When Los Altos teen Taryn Hwang returned from the World Scout Jamboree in mid-August, she not only brought back neckerchiefs and T-shirts from Scouts around the world, but also a military ration.
She and five other Scouts from the Boy Scouts of America Girls Troop T-4103 had to leave the Jamboree campsite early, evacuated to a U.S. military base due to a potential typhoon.
“(The soldiers) were super kind and welcoming,” said Hwang, a freshman at the Nueva School. “They served us breakfast every morning and helped us settle in.”
The Los Altos troop spent two weeks in South Korea for the Jamboree, which occurs every four years, bringing together Scouts from throughout the world. However, things didn’t go as planned. A week into the event, with tropical storm Khanun approaching, organizers and military officials evacuated the U.S. Scouts. The Scouts spent the final week 200 miles away at Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. Army base outside of America.
“We were fortunate we had support from the army through the U.S. Embassy. … (It is) very special to find out what U.S. representation continues to mean in the world,” said Miranda Hoogendoorn, T-4103 Scout leader. “(The Army) took excellent care of us. … (We had) unexpected but really fun and unique experiences, including … playing Uno with the soldiers standing at our location, talking about their experiences.”
One of those experiences was eating MREs (meals, ready to eat) on their first night being evacuated to Humphreys.
“There’s a heater pack, and you add water to it, and it gets really hot,” Hwang said. “There’s basically the meal in a bag, like chili, steak or pizza, and you let it sit on top of the heater. It works really well. The actual food wasn’t that great inside the meals, but it was only for one night, and it was cool how it worked.”
Even before their move to the base, the local Scouts had to deal with difficult weather conditions and illness. While camping during the first few days of the Jamboree, they experienced a heat index as high as 120 degrees, according to T-4103 co-founder Nan Boden.
“When we got on-site, the weather was working very much against the experience, because it was really, really, really hot,” Boden said. “That is not the kind of weather you want to be out being active in, and (we) certainly don’t want youth to be overdoing it.”
To combat the conditions, Jamboree organizers created cooling centers, including air-conditioned buses. One of these buses was used to help those who fell ill.
Unexpected experience
Despite the hardships, the local Scouts still enjoyed most of their time at the Jamboree, which brought together Scouts from 158 countries. When the outdoor programs were canceled due to heat, they met Scouts from other countries by trading patches, neckerchiefs and shirts they had designed. The trading allowed for conversation to arise.
“Everybody’s really kind, and everybody is kind of the same,” said Los Altos resident Isabella Maleti, a T-4103 Scout and a junior at St. Francis High School. “We were neighbors with Hong Kong, and they were really sweet. … They even made us waffles the next morning. We were kind of rushing trying to clean up camp, and they made us food.”
The U.S. pulled out of the Jamboree on Cultural Day, so T-4103 marked its own the day before – wearing Hawaiian shirts and baggy shorts. At Camp Humphreys, Scout leaders organized a week of activities for the Scouts to learn about local culture, including visits to a baseball game and a dance show. A local mayor gave gift bags to Scouts as they entered a waterpark.
“It wasn’t what we expected, but I think we went with the flow,” Hwang said. “We got to experience Jamboree and meet so many people, but we also got to experience Korean culture, and staying at the Army base was also really cool. It was a really positive experience, but in a different way than we expected.”
Despite the change of plans, Boden said the Scouts remained positive throughout their stay. She added that quick coordination between leaders in the U.S. contingent aided with reorganization under the conditions.
This story was updated to reflect that the heat index, not the temperature, reached 120 degrees.
