A GROWING community across Berkshire is proving that a love of books can change lives far beyond the page.
Avid readers are making a real difference to the lives of people who have had to flee their homes due to disaster or conflict, with every book they read as part of a charity book club.
Victoria Evans, 48, from Crowthorne, joined ShelterBox Book Club during a visit to Hay Festival.
She’s one of hundreds of members across the southeast of England.
Since launching in 2018, the club has raised over £1.5 million, supporting the disaster relief charity ShelterBox to deliver emergency shelter and essential supplies like water filters, solar lights, and mosquito nets to people in crisis.
“I realised there was no time like the present, and I signed up,” said Victoria.
“I love it when the package drops onto my doorstep with the ShelterBox sticker on it – I know I am always in for a treat.”
For a monthly donation, every six weeks members receive a hand-picked book inspired by the people ShelterBox supports around the world.
Members can also access exclusive online author Q&As.
“I’m an avid reader and try to alternate between page-turners and educational reads,” said Victoria, “although with ShelterBox I often get both.
“I love learning about different countries and cultures through fiction.
“It opens me up to reading books I might not necessarily pick up in the library or bookstore, introduces me to new worlds, and broadens my mind.”
Victoria’s recent reads have included voices from Gaza, Myanmar, and Sudan, mirroring ShelterBox’s work in those regions.
After the devastating earthquake in Myanmar, club members explored Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup.
While ShelterBox responded to displacement in Sudan and neighbouring Chad, readers were immersed in Sudanese novel, A Mouth Full of Salt, written by Reem Gaafar.
And as tents arrived in Gaza, members read Before the Queen Falls Asleep by Huzama Habayeb, a tale of resilience and identity.
ShelterBox specialises in emergency shelter and has supported over three million people in nearly 100 countries.
It says its mission, to ensure that no-one is without shelter after disaster, is more urgent than ever.
The number of people displaced has tripled since it launched in 2000, with more than 117million people currently displaced worldwide.
Catherine Thornhill, ShelterBox book co-ordinator, said: “With every book read, our book loving community is helping shelter people around the world who have been uprooted from their homes; whether by conflict, tropical storms, flooding, or earthquakes.
“People like Victoria are making a difference to the lives of others they will never meet, simply through their love of reading.”
ShelterBox is currently responding to some of the world’s most neglected displacement crises; in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, and Somalia.
It’s also reacting to the crisis in Gaza, powerful earthquakes in Afghanistan, and has just completed its response to a series of typhoons and earthquakes in the Philippines.
For more information, visit: shelterbox.org/book-club.
