ShelterBox - David Hatcher

Medway Rotarian David Hatcher was our guest speaker on 23 November. David has been extremely active with Rotary’s partner, ShelterBox, for the past 6 years and in his presentation he described ShelterBox’s and his roles in coordination. He has, as a response team member, visited disaster areas across the world in countries such as Haiti, Brazil, Nepal, the Philippines and Syria where he has coordinated activities. The presentation was accompanied by photographs and videos of the places where he had helped and which harrowingly highlighted the extreme plight that local inhabitants were in. They also showed the gratitude of those who had been helped.

The full ShelterBox package is adapted to suit local conditions and costs about £600 but the organisation is having to adapt to changing conditions. Some countries insist on all materials being purchased within the country to help the economy or do not wish to have tented camps which could become a permanent feature. In many instances a shelter kit costing only £35 is provided. These kits contain tarpaulins, blankets, essential tools and other necessities to ensure that the recipient can be safe, fed and watered.

Over the past three years, on average, some 27.5million people have lost their homes and in 2015 there were 22 disasters in 19 different countries. ShelterBox response is immediate and to help speed operations stocks of ShelterBoxes are maintained around the world.

An interesting and enlightening talk which left us with much to think about.

For more information see www.shelterbox.org