Member for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain with Scouts Flynn Clutterbuck, Evan Ball and Chloe Parkinson, and Scout leaders Greg Simms and Corinna Ugov. Photo: Kristy McBain/Facebook.
Two Scouts from Bungendore are among those preparing to jet-set to South Korea for an international gathering of their peers.
Chloe Parkinson and Evan Ball started in Scouts at a young age and will soon be heading to the 25th World Scout Jamboree in 2023.
“It’s pretty cool that we get to be the people who show Australia to the more than 100 other countries attending,” Evan said.
The World Scout Jamboree is a gathering of Scouts from all over the globe from 1-12 August in South Korea.
As it approaches, Chloe and Evan have been packing their bags, counting down the days and already making friends.
“They’ve added us all to Workplace, which is almost like a business version of Facebook,” Evan said.
“All the people from Australia that are going are on there, all 950 or so of us, and people can ask questions or post any tips and advice they have.”
Among the Australian delegation were Scouts from the regional areas of Bungendore, Murrumbateman, Jerrambomberra and Cooma, Evan said.
“We’ve gotten in touch just between ourselves,” he said.
“We’ve been doing a lot of discussing, just in the small group, about what we think is the best way to do things.”
But there is a certain amount of mystery as to what is actually planned for the group during its time in South Korea.
“We don’t really know heaps yet about what we’re going to be doing,” Evan said.
“A lot of the schedule is things we’re going to find out when we get there.
“They have put up a few lists of some of the activities, but I haven’t read any of those – I’ve been keeping it a bit of a surprise.”
One thing they do know is that there will be plenty of activities and friendship-making to keep them busy.
For Chloe, who attended the Australian Jamboree in 2019, deciding to go on to the international one was an easy decision.
“Over the two weeks, we did lots of activities, we got to explore Adelaide, we flew in planes,” she said.
“Then we heard about the World Scout Jamboree, and I thought it sounded amazing and really wanted to get involved.
“I’m excited to meet the people – while the activities will be fun, meeting the people will be better.”
Evan and Chloe first put their names down to participate two years ago.
“It was probably about two years ago that Scouts sent out a little letter to everyone eligible to register and telling us what it’s about,” Evan said.
“I think it was in October 2021 that we actually registered for it, and ever since then, they’ve been sending out bits of information and telling us what we need to do.”
As the date approached, Chloe and Evan were hard at work alongside their local Scout community raising the money needed.
“Raising the money was a vote of confidence in us,” Chloe said.
“Sometimes during our sausage sizzles, we would meet adults who had been Scouts, so it was really nice to have a chat with them and hear about their experiences when they attended the World Scout Jamboree.”
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