Don Roberts added "It also fits with what Bob Mazzuca (I'm never going tofigure out how to spell that name) said to me personally at WSJ this summer. He is a very strong supporter of international scouting, and consideration of hosting a WSJ fits well. I asked him if the BSA would bewilling to consider hosting a WSJ again, and he said "we would considerit." I discounted that a bit, as he was, then, brand new to the job andhadn't yet had to face the reality of top level BSA poltics. I'm veryglad to hear that, and hope the rumor pans out. It has been a very longtime since 1967 and a lot has changed since then."
A WJ in the US would definitely be exciting. However, there are a numberof hurdles that would need to be overcome. The most obvious is the coednature of international Scouting. When BSA last hosted a WJ in 1967, WJ participation was limited to boys. The last all-boy WJ was in 1975 in Norway. WJs are definitely coed now.
Just a few specific hurdles I can think of immediately:
1. The 20% rule - Others can correct me if I am wrong, but it is myunderstanding that youth participation from the host country of a WJ islimited to 20% of the total youth in camp. If there are 30,000 youth incamp, a maximum of 6000 can come from the host country. That means BSAwould be limited to about 6000 Scouts and Venturers. To be able to haveeven that many participate, we would need to attract 24,000 youth fromother countries. In a way, this rule penalizes large countries like theU.S. Consider the impact on attendance at the last WJ if the 20% limit
had been applied to the entire EU instead of to the UK. Geographicallyand population-wise, that would be the impact of applying it to the U.S.(I believe the limit for a non-host country is 10% of the total youth.)
2. Providing Home Hospitality - BSA WJ contingents have not participatedin home hospitality (hoho) since the 1987-8 WJ in Australia. However, forcontingent from many other countries, this is an expected part of the WJexperience. Organizing hoho stays in the US for the WJ internationalcontingents that would expect hoho, many of them coed, would be a majorchallenge. (It is a challenge for us at MIC with 250-300 internationalScouts, leaders, and staff. For a WJ, you would multiply those numbers byup to 100.)
3. Obtaining US visas for international contingents - There now 29countries for which US visas are not required. That number is growingvery slowly. (The leader of the Hungarian contingent to MIC bemoaned thefact that Hungary becomes a visa waiver country next year but they stillneed visas this year.) For someone coming to the US from a country thatis not a visa-waiver country, it costs the local equivalent of US $131 toapply for a US visa, with no guarantee of success. Each US Embassy willinterview every visa candidate with a focus on whether they have strongenough ties to their home country that they will return home after the WJand not stay in the US. From our MIC experience, supporting visaapplications is a major task. Some visa applications for past MICs havebeen rejected, and, without the support of the office of Michigan's USSenator Carl Levin, there would have been more.
4. The cost for international contingents to get to the US - Who knowswhat airfares will be in 2019, and, except for Canada, Mexico, and someCaribbean and Central American countries, the flight distance would besignificant.
A World Jamboree in the US in 2019 would be doable, but only if BSA startsto address those and other challenges now
from Bruce McCrea
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