As a small group of New Plymouth volunteers touched down back home in New Plymouth Steve Bowkett was already planning a third trip back to Tacloban.
“Right up to the last day we were still meeting people that we would of liked to help. I would like to go back in September.”
“I’ve told my church that I will go back. It does tug on the heart strings. You see the need and how badly off they are. You just give a hand. I enjoy it and it’s fun.
“We don’t give out any cash. They might ask but we just build them a house, give them a sack of rice, school supplies or something like that.”
A furniture builder by trade and owner of Artesano in Fitzroy, New Plymouth, he enjoys travelling to disaster areas around the world helping others by offering whatever skills he can.
“Last year we started in Barangay 79 after Typhoon Yolanda ravaged the Phillipines. A local, Emma, gave us a list of people around her neighbourhood that really needed help. I still hear from a few of them on facebook.
This trip Steve was joined by Justin Butler, Zavia Smith and Lynette Betteridge.
“It took quite awhile to get a team but I got the right people at the right time. We worked well together.”