Posted by Kent Fraser

ShelterBox Case Study

Since 2000, Boko Haram has been committing deadly attacks all across Nigeria. Known for targeting isolated and vulnerable villages, the violence has now spread to the neighbouring border regions of Cameroon, Niger and Chad. An estimated 17 million people have been affected by this crisis, with 3.2 million people in urgent need of emergency shelter.
ShelterBox has been working in the region since 2009, providing shelter and essential aid items to vulnerable families. To date with the support of Rotary Clubs across Canada we have supported 10,000 families. On one of our latest visits to Camp Minawao Refugee camp in Cameroon we met Modu and her family.
 
25-year-old Modu Gambo is originally from Nigeria. She now lives with her four children in Minawao Refugee Camp, Cameroon, home to more than 60,000 refugees who fled Boko Haram violence.
In her home village, Modu worked as a trader, and lived with her husband and four children. She told staff at IEDA Relief – ShelterBox’s implementing partner based in Cameroon – they were a united and happy family until the attacks began.
 
‘It was the beginning of darkness for us’, she said. ‘We had to run to save our lives.’ She said her whole village had been completely destroyed by Boko Haram, and all of her neighbours had fled. After she ran with her children, she never saw her husband again and now cares for her children on her own. She said that she still lives in the hope that she will one day see him again. ‘The last time I spoke with him, he told me he was going to get some money to join us. He was completely ruined when Boko Haram destroyed all that we had.’
 
Weeks after fleeing their home, Modu and her children eventually made it to Minawao camp. She said their first days inside the transit centre at the camp were not easy. Modu found it difficult to sleep at night, she said it was overcrowded and they lived in an extremely narrow space.
 
The family were in the transit centre for a few days before they were relocated to an emergency ShelterBox tent. ‘Since then, life has become so much better. I miss my husband, but I feel highly relieved. We finally have some privacy in our own home’, said Modu. She has made some new friends in the camp who are also refugees and have been through the same as experience as her. She explained that the tent gives them a space to talk in private, something she used to have in the past.
 
As well as a tent, the family received a kitchen set, mosquito nets, solar lights, water carriers and water filters, blankets, and ground mats. Modu was extremely grateful for the aid they received. ‘Thank you so much IEDA and ShelterBox. This tent and the other items we have been given have made my life so much better. I can sleep at night and stay with my family peacefully’
 
CURRENT DEPLOYMENTS: ShelterBox and Habitat for Humanity
The latest ShelterBox deployment info can be found at www.shelterboxcanada.org/operations-update
Is your club interested in having a ShelterBox presentation? Get in touch at support@shelterboxcanada.org
 
ShelterBox Canada – 159 Jane Street, Office 2, Toronto, ON M6S 3Y8
E: support@shelterboxcanada.org  T: 647.352.1930 www.shelterboxcanada.org
 
ShelterBox and Rotary are official project partners in international disaster relief. ShelterBox is a registered charity independent of Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation