All Hands Volunteer

All Hands Volunteers

Summary

All Hands Volunteers is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation based in the United States, this organisation provides assistance to communities that have been affected and relocated due to natural disasters.
The organisation has a true model of voluntarism, the volunteers are provided with food, accommodation and tools to offer an immediate andeffective response to communities in need. They act after disasters and also before long term sustainability is provided to the community.
It was founded in 2005 by David Campbell, after he travelled to Thailand and looked at the devastating effects the 2004 tsunami had left behind, he decided to organise a group of people with the purpose of helping the communities that had lost everything.

Bythe end of their first project they had raised $100,000, this was used to rebuild the villages, schools and safe shelters for the affected communities in Thailand. After seeing the success of this project the organisation decided to get involved in bigger projects expanding their vision worldwide and becoming the hands on volunteering organization that is today, allowing people with the samedesire and passion to help and be part of these projects.
Since the All Hands Volunteers organisation was founded, over fourteen projects have been completed all over the world, helping thousands of people that have survived catastrophic events.

Among the projects completed includes the following countries; Indonesia, Philippines, Peru, Bangladesh and Haiti. With the help of fundraisingvolunteers, donations and partners like Oxfam Great Britain, UNICEF, Red Cross and the Salvation Army, this organisation has been able to successfully complete each and one of their projects.

Significance of the All Hands Volunteer Organisation for modern public health


On the 11th March 2011 Japan was hit by a devastating earthquake measuring 9.0 on the richter scale affecting the northeastcoast of this country, according to (World Health Organisation, 2011) multiple disasters occurred; damage to nuclear plants, hospitals, houses were destroyed and several other health services were impacted with this one catastrophic event.

The response was agile and fast with the help of many organisations including All Hands Volunteers, this facilitated the transition to a state of recoveryafter the disaster offering immediate aid to the community. The organisation provided the assistance and support during this tragedy in Ofunato and Rikuzentakata the southern Iwate area, a seaside hamlet where an estimated 2,400 people died and 7,200 homes were destroyed.

All hand Volunteers took action and within six months 214 jobs were completed, an equivalent of 65.104 hours of donatedlabour and approximately 4,020 volunteers assisted in debris removal from homes, hospitals, health centres and parks. They rebuilt the rice fields’ drainage system to prevent flooding during the rainy season and also clearing the highways and the main roads, allowing the machinery to get through for major reconstruction work. (All Hands Volunteer, 2011)

Carr (2008, p.6) commented that “Theorganisation of public health structures has always been closely related to the way communities and societies organize themselves”… and this reinforced the vision of this particular organisation. They created a social and community network trying to make everybody aware of the need for help after a natural disaster and the importance of helping people to re-establish their lives in a place free of debrisand possible diseases. This is a community focus organisation where their main objective is to help affected populations involving the general public to act together with the single purpose to provide support to the families in need.

With the help of other organisations such as World Food Program they have been able to provide fresh food and clean water, fighting against malnutrition and...