Field Report from Haiti

"On the early afternoon of Friday March5th, 10 truck loads of NFIs, (non-food items) arrived at our temporary warehouse in Port Au Prince. These large trucks contained thousands of items including: wood stoves, kitchen sets, water carriers, water purification kits and tool kits, basically the contents of a ShelterBox without the tent & box. In order to expedite satisfying the enormous need for tents, ShelterBox has arranged to send 5,000 tents directly to Haiti from the manufacturer in China; consequently the NFIs were sent separately from headquarters in the UK.

These trucks were immediately unloaded and early the next morning, 8 trucks and numerous soldiers from the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division arrived at the warehouse to begin reloading and transferring the supplies to the staging area at their base. This was completed by early Saturday evening. Sunday morning trucks were reloaded in smaller quantities and, accompanied by 4 of our ShelterBox Response Team members, distribution to the surviving earthquake victims began. There were many return trips to the 82nd's base to reload, this processed continued throughout the day and into the following one. By the end of the day on Monday, all the NFI's had been distributed to the Haitians.

This was a remarkable achievement. In excess of 14,000 non-food items, which were in our warehouse for less than 24 hours, had been totally distributed in two days to many thousands of desperate Haitians. This could not have been achieved without the tremendous assistance from the 82nd Airborne and our great appreciation is extended to them. Almost two months after the earthquake, the need in this country remains staggering. There are tens of thousands of people without shelter and the basic essentials of life as the rainy season approaches. To our many supporters, be assured that ShelterBox will continue with our presence here for as long as the need remains and as long as we have the resources to help these suffering people.

SRT Rotarian Ron Noseworthy, Kenora, Ontario
Footnote: We are glad to report Ron has now returned safely from Haiti.