Aid & Trade Recap

It’s a long way to go to display a dome, but worth it, and not just for the Swiss chocolate!
Our World Shelters team of Bruce LeBel, Rick Bend, Charlene (Charlie) Jordan, and Colin Moxon recently returned from the International Aid and Trade show, held in wintry Geneva, Switzerland. They set up a U-Dome inside the huge Geneva Exposition Hall with the generous help of Geneva area Rotary club volunteers Jean-Pierre Blondon, Gilbert Coutau and Serge Dubuis.

The show brought a large number of international relief agencies and suppliers together in one place for two days. World Shelters met with several international relief agencies and suppliers including Save the Children, Mercy Corps, World Vision and Oxfam to discuss shelter needs and potential collaboration. After the show Bruce also participated in the UN sponsored Emergency Shelter Cluster working group.

Following the trade show, the U-Dome on display was acquired by the Netherlands Red Cross as part of a larger testing program of panel structures at the Eindhoven Technical University. They’ll be reporting about the dome’s performance when the testing is complete.

We’re now responding to additional requests for proposals and having discussions with other contacts who want to use our shelters for relief projects.

All in all, a very successful week! Thanks, to a great team and to the organizers of Aid & Trade.