The time has finally come. With a little help from time zones and a 747 I can safely say that I will be home tomorrow. Currently in Inchon Airport in South Korea waiting for my plane to the UK. The last time I wrote a blog I was in Tuvalu. Now sitting in an airport with much more land mass than Tuvalu I can’t help but think about when I was in the same airport on my way to Australia, Fiji and eventually Tuvalu.  Back then this point in time that I am currently now in was unimaginable. I will never forget the last 10 months of my life, the people I have met and the experiences that I have had but now it is time for home. 

Putting aside my role to develop Scouting if I was to take 1 think away from it all, it is this; have some faith in humanity. There are dangerous, evil, manipulative and scary people and place in the world. There are places that should not be travels and people that you should not meet. However what people don’t realise is that those people and places are only 1 grain of sand in a long white beach of beauty. I belief completely that where ever you go in the world you will always find at least 1 wonderful person that will help you out or needs helping out.

Having spent the last 3 weeks travelling through Fiji and Korea I can safely say that having faith in humanity has paid off. From free mangos to home stays, from bumping into old friends and meeting new ones the one thing that rounded off my time away has to be the my home stay in Korea and going to the Korean 13th National Scout Jamboree. I stayed for 3 nights with a Korean family in Chuncheon. I spent 3 days with a wonderful family being shown around the area and learning some basic (very basic) Korean. From there was the Jamboree.

10,000 people from 40 different countries from around the world met for a week of fun and adventurous activities from climbing mountains to learning about different cultures. The UK Explorer Scouts who are currently on their way to Fiji to meet Scouts from Tuvalu in a partnership program  also attended the Jamboree and I was lucky enough to meet and camp with the group along with Scouts from the Philippines and America. In one camp of 30 young people there were 19 different countries represented. This shows how much of global impact Scouting has and why is it has such a massive importance on Scouting now and in the future. It takes a jamboree like the 13th Korea National Jamboree to realise how significant Scouting is with 30 million young people worldwide in almost every country and territory. 10,000 more young people going back home in Korea or across the world will be have just realised this.

This won’t be the last blog so stay tuned, there will be a final one when I get settled back down at home and the novelty of hot showers and a cooler climate has worn off.  For now though its time to board that plane and get ready to step on UK soil again. Time to put the jumper on.