Watashi wa utsukushi! Free Being Me at the Japan World Scout Jamboree

WAGGGS had a big presence at the World Scout Jamboree, 28 July – 8 August, and Free Being Me was one of the star attractions! 

More than 800 Scouts, boys and girls, from 37 countries took part in special one-hour Free Being Me workshop, as part of the Global Development Village (GDV) on-site programme activity, and many more visited the WAGGGS exhibition tent.

The workshop gave participants the chance to experience the Free Being Me activities, to understand the importance of body confidence and to break away from the pressure to look a certain way. The activities were run by an amazing team of WAGGGS Asia Pacific volunteers who brought their energy and Free Being Me spirit. Emma from Australia, Karling from Malaysia, Anna from Taiwan, Ka Yi from Hong Kong and Mufeedah from Singapore never stopped sharing body confidence messages, even when the thermometer reached above 45 degrees C!

Many were interested to bring Free Being Me back in their countries, continue the activities and get the badge! It was amazing to watch scouts from so many different backgrounds agree that pressure about the way they look is a real problem and that it’s about time we spoke out against the idea that there is just one way to be beautiful.

Coming out of the Free Being Me tent everyone yelled at the top of their voices “I am beautiful” and it was very powerful to hear young people speak out positively about the way they look! “Je suis belle!”, “Soy hermoso!”, “Watashi wa utsukushi”!!

 

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