How ShelterBox Has Helped:
ShelterBox
Response Teams
When ShelterBoxes are sent out to a disaster, a
'ShelterBox Response Team' is also deployed. These teams are all
made up of volunteers, who have trained with us, and are ready
to go with the ShelterBoxes anywhere in the world.They ensure
the safe delivery and distribution of the ShelterBoxes. Our team
members are men and women who usually work in very different types
of jobs e.g.
policemen and policewomen,paramedics,firemen,chef,writer,accountant,graduates,ex-navypersonnel,businessmen
etc.
The main person we deploy is Mark Pearson. Mark is a photographer
and journalist, and his photographs are very important to our
work. He sends back to our Headquarters up to date information
and pictures and advises us where the greatest need is, and the
type of aid required.Almost all of the photos that you can see
on the website have been taken by Mark.
Below you will find some true stories of some of our 'ShelterBox
Response Team' members, we hope you will enjoy them.
My name is Mark Smith.
I am a Policeman from Truro in Cornwall.
In my spare time I help to deliver Shelterboxes to different
places around the world.
In May 2006 I went to Kenya, a large country in East Africa,
which has not had rain for 8 seasons until April 2006 when
they had so much rain in a few days it caused really serious
floods which destroyed all the houses and schools.
We took with us 50 " Schools in a box" with each box containing
pens/papers/books etc.. for 50 children!
Most of the children we met live in big slums and have lost their
parents so live alone or with a brother or sister.
They cannot afford to go to school and spend their day searching
the huge rubbish tips of Nairobi, the Capital city, for food and
other things they can sell so that one day they can go to school.
Searching these tips is very dangerous and many of the children
get diseases and some end up dying.
Some people had built a school for these children so that they
could start to learn.
When they all saw their "school in a box" they shrieked with
delight, some of them had never seen a pencil!
The children did not want to leave this makeshift school because
they enjoyed it so much and they love to learn.
When I told them about the school children in England they could
not believe you have chairs to sit on, desks to write on, and have
computers and libraries! They think you are the luckiest children
in the world!
They were so grateful that the school children of England are
helping to send out "schools in a box" to them so that they too
can learn and maybe that way they can get away from their
life of poverty.
My name is Shaun Halbert, I am a veterinary surgeon who has been working as a volunteer with ShelterBox. In January I was part of a two man team helping families who had lost their homes to severe floods in northern Kenya. Due to heavy rainfall the Tana River rose 10 feet, broke its banks, and washed away whole villages of mud huts.
This photo shows how high the water rose up the mud hut walls.
The villagers had been forced to flee to higher ground carrying only what they could. They had lost their homes and had no protection from the hot tropical sun, heavy rains or mosquitoes.
Here you can see everyone in the village helping to put up 200 tents in two days. The finished tents can be seen in the distance.
By the evening families had started to move into the tents and to prepare some food.
The next day we drove to a remote school to take two “Classrooms in a Box”.
The children walk miles from surrounding villages to attend classes.
Here the children are reading from shared books.
The children were very pleased to receive the ShelterBox satchels containing pencils, notepad, chalk and a small blackboard.
On our way back I took this photo of some animals I never see as a vet in this country.
There are two giraffes in this photo – can you spot the second one?
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