International Jamborees: 1989 Report USA
1989 - USA National Jamboree
2 - 8 August / Participants 33 000 / Countries 32 / South Africans 13 Held at Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia.
The South African Contingent left Johannesburg on Wednesday 12 July for Orlando, Florida, via London and then toured overland through Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington DC, Pennsylvania and New York State.
The South African Contingent consisted of ten Scouts from around the country, five of them Cape Western Scouts, and three leaders - Brian February, Buzz Macey and Contingent Leader Dr Neville Wilson from East London.
We arrived at the Jamboree site on Monday 31 July, after spending time in Washington with our host families. The Jamboree organisers split us up and put us in patrols with American Scouts from different Troops around the country. Fortunately, our different Troops weren't too far away from each other.
The main pastime of our guys throughout the Jamboree was badge-swopping, or patch trading, as they would call it there. Because we were foreign, we, and our badges, were really in demand. On a few days some of us would wear our full uniforms and the publicity was incredible. Many people came and asked us about South Africa and posed for photos with us.
The opening ceremony on the Wednesday was awesome. All the Scouts were in the open-air arena for the extravaganza, which was partly organised by ex-Eagle Scouts and famous film producer Steven Spielberg, who also made an appearance during the show.
There were bands, plays about Scouting, BMX professionals and lots and lots of fireworks. Everything was live on stage, and on each side of the stage were giant screens on which you could watch the adjacent proceedings in close-up colour. Another high-light was an amazing laser show.
Other main arena shows included a pop concert featuring the American group "The Jets" and a visit by President George Bush, which was a highly securitised affair Each region had its own mini arena and various Scouts put on mini-shows. We did a Zulu dance ....
The main activities were walking around, meeting people and badge-swopping, but the Jamboree had many organised activities for the boys, including air rifle, archery, buckskin games, challenge valley and patrol challenge. There were a lot of displays as well, the most interesting being the NASA exhibit, which included astronauts demonstrating some of their training techniques.
The ten days we spent there went too fast. We all had an amazing time and came back with a lot of souvenirs, very little of our uniforms and good memories, having made lots of new friends. It was a time of a lifetime and I really envy the Scouts going to the 17th Jamboree in Korea in 1991!
Shannon Wade
1st Koeberg
| Contingent Leader | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Neville S. | Wilson | Area Commissioner | Cape Border |
| Deputy Contingent Leader | |||
| Hugh B. ('Buzz') | Macey | Asst Area Comm., Sct Trg | Cape Western |
| Brian Anthony | February | Scoutmaster, 1st Athlone | Cape Western |
| Scouts | |||
| Ritchie James | Buttle | PL, 2nd Somerset West | Cape Western |
| Martin Willem | Frouws | PL, 1st Durbanville | Cape Western |
| Nigel David | Godfrey | TL, 1st Dundee | Natal/KwaZulu |
| Max John Sainsbury | Hall | PL, 2nd Westville | Natal/KwaZulu |
| Lester Andrew | Jackson | PL, 1st Blairgowrie | Transvaal |
| Gerhard Pieter | Lombard | PL, 1st Durbanville | Cape Western |
| James Carstairs | Scott | PL, 2nd Coalfields | N Transvaal |
| Bruce | Shelley | PL, 2nd Somerset West | Cape Western |
| Shannon Michael | Wade | TL, 1st Koeberg | Cape Western |
| Larry Stuart | Wilson | TL, 1st Beacon Bay | Cape Border |
S A Scout Heritage