Dunfermline Scouts are bound for South Korea!
THE trip of a lifetime is becoming a reality for four Dunfermline district Scouts as they prepare to travel to South Korea.
Next summer, 16-year-olds Daniel Bell and Niamh Mathison and 14-year-olds Katie Freeburn and Sophie Lacy will join more than 40,000 others from across the world for the 25th World Scout Jamboree (WSJ) in SaeManGeum.
Daniel and Katie, both from the 40th Fife (Touch) Scout Group, will also be joined by three of their leaders who were successful in gaining spots on the International Service Team (IST).
Mark McAdams, Laura Mills and Lorna Whitelaw will be able to enjoy Seoul before travelling to the event site to undergo training and complete planning for hundreds of activities which will be on offer to participants each day.
It will be a third World Jamboree for Laura, who has travelled to West Virginia and Japan previously, and a second for group Scout leader Lorna, who was part of the zip line team in 2019.
She said: “I am extremely proud of all our groups members and it is down to our dedicated team of leaders that these opportunities are made available to all our young people.
“It is a great privilege to be so well-represented at such an event.”
The 40-member strong unit of Scouts has already met several times to begin preparations and is one of 90 from the UK which will attend.
The jamboree will take place between August 1-12 next year, where youngsters will be given the chance to make friends and meet other Scouts from all over the world.
Just 36 were selected from around 140 applicants after a selection camp in December.
Katie said: “It was an honour to be selected from the amount of people that were there at the selection for WSJ.
“I can’t believe I was one of only 36 people selected and I was so joyful that I was chosen.
“The day I got the phone call from Ryan (assistant unit leader), I was buzzing with nerves and excitement. I’m looking forward to exploring the country and representing Scotland within Scouting.”
Daniel added: “The WSJ is a brilliant opportunity for all of us attending from Dunfermline District. South Korea has a massively different culture to our own and it will be fantastic to experience it at the WSJ and when we visit Seoul.
“I’m also looking forward to meeting people from around the world. Very few Scouts get the chance to attend events like this and it’s a privilege to be selected to represent Dunfermline there.”
The rare opportunity only comes around every four years, with thousands of young people aged between 14 and 17 and their leaders making up the UK contingent.
The Touch scouts will be joined by Niamh, from the 62nd Fife (Crossford) group, and Sophie, from the 83rd Fife (Cairneyhill) group, who said: “It’s the best opportunity I’ve ever had and I’m excited to meet so many people and see where this journey takes me”.
The Press reported in January that Crossgates teenager Blair Cran, 14, would be attending the event, and in August that Dunfermline volunteer Terry O’Neill, 44, had been picked to join the IST.
Callum Farquhar, acting district commissioner, said: “I am delighted that four Explorer Scouts and three leaders have been selected as part of the UK contingent to next year’s World Scout Jamboree in South Korea.
“I attended the last World Jamboree in South Korea in 1991 and know that those selected will have an incredible experience getting to know about the culture and customs and, after nearly two years of very little international contact, in meeting so many different Scouts from all around the world.”
The theme of next year’s event is ‘Think big. Dream wild. Act together’, focusing on uniting around sustainability.