SUNDAY 14 JUNE,
SWAZILAND: 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 co-ordinated in
the country by the National Emergency Response Council on HIV AIDS
(NERCHA).
