Friday 30 July 2010
SRT returns from six week deployment
SRT member Jodie Hurt in Palmeras, Brazil with 6-year old Laninha pictured far left.
ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) member Jodie Hurt (UK) has just returned to ShelterBox HQ in Cornwall, UK after six weeks on deployment.
Jodie was initially deployed to Haiti as part of ShelterBox’s ongoing response to the January earthquake.
She left in mid-June and spent two weeks in Haiti carrying out post-distribution monitoring and assessing the ShelterBox disaster relief tents that have been distributed in the country.
While there she liaised with partner organisations ShelterBox has been working with including SASH (Sustainable Aid Supporting Haiti), ACTED, IOM, Medi-Share and JPHOR to assess the effectiveness of ShelterBox aid. ShelterBox has so far distributed 10,000 tents with SASH’s help.
Melanie Brown, Director of SASH, said: ‘We wouldn’t have been able to do anything without the help of ShelterBox in the last few months.’
SRT member, Graham Henderson (UK), added: ‘Efficient and purposeful distribution is all about finding the correct model that works in harmony with local needs. We believe SASH have found just such a model.
Chris Hudson, Distribution Programme Manager for ACTED, continued: ‘ShelterBox is so efficient and quick. They get the job done and SRTs are amazing. They respond so much quicker to the need of the people.’
Continued deployment
Towards the end of her deployment in Haiti, Jodie received a call from ShelterBox HQ asking her to head to Guatemala where ShelterBox was responding to Tropical Storm Agatha and Volcano Pacaya.
She flew into the Guatemala City and met up with the SRT members Mike Freeman (US), John Lacquey (US) and Trannie Lacquey (US) who were already working in the country.
The team continued the assessment of distribution sites and trained local Rotarians, Scout groups and worked with the Emergency Disaster Committee of the Rotary Clubs of Guatemala. Unknown to her at the time, Jodie’s ongoing deployment was about to take her into South America.
After a week in Guatemala, Jodie was asked to change her travel plans and head to Recife, Brazil to form part of the second SRT who were heading into the flood-hit regions of Pernambuco and Alagoas.
When Jodie arrived in Brazil, she worked with the team to continue establishing Camp Hope and Camp Confidence in Barrieros, Pernambuco. While there the SRT worked with Rotarians, the Brazilian Army and Pernambuco construction workers. With the help of these partners, 200 ShelterBoxes were distributed.
Compassion & kindness
The team then moved to the town Palmeras in Alagos to deliver more aid to families who had lost their home in the flooding.
While setting up the ShelterBox camp in Palmeras, Jodie was befriended by six-year old Brazilian girl, Laninha.
Jodie said: ‘Laninha lived on the outskirts of the camp we were setting up and quickly became my shadow! She was really interested in all the work we were doing and especially the tents. She talked to us all the time and was always smiling. It was amazing to see so much joy while being surrounded by such devastation.’
Before Jodie left, Laninha gave her a letter that her older sister helped her to write. The letter read:
Dear Jodie,
Everybody has reasons to be grateful when special people pass our lives by. They spend their time and show us kindness just by sharing it with us. They let us know that we are in their minds through the good acts they do and that they really do care about us.
You are all these special people and you will always deserve our endless thanks.
The things that you and your friends have done with such compassion and kindness make us so joyful. Thank you all for helping us. I hope we can keep being good friends forever,
Your friend,
Laninha
The below images are from SRT member Mike Greenslade who was part of the second SRT in Brazil:
