Thousands of Boy Scouts from around the world are currently camping in South Korea. The country has been given the highest possible heat warning.
South Korea is currently experiencing extreme heat. The scouts of the world who have gathered in Saemangeum, South Korea for the scout world jamboree will also get their share of it.
About 43,000 scouts from around the world participate in the camp. Participants from Finland attend the camp Finnish patrol website including 900 Finns.
Finland’s team leader Arvi Snäll says on Ylen Radio Suomen Päivä on Thursday that the Finnish scouts have done “moderately well” at the camp despite the heat.
According to Snäll, the daytime temperatures have been around 36 degrees. The South Korean government has given the country the highest possible heat warning.
– It does feel very different from Finland. It feels closer to 40 degrees, and there is a lot of need for shade during the day, says Snäll.
According to Snäll, some of the Finnish scouts have had to be treated at the camp hospital for at most a day for mild symptoms caused by the heat. No one has been taken to hospital outside the camp.
According to Snäll, the camp’s arrangements have worked well. Plenty of cooling and shade places and water points have been built at the camp. The scouting skills have also had their own benefit at the camp.
– Scouts’ resourcefulness and the way they manage outside are the keys to survival here, Snäll says.
To the sauna despite the heat
Snäll says that the Finnish scouts took something belonging to traditional Finnish culture with them to the camp, i.e. a sauna.
– The intention is to take a sauna in the middle of this heat, to get ourselves clean, Snäll says.
Snäll guesses that the sauna is also of interest to campers from other countries, and it is viewed well and with curiosity.
In addition to sauna, the program also includes culture, a midway jamboree party and the end of the entire camp in due course. According to Snäll, there is plenty of program every day. The camp lasts another 9 days.
– We will come back to Finland in August to cool off, Snäll concludes.