By Mike Donahue
Moapa Valley Progress
For 16-year-old Pace Maughan, summer 2011 will surely become one of those moments in history – his history — he will never forget.
After working for months doing everything imaginable to earn money — from mowing lawns, to yard sales, to selling hot dogs at Bass Pro Shops in Las Vegas — Pace had enough to attend the 2011 World Scout Jamboree. The adventure was held on the fields of Rinkaby, not far from Kristianstad in the province of Skane in southern Sweden from July 25 to Aug. 7.
He was one of only 17 scouts from Southern Nevada to participate in the 10-day venture with some 39,000 other scouts from six continents and 114 countries. Pace estimated there were only 2,000 to 3,000 scouts from the United States.
Pace, an Eagle Scout with four palms, said the experience is something he’ll never forget. The theme of this year’s event was “Simply Scouting.”
“We first flew from Las Vegas to Los Angeles for a big meet and greet with other scouts from around the west,” Pace said. “Then we flew on Continental from LA to Newark, NJ and then from Newark to Copenhagen.”
Although Pace’s journey to the 22nd World Jamboree took nearly a year (counting all the work time), he gave credit to the Ugandan scouts who attended the event with the most arduous trek to get there.
“They rode bicycles thousands of miles to attend the jamboree,” he said. “Their trip was 40 days long.”
Pace said the jamboree was set up in a large encampment out in the Swedish countryside near the coast.
Throughout the event, different module activities meant to provide scouts with a memorable, engaging and inspiring time were arranged for different groups. Each activity attempted to provide participants with some specific experiences and insights. Some focused on personal insight while others were centered on knowledge and engagement with a more global perspective.
The jamboree was a humbling experience for some young scouts who got to experience what it would be like to be a refugee when they participated in a virtual exercise hosted by the UNHRC, the relief agency of the U.N.
Pace was a member of another group whose activity was called “Dream.”
“It was the best experience I had at the jamboree,” he said. “It was held at night and was designed to make us examine what has already occurred in our lives and take a look at all the possibilities we have for the future.”
Not all the time at the jamboree was structured.
“Most of our free time was used as trading time,” Pace said. “We traded neckerchiefs, patches, uniforms, whatever we brought with us. We took 1,400 decks of playing cards that had been donated by Las Vegas casinos to trade.”
Pace came home with a handful of neckerchiefs from different countries including Sweden, Portugal and others.
“The one I got from Hong Kong is special because my brother Zach went on a (LDS) mission there,” he said.
Pace said all the scouts who attended the jamboree had to take two complete uniforms with them and he gave one of his to a scout from Sweden.
“He was really happy,” Pace said.
Although Pace said he had no “bad” experiences during the jamboree, he admits accidentally getting on the Polish team during a soccer match and scoring a goal against the American team was pretty close.
One of the highlights of the trip was the chance to meet and make friends with scouts from around the world – friendships that may last a lifetime.
“I made some friends from Italy and a really nice kid from Holland who spent a lot of time with us Americans playing cards,” Pace said.
