Maddie from Wakefield meets 45,000 at USA World Scout Jamboree

The huge event is a skills and adventure festival happening right now in wild and wonderful West Virginia. Maddie is meeting 45,000 Scouts from nearly every country in the world – sharing her skills while enjoying high adventure in this picturesque part of North America.

The Jamboree offers young people the chance to learn new skills that they can use in other aspects of their life and taste high adventure. Maddie has been trying to learn some new languages while she is out at the Jamboree.

Maddie, aged 17 said: “I have had an amazing day today at Cultural Celebration Day! We have met scouts from all around the world and learn about the culture.

“I really want to meet scouts from Spain and learn some Spanish as I really like the language and I think it would be useful for the future. We have spent the last two year preparing for the Jamboree, learning new skills and making new friends and it is amazing to finally be here and experience everything the Jamboree has to offer.”

The World Scout Jamboree is the culmination of two years of work for the leaders, which has involved camps and team building events preparing the young people for living on a humid site in West Virginia amongst Scouts from nearly every country in the world.

The event was opened by UK Chief Scout Bear Grylls who said: “World Scout Jamborees only happen every four years and tens of thousands of Scouts attend each one. They are incredible festivals of peace, friendship and adventure. Young people will make friends for life with people from over 150 countries, experience different food, language and culture while learning new skills. It will be the journey of a lifetime.

“The 2019 Jamboree, jointly hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico, is set to be one of the biggest and most exciting yet. The theme is ”Unlock a new world” – focusing especially on how we can create a sustainable world together.”