Local teenager attends the Kent International Jamboree
A Selkirk teen got to take a trip of a lifetime this summer as he travelled to Kent in England as part of his Scouts adventures. Quinn Fyfe is 16 years old and a second-year Venturer with 1st Sun Valley, North Winnipeg. He can now add a lot more than a badge to his sash, as he was able to get some amazing first-hand experience out of our country at the Kent International Jamboree.
This adventure started over a year ago for Fyfe when he stepped up to represent Manitoba.
“About a year ago, I joined a sub-council of the Canadian Committee, The Beyond Youth 2025 Committee. You have to sign up and get approved. So, I’ve been a part of that, and then they brought to my attention this Jamboree, because not many people go,” said Fyfe.
Having been a Scout for ten years and also being the only Manitoban on The Beyond Youth 2025 Committee, he was told that he would be a good person to represent them at the Jamboree.
After getting in contact with the people he needed to contact, as well as filling out the paperwork, the plan to attend the Jamboree was official, and Fyfe was going to England.
“We started attending meetings, and the next thing you know, I was in the UK,” said Fyfe.
He explained that Scouts has been a part of his life since he joined when he was in kindergarten.
“It’s kind of one of those activities I just enrolled in because I had a friend who was in it, and then it was just really fun. I never thought about not going back. And then there was a brief period where scouting was kind of on the slow side in Selkirk. Lots of my friends had left, but then I started doing a thing called Offer of Service, where I go work at camps. Then, from there, it’s just been wonderful, because you meet people from all over, and in this case, even all over the world, and it’s just a wonderful community,” said Fyfe.
He said that he had heard of kids going to jamborees before, but he never thought that this was something that he might be able to do himself before it happened.
“I didn’t think it was possible for somebody in such a small town, kind of in the middle of nowhere. When we got the idea that it could be a reality, I was all for it because nobody from all the years of First Selkirk, I don’t think, they’ve ever been to a Jamboree,” said Fyfe.
The Jamboree itself is a large international festival open to Scouts from all over the world.
“It was basically a festival of scouting, that’s what they’d call it. There were 8000 people there. There were about 30 Canadians, but I was the only person from Manitoba,” said Fyfe.
There were also Scouts from about 30 different countries.
Because he was the only Manitoban there, he was put into a camp group with other people who didn’t come with larger groups. This means that he got to hang out at camp with members from the UK, Finland, and Denmark as well as do camp activities with people from all over the world.
“It was a good mix of indoor, outdoor, technology, and nature activities. There was a lot of mountain biking, go-karting, quadding, stuff like that. There was also 3-D printing, programming, coding and stuff like that. There were bouncy castles and fair rides for the evenings. And my favourite thing that we got to do, which I think was amazing, was micro lighting,” said Fyfe.
Micro lighting is the flying of lightweight, one or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft, which Fyfe explained he was able to go up 1000 meters in the air in.
Now that Fyfe is back home, he’s able to bring his new experiences and perspective to Selkirk.
“I kind I have a bigger perspective or understanding of people around the world, especially from scouting communities,” he explained.
Though his family has done international travel in the past, just attending an event like this brings more to his toolbox.
An example of this that Fyfe spoke about was that though food from other places can be a bit different, it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong, just different. That idea of things that others do not considered wrong but it being ok that things are done differently, is something that we can all learn from.
He said he believes that he’s going to be using his newfound skills in the future.
“Scouts teaches you all these skills that you need for real life, but then also jamborees and just meeting new people. It’s social skills, it’s storytelling, being more empathetic towards people,” said Fyfe.
He also wants to encourage younger scouts in our community to continue with the program, as you can end up in some pretty cool places thanks to scouts.
“I’d say go for it, because you won’t get many opportunities like this anywhere else. I think it’s incredible,” he said.
If you would like to learn more about Scouts in Selkirk, email Rosa Buschau at rosa.buschau@scouts.ca.
