1,000 Gather for World Jamboree in Fairfax
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 29, 1998
Huddling with seven other Girl Scouts, Vy Tran, 16, waited impatiently yesterday in their makeshift village. The rain, which appeared suddenly and with great force, kept the Houston native from her project of building a "tower" in Lake Fairfax Park's wooded campground.
The beginnings of the structure, composed of tall logs held together with rope, stood at the foot of a trail that led to Tran's Boy Scout counterparts from Texas, who were preparing to eat their typical lunch: Pho, a Vietnamese beef noodle soup. Tran, visibly restless, stood among the pieces of a handmade ladder that was built for the tower. "Everything's ready. We're just waiting now," she said.
Waiting, too, were more than 1,000 scouts from eight countries, gathered for the Sixth International Jamboree of Vietnamese Scouting -- the largest scouting event ever held for the Vietnamese community. Of the 3,000 Vietnamese scouts worldwide, more than a third are in the Washington area through Wednesday to showcase scouting skills, to reunite with old friends and to honor a culture that has been dispersed around the world since 1975.
The jamboree is playing host to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of all ages and is the second such event in the United States. The last international Vietnamese scouting jamboree, in 1995, was hosted by scouts in Australia.
The rain held off until after yesterday morning's opening ceremonies but delayed workshops that were scheduled to begin at midday. A campfire featuring traditional Vietnamese customs and songs was scheduled for last night.
Most of the scouts came from across the United States, with the largest contingents representing California, Texas and the Capital region, which includes Northern Virginia, suburban Maryland and the District. Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts also came from as far away as Australia, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.
For many of the participants in this week's jamboree, scouting means more than learning survival skills. "We are reinterpreting our Vietnamese identity into scouting," Kim Kyu Young, director of the World Scout Bureau's Asia-Pacific office, told the scouts at the opening ceremonies.
De Tan Nguyen, an associate national director for Boy Scouts of America, said scouting has become an important part of the Vietnamese culture because it provides a way for the children to learn about and to respect their roots.
"After Saigon fell in 1975, the community was spread all over the world," Nguyen said. "The world organization of scouting allows us all to come together as a community. It is a chance for the older people to reunite and to pass on and celebrate the tradition with the younger ones."
As Son Vo, 19, barked out commands in Vietnamese, five other senior scouts from Troop 1794 of Montgomery County followed along in a traditional flag raising. Vo joined the troop, which is made up of Vietnamese Americans, when it was formed four years ago.
"I can help out other people, and it feels good to help them," Vo said. "And I had kind of forgotten my culture. The leaders help to teach us both the American ways and the Vietnamese ways so that we don't forget."
Vo and his group raised three flags: the American flag, the Boy Scout flag and the former South Vietnamese flag, a yellow banner with three horizontal red stripes. Participants said the association with South Vietnam is not a political one. They sing the former South Vietnamese anthem and observe cultural customs as a way to remember heritage, not to battle political boundaries.
"The communist regime now in Vietnam sees scouting as a threat," said Quoc Tri Nguyen, a troop leader from Sydney. "We don't get into politics. It is more a personal point of view. The communist regime does not support us, so we do not support them.
"We speak Vietnamese with the children. We show them what the culture is about and what their parents believed in."
Dai Duval, of Springfield, was at the jamboree yesterday to give support to her six nieces and nephews, who were participating in the event. She moved to the United States after the war displaced her and her family. She said she is proud to be in America but feels that it is too easy to lose one's culture.
"All of us are immigrants, and we all want to keep what we had," she said. "We are proud of our new country, but we are also proud of our background. This is good, because it brings us all together from around the world."
This year's jamboree represents the largest ethnic gathering for the Boy Scouts of America. The National Capital Area Council, which is hosting the event, includes a number of troops composed only of Vietnamese Americans. Ron Carroll, scout executive for the council, said that along with Native American members of the Boy Scouts, Vietnamese Americans make up the largest and most active ethnic contingent of the organization.
"We have decided that it is good to encourage the cultural diversity, and we fully support it," Carroll said. "It is part of the whole concept of a world jamboree. It is the opportunity for people of different cultures to come together and have understanding, tolerance and the ability to see a different perspective."
Long Nguyen, 13, of Fountain Valley, Calif., is one of more than 230 scouts who came from Southern California to take part in the this week's jamboree. Shielding himself from the rain under a clear poncho, he and about 15 fellow scouts talked about meeting people from all over the world and enjoying new experiences.
"This all really shows us what we are about. It keeps us united," he said. "We would learn about our culture, sure, but it would be much, much less."