First ShelterBox Experience - Scouts

[sccadmin]

Hi All,

I know there are loads of Scout Leaders out there and as such I thought some of you might be interested in what happened on the first ShelterBox Experience run for adults in Scouting. Also couldn't see a Scouts specific section to the forum so thought I'd post here.

​

Its going to be hard to tell you about the Scout's ShelterBox Experience without giving the game away for future participants but hopefully I'll do the course justice without spoiling it.

The Scouts have a long traditional of working with ShelterBox throughout the world. Firstly as fund raisers but also as a group ShelterBox can rely on to be well organised!? and have experience putting up tents, something that can be very handy when trying to erect a Internaly Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of several hundred or even thousand tents.

Recently the UK partnership was formalised and ShelterBox announced several initiatives to get us all working together. The ShelterBox Challenge was created, a 10 activity challenge that ultimately gave the Scouts a great vehicle for learning about ShleterBox and another coveted badge to wear with pride. The London and Edinburgh ShelterBox Scavenger Hunts were a great success with more planned for the future and ShelterBox Jurno has just been announced.

But its not all about the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, there's the wider Scout Network to consider including pack and group leaders. This is where the ShelterBox Experience comes into play.

The ShelterBox Experience has been created by ShelterBox as a two day event where adults in Scouting can learn more about ShelterBox, the challenges the ShelterBox Response Teams (SRT's) face on the ground in disaster zones and have some fun in the process.

The course takes place near to ShelterBox HQ on the Lizard Peninsula and starts at 3pm on the Friday finishing early afternoon on the Sunday. The itinerary is a closely guarded secret until right before any activity takes place and the air of secrecy adds to the general effectiveness of the course. SRT's rarely know what's likely to happen moment to moment during deployment and neither do Scouts on the ShelterBox Experience.

What the ShelterBox Experience does really well is balance the classroom elements with outdoor activities and the ShelterBox focused activities with more generic activities, giving a well rounded course that grabs your attention and keeps you double guessing about what's going to happen next. The deployment instructions sent out in the week running up to the course give you some sense of what might be involved. Groups of Scouts are put into the shoes of an SRT on the ground during a disaster situation. Some of the activities include:

• Having a tour of the ShelterBox HQ and looking at the contents of a box.
• Talking to SRT's about their experiences on deployment.
• Viewing the harrowing video and still images shot while on location at IDP camps.
• Erecting and sleeping in a specially designed and manufactured ShelterBox Vango tent.
• Playing with the ShelterBox stove, an excellent piece of kit every leader wanted for their Scout Group.
• Learning about and using navigation techniques including map reading, compass work, natural navigation, pace measuring etc.
• Learning and putting into practice survival skills including lighting fires and shelter building, delivered by Survival Wisdom.
• Taking part in two very cleverly designed team building exercise's.
• Learning how to use two way radios correctly.

I'm the one first from the left in the picture above

The team building exercises were cleverly thought out, well planned and perfectly executed. The tasks were challenging but fun and not the same old tasks everyone's done a million times before. They gave participants a really good understanding of how complex the situations are that SRT's work in every time they're deployed. The planning, skills sets, stress and response to rapidly changing situations involved with scoping, setting up and managing an IDP camp are staggering and the job they do is essential to the well being of thousands of families a year.

There were a couple of really good twists to the weekend and the Scouts moto 'Be prepared' is very apt. Some of the participants voiced trepidation when faced with a few of the situations but actually when it came down to completing the tasks everyone rose to the challenge and commented how much more the rewarding the weekend was for it.

If you're part of the network and get chance to go I'd highly recommend it. I went on my own but a lot of the other attendees went with fellow leaders, either way you'll find the ShelterBox and Survival Wisdom staff are some of the most friendly people you've ever met and the overall experience of the weekend is very fulfilling.

Pictures from http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelterboxuk/5553023005/ and by Thomas Lay and Elaine Kimber, content from my blog.

Cheers

Richard

 

[decorum]

Good write up and a good cause ~ I did my 15 items or less challenge in tandem with a scout troop on a sponsored event in aid of Shelter Box.

There is a sub-forum for Leaders in youth organisations in the Social and Meet Ups forum ~ Leader's Chatter. But, to be honest, you'll get more views in this section.

 

[sccadmin]

decorum - ahhh, not the most obvious of spots, I thought there was a sub-forum but couldn't find it, thanks for the heads up

 

[Manacles]

Brilliant stuff, we have just started the Shelterbox project at our Troop (1st Stanford in the Vale - West Oxfordshire District) and our Explorers are kicking it off by a 24 hour "stay awake" living with Shelterbox only tools etc.

We are raising funds through individual sponsorship to pay for a complete box.

It's a great charity and well worth a look. Interesting also to check out what a Shelterbox contains as it covers all the basic survival requirements........

 

[cbkernow]

looks like a lot of fun! I had planned to take part myself, especially as my troop is less than 10 miles from shelterbox HQ! But unfortunately both weekends its beig run, I'm camping with my own troop.

 

[sccadmin]

cbkernow - I thought they'd increased the courses to 4 this year? Not sure but might we worth trying to find out.

 

[decorum]

cbkernow - I thought they'd increased the courses to 4 this year? Not sure but might we worth trying to find out.

Linky thing ~ info's in the second section down.

14 – 16 October and 18 – 20 November. <<<

>>> Now that March and May’s ShelterBox Experiences are fully booked, ShelterBox are thrilled to announce two new dates for this course. <<<

 

[Tengu]

But was there much detail on feedback as to how well these items really do work?

 

[Manacles]

But was there much detail on feedback as to how well these items really do work?

Oh yes, they've been being used (and refined) for best part of ten years now. Obviously all the items are of a "one size fits all" spec for obvious reasons, but in times of nought those receiving the boxes are likely to be grateful for what they get. Have checked some of the kit myself and I would use it

 

[sccadmin]

We slept in one of the Vango tents and they were extremely well made. They're custom designed in a collaboration between ShelterBox and Vango. Seemed really durable and apparently survived being tested at the highest setting on the wind tunnel. Families have been known to live in them for 2 years.

Other items of note include the stove which I might have a picture of somewhere. Made by a local blacksmith for ShelterBox but also available for purchase, made quite a stir with all the Scout Leaders. Great for a fixed camp.

The water purification was well thought out too. Apparently they used to send chemicals but often people would throw the whole bag down a well and assume it was clean forever more! Its a gravity fed filter system which attaches to one of the poles for rain water collection.

Theres a basic tool kit, blankets, cooking equipment, eating utensils, stuff for the kids.

ShelterBox aren't trying to provide everything a family would need to survive, theres plenty of other agencies with responsibility for water, food, medical care etc, they're just trying to provide the 'shelter' element with a few extras thrown in. Their official line is 'ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth and dignity to people affected by disaster worldwide.' The tent is the key part. The boxes are also really useful and put to many different uses, including as a make shift cot!

Don't forget the box is only one element, the SRT's (ShelterBox Response Teams) also play a vital role, assessing what aid is needed, planning IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps, organizing volunteers (often local Scouts) to setup the tents etc etc. They do an amazing job.