Years of grocery bagging, collecting recyclables, sandbagging and other fundraisers are paying off for 13 local Scouts and local Scout leaders who have headed to Hong Kong and Kirara-hama, Japan for the 23rd World Scout Jamboree.

Local Venturer Scouts Jordan Shopland, 15, and Nathan Kopan, 16, said last Monday in Whitehorse they’ve been fundraising and planning to attend the 2015 world jamboree in Japan since learning about the last world jamboree in Sweden four years ago.

They knew they would have the chance to be part of the largest gathering of Scouts from around the world – more than 30,000 Scouts between the ages of 14 and 17 from 161 countries.

They worked countless fundraisers to come up with the approximately $6,000 each Scout needed to travel to the pre-camp in Hong Kong and then the 12-day jamboree in Japan.

Through the fundraising efforts, the local Scouts were each able to raise the cash needed to attend without dipping into their own pockets.

Neither Shopland nor Koplan have been to a world jamboree.

However, their experience at Scout jamborees in Canada have provided valuable. They have met Scouts from other regions and have learned a wide range of skills.

As Kopan recalled, it was at a national jamboree that he had the rare opportunity to learn how to make chain-mail.

Heading off to the world jamboree, the Scouts said they were especially looking forward to meeting Scouts from many different cultures (which includes, of course, the exchange of badges).

They also anticipated experiencing Hong Kong and Japan and learning a wide range of skills as they took part in their first jamboree.

It’s an experience that could put any Yukoner into a bit of culture shock.

Kiara-hama is a region where temperatures are often over 30 C this time of year even when it “cools down” overnight.

They’ll be travelling to the campsite by bullet train, and the opening and closing ceremonies will include numbers greater than the population of the entire territory.

Sean Munro is the Yukon area commissioner and part of the contingent management team who’s been working to bring the Canadian contingent together for the world jamboree.

As a Yukoner at a world jamboree ceremony, he said during last Monday’s interviews, you often try to stay closest to the exit given the numbers of people gathered in one spot.

“It’s overwhelming,” Munro said of his own experience attending world jamborees, including the last event in Sweden.

The opening and closing ceremonies will see each contingent represent its region with colours and flags.

For the Yukon, this represents the largest contingent of 13 participants, double the number who normally attend.

Atlin Shopland is the incoming Yukon area commissioner and an international service team member at the world jamboree.

There’s been a great group of Scouts in the last few years who have had the world jamboree “target on their radar” and have worked hard to go to the event, she said.

She estimated the Scouts have put in about 10 hours every month fundraising for the event in addition to their other Scouting activities, school and part-time jobs some have.

And local residents have been happy to help their cause when told of the jamboree in Japan, offering donations for having their groceries packed, handing over their recycling, purchasing sandbags and so on.

Munro described the extreme generosity Whitehorse residents have for Scouts and other organizations as “mind-boggling.”

There is a long list of activities the Scouts will participate in, such as water sports.

There is an equally long list of community service projects they will be involved with.

They will be complemented by spending a day in Hiroshima, visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and museum, where they will learn directly about the impact of the atomic bomb in 1945.

“That’s going to be very interesting,” Jordan Shopland said.

He and Koplan commented that it will be a very important part of the trip and something that should be included in any journey to the region.

Many of the Scouts have left for the pre-camp in Hong Kong, where they will meet others from around the world prior to the world jamboree.

Scout leaders and officials have already arrived in Japan, where they are doing training and setting up camp and getting ready.

For the Canadian contingent, that means readying Canada House, which is designed as an igloo.

“The Canada House will definitely be a unique structure,” Atlin Shopland said.

Meanwhile, Scouts and officials from all countries are also expected to have badges at the ready, with trading expected to be a pretty intense event in its own right.

Jordan Shopland and Koplan already have their own plans in mind, noting a number of countries have set badges where a number of individual badges will make up a larger piece.

The Canadian set, for example, includes four individual badges to make up one larger piece.

Koplan noted he’s heard Ireland’s contingent is bringing badges for a 15-piece set.

While each country will have its own badges, so too does each individual contingent, designed to reflect the area being represented.

The badge for the Canada Yukon Contingent that the Yukon Scouts have been armed with, quite appropriately, states, “The Midnight Sun Meets The Rising Sun.”

It features world, Canada and Japan Scout symbols with two dragons in the background.

The world jamboree is scheduled from Tuesday to Aug. 8.