The Scouts march past the 1763 Monument on Vlissengen Road. (Photo by Sonell Nelson)

The diversity in the activities at the 14th Caribbean Jamboree mimicked the diversity of cultures that each scout brought and all together the event was “The best ever.”

These were the sentiments expressed by head of the scout movement in Guyana, Mr. Ron Robinson, as he spoke of the just-concluded Jamboree in Georgetown.

The Jamboree was hosted under the theme “One Movement, One Destiny”.

The Jamboree began on August 8, and ended Sunday last.

Robinson pointed out that scouts came from many countries including British Virgin Islands, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamans, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Jamaica and Suriname.

ȁIt was a good time for all and each scout took back something special,” Robinson said.

He added that he is hoping that the little bits that were taken from the experience would enable scouting in the Caribbean to “hit a new high.”

The Beginning
In August of 1907, Lord Baden-Powell took 20 boys to a Camp at Brown Sea Island in London and, on the strength of that success, established the movement.

Today, the Scout Movement has a rich and exciting history which made it today’s leading global youth movement. It is also the largest co-educational youth movement in the world.

Some 300 million people have been Scouts, including prominent people in every field.

There have been 21 World Jamborees to date, the last being held in the United Kingdom in 2007, under the theme “One Promise, One World to celebrate the Centennial of Scouting worldwide.

The concept of a Regional Jamboree materialised in 1931 when a West Indian Camp was held in Jamaica.

This concept was reintroduced, after an absence of 30 years, when Trinidad hosted in 1961 another West Indian Camp dubbed the “West Indian Jamboree”.

Three years after scouting had been introduced here, the first Jamboree Camp was held locally.

The Jamboree
The word “Jamboree” was chosen by the founder of scouting who organised the first world Jamboree at the Olympia Stadium in London in 1920.

It originally meant something like “loud celebrations”. But since Baden-Powell wanted to give the word a new meaning, it was changed to “the most pleasant and joyous gathering of young people ever”.

And this year’s event was just that, plus more.

Robinson explained that among the many activities were community service, which saw scouts painting pedestrian crossings and trees, and a youth forum where the scouts were allowed to interact with President Bharrat Jagdeo on the issue of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

At the forum, he explained that the scouts were very interested in LCDS and showed a canny insight of the subject of climate change.

ȁThey were interested and will take the President’s mandate back with them because they share his concerns for protecting the planet,” he said.

Additionally, the scouts were treated to an eyeful as they visited a number of places of interest, including Wales Estate, Banks DIH, and Splashmins.

Some even ventured as far as Parika on the East Bank of Essequibo.

He said, “All in all, it was a fulfilling experience.”

The main event at the Jamboree was the global development village at the Sophia Exhibition Complex.

This placed exhibition booths at the scouts’ disposal, helping to educate them on various global issues.

They learnt about HIV/AIDS, the environment and social and world issues.

Generally, according to Robinson, the 14th Caribbean Jamboree served to facilitate learning and education, to give youths once in a life time experiences, and provided a medium via which friendships were made.