid, bouldering, bmxing, skateboards, etc) and energize. The evenings were filled with celebrations in the forms of parties, discos, campfires fireworks and a lot more. There were 17 sub-camps filled with 2500 scouts each. There was a stage in each sub-camp, which had 2 full-time DJ's that allowed us to party till 23:00 pm each evening.

Reluctantly 23H00, we would all creep into tents for the night! Curfew time!

As we lay in our warm sleeping bags, we could hear the rumble, rumble, rumble … it would draw nearer and then silence as we all fell asleep from an exhausting day's activities. The rumble was that of trucks that would start their night's work …

For our safety everyone would have to be in bed. If not you had a really good chance of being run over by these "monsters" as they went about their deliveries. As stated by "The One Word", the official Jamboree newspaper,

• 102 000kg of meat. 170 000L of milk.
• 1.2 million meals. 20 000kg potatoes.
• 1 toilet roll used per minute = 120 000. 84 000 loaves of bread.
• 1.9 million L of sewerage = 80 tankers every day.
• 42 km of network cabling were all delivered
  

Wow, try to organize that for 12 days for 41 000 scouts and staff and 2 000 day visitors!

The campsite was 2km long, 1.5 km wide, 2 640 313 squares metres of camping grounds and 9.5 km of fencing.
What an awesome experience!

After 12 days of an awesome, exciting and unbelievable experience it was time for the closing ceremony. The final day really went off with a bang, with 30 minutes of fire works and dancers from every country. It was unfortunately also the end of a sunny tour. As the heavens opened on our final ceremony, it was great to see 70 000 people all dancing and creating a great time in the rain. We were privileged to see the passing of the World Scout Flag from Great Britain to the next World Scout Jamboree organizing country, which is Sweden who will host the 2011 World Jamboree.

This was a truly an eye opening experience and made me feel proud to be a Scout, to be part of a worldwide organisation and extremely proud to wear my South African colours and represent my country. I am part of the largest and longest running youth organisation ever to exist.

This was an indescribable experience and will never be forgotten but will definitely be repeated in 2011 in Sweden.