An additional 200 ShelterBoxes are being sent to Sri Lanka to give emergency shelter to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were forced to leave their homes by the recent fighting in the country. The aid – which is due to arrive in the country on 21 June - will be sent to Menik Farm (Zone 3) in the Vanni region where ShelterBox has already distributed 448 ShelterBoxes. "There is still a great need for emergency shelter in the country," says SRT member Laura Jepson who returned from the country on 12 June. "Although the fighting has now ended, it will be many months before most of the IDPs will be able to go back to their homes. The conditions in the camps are very poor. They are very overcrowded." ShelterBox is working in Sri Lanka with local Rotarians, Habitat for Humanity, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations. The latest batch of aid will be distributed by ShelterBox Response Team members Tom Chambers (UK), Sallie Buck (UK) and John Cordell (US).

ShelterBox Founder and CEO Tom Henderson and a ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) have returned from Swaziland after visiting the country to oversee the distribution of 32,000 special school rucksacks to AIDS orphans. ShelterBox is working on this special project with The Piers Simon Appeal. Piers was killed in the Tsunami in 2004 and his family set up the charity in his memory. Piers's brother Luke is a trained SRT volunteer and was part of the SRT in the country. His parents also traveled to the African kingdom. "It was fantastic to finally go to Swaziland and see the school bags being distributed," says Luke. "The children have so very little and the school bags will make a real difference." In addition to school equipment, each bag contains a plate, mug and a spoon to enable the children to have a midday meal. There are an estimated 70,000 AIDS orphans in Swaziland, with 15,000 child-headed households. The school bags project is being coordinated in the country by the National Emergency Response Council on HIV AIDS (NERCHA).

The latest 9-day training ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) training course ended on June 7th with 14 of the 16 candidates reaching the finishing line. Andrea Klaas of Hood River, OR (USA) was among them, as well as Tony Zhang, ShelterBox's first SRT volunteer from China. The other candidates came from the UK, New Zealand, and Canada. "There was a great mix of people with a variety of backgrounds and nationalities on the course," says Pete Sykes, ShelterBox Operations Manager. "I am confident they will all prove to be valuable SRT members in the months and years ahead."

ShelterBox has distributed 200 ShelterBoxes to people whose homes were destroyed by Cyclone Aila which hit Bangladesh on May 25th, fourteen of the boxes were sponsored by US donors. The boxes, which will give help to up to 2,000 people, were distributed in and around the towns of Shyanmagar and Munshigaon, close to the border with India. "The recipients were so grateful. Whole villages had been destroyed and people were forced to live out in the open. The tents have given them the opportunity to start rebuilding their lives," says SRT leader Pat Prendergast. The other SRT volunteers were Stuart Oates (UK), Owen Smith (NZ) and Ron Noseworthy (Canada). ShelterBox volunteers were assisted by local Rotarians in the country. According to latest reports, more than 200 people were killed by the cyclone and 600,000 displaced.

ShelterBox has set up a camp for up to 2,500 people who have fled the fighting between the army and militants in northern Pakistan. Tarakai Camp has been set up in Swabi district in the North West Frontier Province. "This is an area where hundreds of thousands of people have fled to escape the bitter fighting," says ShelterBox Response Team leader Mark Pearson. "There is a massive need for our help here. Most people are living in very overcrowded and unsanitary conditions." ShelterBox has provided 250 heavy duty 10-person tents and special family kits of essential equipment to the camp. Oxfam UK has provided water and sanitation while the land has been provided by the local Liaquat Tarakai Welfare Trust. ShelterBox is also working with the National Rural Support Agency and local Rotarians. The size of the camp will double in the next two weeks. An additional 250 ten-person tents have now arrived in Islamabad and will be delivered to Swabi shortly. "ShelterBox tents are perfect for the harsh conditions here," adds Mark. "They can withstand the soaring midday heat and the sandstorms." Once the new tents are set up the camp will house up to 5,000 people. The United Nations estimates that a total of 2.4 million have been displaced by the fighting, 80 percent of whom have been forced from their homes in the last five weeks. ShelterBox has provided more than 1,000 ten-person tents to Pakistan since the end of May. "The scale of the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan is huge," says Lasse Petersen, ShelterBox General Manager. "We are monitoring the situation carefully and liaising with Mark on the ground with a view to getting help to those most in need."