FROM West Virginia to South Korea, a Jersey couple’s experience of consecutive editions of a global gathering of the Scouting movement could hardly have been more contrasting.
Four years after meeting at the World Scout Jamboree in the US, starting a relationship that eventually led to wedding bells in 2022, Trevor and Katrina Holden found themselves in what some observers likened to a disaster zone.
Having signed up as volunteers for the 2023 jamboree in South Korea, the couple were at the sharp end as the event descended into a disorganised, sweat-soaked state of chaos.
More than 40,000 young people from 158 countries, including a small cluster from Jersey, made their way to south-east Asia at the start of August.
Their arrival coincided with a heatwave in South Korea, interspersed with spells of heavy rain, which exposed some major shortcomings in the organisation of an event that had been planned for seven years.
Hundreds of attendees were taken ill at the opening ceremony as a result of the high temperatures, while reports about the unsanitary conditions at the site in the south-western county of Buan made international headlines.
Mr and Mrs Holden were part of the international service team assembled by the Scout Association to look after more than 3,000 Scouts from the British Isles attending the jamboree.
After arriving back in Jersey, the couple shared their experiences, saying that it had been apparent from the point they arrived that there were significant problems with the site. Mr Holden said: ‘The spin that we were hearing was that it was all about the weather – it was very hot, but the site was still being set up after Scouts had started to arrive.
‘There was hardly any shade, and then you’d see an area of shade that had vehicles parked in it while there were cases of water alongside that had been left in the sun.’
The couple arrived three days before the majority of the British contingent, pitching their small tent on top of pallets. The platform at least kept the tent just clear of the lying water left after a torrential downpour, although not everyone was so lucky.
The state of the site was alarming, and failed to improve, Mrs Holden said.
‘The toilets were appalling,’ she said.
‘People had sent their children to this event and they were meant to be spending 12 days there – it was very lucky that there wasn’t a really bad outbreak of illness.’
The shower block was little better, with cold water and clouds of mosquitoes lying in wait for any exposed flesh, while the food offer left plenty to be desired.
Mrs Holden said breakfast was typically rice and lettuce, ‘with some other stuff added in occasionally’, followed by biscuits and cake at lunchtime and a return to the rice/lettuce combo for the evening meal.
The Holdens were able to get some respite, as their designated role in organising transport for UK delegates meant they spent some time away from the site.
Welfare concerns from those in charge led to the decision that the entire British contingent would evacuate the site two days after the opening ceremony and head to alternative accommodation in hotels in the South Korean capital, Seoul.
Mrs Holden said: ‘There were very mixed emotions – real relief that we knew they were getting out, but it was also upsetting because we knew what they were missing out on.
‘There were 150 countries there and one of the highlights of the event is meeting people from other parts of the world and swapping badges and talking to them – they are such great events, and there’s no barrier from race, religion or language, but none of that was possible.’
But they both backed the move to leave, with Mr Holden adding: ‘It was definitely the sensible decision – we could have all gone down with some horrendous disease.’
Some volunteers decided they could no longer cope, but the Holdens remained at the campsite until they finally left on the final coach with the last remaining members of the British group.
In spite of the conditions they had faced, the couple were able to take some positives from the experience, still managing some networking with other attendees. They met delegates from Ukraine, Greece, Portugal and Kenya, while Mr Holden met a fellow Scout leader from Hong Kong – their first face-to-face meeting after corresponding online for more than 20 years.
There was also some considerable success in organising an alternative agenda for the British group once they had decamped.
Mr Holden said: ‘The management of the UK group did an incredible job, pulling together a whole programme of activities within 48 hours.’
With the entire site in Buan having eventually closed as a result of a typhoon warning, the closing ceremony for the jamboree took place in a stadium in Seoul, featuring a K-pop [Korean popular music] concert and a brief chance to meet other delegates.
The couple have both had a long-term involvement in Scouting, Mrs Holden for around 25 years and Mr Holden joking that ‘I never really left’ after he was a Scout as a youngster.
After the summer break, the couple will resume their roles in September with cubs from the 1st Jersey St Ouen Sea Scouts, and with the climbing club for Island Scouts.
While accepting that there would need to be an investigation into the Korean debacle, the couple said they hoped there would be an equal focus in making sure the 2027 jamboree in Poland would be better organised.
Looking back on this year’s experience, the couple acknowledged the huge difference from 2019 at the start of a relationship that would see Mr Holden retire from his job with London Underground and move to Jersey before the pair got married in their home parish of St Mary last year. The 2023 edition turned out to be as much a test of endurance as anything else.
Mrs Holden said: ‘We were fighting back tears at some point – it was quite upsetting, but also a big relief when we left the site.
‘I think it will help all those who were there become stronger and more resilient.’
Mr Holden was more succinct, referencing the ‘Be Prepared’ mantra for the Scout movement.
‘The motto was tested to its limits,’ he said.
