Robin Jenkins

Robin Jenkins, originally from the Vale of Glamorgan, is the founder of Atlantic Pacific, an International Rescue Boat Project, which identifies regions that have high drowning rates and are vulnerable to disasters, and supplies them with bespoke rescue boats, along with mobile lifeboat stations and highly trained volunteers to assist them.

The project was set up following a visit to Kamaishi in 2014, the first place to be hit by the Great Eastern Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

He was also recently involved as a volunteer on Sea-Watch 3, a mostly volunteer-led vessel, with the goal of rescuing refugees and asylum seekers stranded in European waters. During this time, Robin was responsible for rescuing 32 people, including a baby and several children off the coast of Libya in December 2018.

On top of his own humanitarian work, Robin Jenkins also enables others to contribute to his humanitarian effort, for example through training volunteers to assist crew members on lifeboats, and through the summer school programme that he runs at Atlantic College, which aims to equip its participants with the skills necessary to become Atlantic Pacific Crew Members.

This scheme has been highly successful, with 50% of the people trained in the scheme going on to work for NGOs in disaster areas, with several having assisted with the refugee crisis in Greece, and others contributing to an effort to establish a lifeboat station in northern Japan.