– There are many of us who think it is unpleasant to be here, the Norwegian scout tells Dagbladet.
The man has spent several days with nearly 40,000 young people, including 700 Norwegians, at the World Scout Jamboree camp in Saemangeum, South Korea. Participants were between the ages of 14 and 17.
The region has been affected by heatwave and cyclone warnings, and several international participants have been hospitalized as a result of heat-related problems.
On Monday, everyone was evacuated, the Norwegians to a hotel in Incheon – where the scouting trip continues until August 12.
– Embellishes the truth
Norwegian Group Management he wrote on his website on Monday “After a few good days at the jamboree, the Norwegian team was informed that camp was being evacuated due to a hurricane warning.”
The Norwegian participant Dagbladet spoke with believes the administration is embellishing the truth.
The person believes:
- Conditions in the camp are worse than the Norwegian Scout Association has portrayed.
- The food is very poor, sometimes “inedible”, and there is very little of it.
- There are not enough shaded areas in the camp.
Scouts feel that sanitary conditions are very poor.
– The first few days it was so uncomfortable that we refused to go to the toilet. Toilet paper and feces flew around, and the toilets weren’t cleaned, the man says.
Not cleaned: During the first days, no garbage should be removed from the latrines in the camp. It should have improved during the stay. Photo: Private
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Confirmation: Challenging
Dagbladet noted the Jamboree camp on Saturday, writing that there were reports of extreme temperatures, poor sanitary conditions and food shortages. The Norwegian Scout Association said that the Norwegian participants were fine and that the heat was not felt particularly dramatically.
Now they pose many challenges, especially when it comes to cleaning.
– It is absolutely true that we had challenges in the camp, especially regarding hygiene, we understand that. [denne personen] I think it was difficult. We informed parents of the scouts last week that there were challenges at the start of the camp, both with toilet and shower facilities and food distribution, Kirvil Casa, communications advisor for the Norwegian Scout Association, wrote in an email to Dagbladet.
The Norwegian quota administration has confirmed various conditions, he says.
– from being completely unacceptable in some places to places where it is well practiced.
The organizer must have invested huge resources following the feedback and the conditions must have improved day by day.
Info: The Norwegian Scout Association confirms unacceptable conditions at the camp. Parents were told about the challenges. Photo: Private
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Regarding the food offering, Gaza said:
– There is no doubt that there are many new entries for Scouts in one country. High temperatures, foreign food and physically demanding days contribute to anorexia. At the beginning of the camp, some problems were encountered with logistics, but this quickly improved.
Casa says the contingent administration bought extra food to meet the individual’s needs.
200 air-conditioned buses
Due to the intense heat, some of the planned activities were canceled before the decision to evacuate.
– To beat the heat, the organizer has parked more than 200 air-conditioned buses in the camp area. In addition, parasols, lots of free ice cream and bottled water were provided, says Casa.
He points out that they have the “most talented” management team in South Korea.
– They have been close to scouts and have solid experience in such camps in the past. In addition, the Norwegian group has its own healthcare team consisting of doctors, psychologists and nurses. He says the Norwegian team has access to several hotel rooms where hot scouts can cool off if needed.
Here the journey ends
– Tried to keep us calm
A Norwegian scout who spoke to Dagbladet says the youths were not allowed to talk to reporters about how bad the conditions really were.
– The Norway quota management tried to calm us down and said that everyone had a good time. It has been good for us, but the environment we lived in is bad, says the person.
They reportedly raised their concerns with the management, but were not taken seriously.
– They need to stop hiding behind the facade. I was called dramatic when I complained about Doe.
To this, the Norwegian Scout Association “has tried to coordinate media inquiries so that scouts are not contacted at night because of the time difference,” Casa replied.
– And we have encouraged the inquiries to be directed to us centrally so that there is no disruption to scouting activities. We do not endorse the claim that someone is trying to keep the Scouts quiet, he says.
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