ShelterBox will provide aid for those displaced by conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It has been reported that tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the current crisis in the DRC. Volunteers are packing an initial 200 ShelterBoxes containing ten-man tents, blankets, cooking equipment, water purification and mosquito nets, which will be sent to Goma in the Congo. A further 200 boxes will follow.
A ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) has departed to distribute the aid to those in need in Goma and the surrounding area. The team will include ShelterBox new Operations Manager Peter Sykes, a former Regional Manager in West Africa for Oxfam, who has also worked for Save the Children and DFID, the Department for International Development. The second team member, Jens Pagotto, from Bath in the UK, is a volunteer who graduated from the intensive ShelterBox training scheme in September. This will be his first deployment with the charity, during a year’s sabbatical in which he is focusing on voluntary work. Oxfam assisted ShelterBox by acting as a consignee to receive the aid into the country.

ShelterBox and Oxfam are regular partners in disaster relief, working together to help those who have been displaced. The DRC is the 50th different country that ShelterBox has worked in. To date, the charity has responded to more than 75 disasters, both natural and man-made.