Red Cross Blogs

When I met the ever-smiling Nkhetheng in a kitchen in Pokane, in the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho, he was leading a group of villagers in some exquisite harmonies which filled the room alongside the fragrance of chutneys, pickles and jams which they were making as they sang.

Nkhetheng Pitso, 55, is married with ten children and knows all about the struggle to grow food in Lesotho’s challenging climate. This is his story:

“When I was younger I worked in the mines, but I came home in 2004. Now I’m a farmer, but at first it was difficult to feed my family. I used to try gardening but the crops would die, as I didn’t have the skills I have now. But things changed after I got involved with the Red Cross in 2008.

“The Red Cross officer encouraged unity in the village and I started volunteering because I was nominated by my community. I was taught about growing vegetables and now I give advice to others. Being a volunteer has boosted my confidence and I feel honoured in the village. We now have food to eat and before we struggled in the community. Now we can help each other.

“We were given seeds and the gardening is now very successful. We were also given water containers and taught to capture and store rainwater to use during droughts.

“Most of the community members are very poor, even me, but we know we will definitely get vegetables from my garden, such as spinach, radish, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes and pumpkins. Now I can grow vegetables all year round and sell some to meet other family needs. But I just give vegetables for free to those in my village who don’t have the money.

“In 2009, the Red Cross taught us to preserve food. Before that I only knew to preserve peaches and didn’t have so many recipes.

“I would love to open a restaurant but buying the utensils would be expensive. My children are so impressed by my skills and always recommend my food. I’m often asked to cook for people’s funerals.

“In February 2011, I was diagnosed with TB, but I wasn’t shocked because I had been in Red Cross workshops where I was taught about TB, so I knew I could get cured. As soon as I had some signs I went straight to the clinic.

“The Red Cross care facilitator was very close to me and my family, giving us support. She always came to check I was taking the medicine properly and I was still very active while taking the treatment, which I completed in July 2011.

“I was also tested for HIV and my wife too but we don’t have it, although many people in the community have been affected by HIV. Before, people were very ill but since the Red Cross came there are no longer bedridden people, all are living a better life and we are learning about HIV prevention.

“I’ve always loved for my children to be educated and now I work hard around here to pay for school fees so they can have a better future. I’d love my family to have peace and happiness and I’m doing what I can to make sure they get what they need so they are not sad.”

Read more stories from our HIV programme

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Tags: AIDS, food preservation, HIV, Lesotho, TB
Posted in Health and social care, International

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This year, we’ve been encouraging you to find bigger and better ways of fundraising for Red Cross Week. Stepping up to the challenge, people across the country came up with unusual, innovative and sometimes downright strange ways to bring in the cash.

Enormous confectionary

Cake sales are always a fundraising stalwart, but one Glasgow bakery reached new sugar highs with a 49 square foot millionaire’s shortbread. The enormous slab of caramel, shortbread and chocolate was produced by McGhee’s Bakery in Glasgow to mark the beginning of Red Cross Week. The giant confection was then sliced into normal sized portions and sold to raise funds.

Big money

In Poundbury, many shops have been displaying a giant gold coin in their windows this week. The oversized currency indicated that these local shops and businesses were lending their support to Red Cross Week. Participating stores encouraged the public to be ‘one in a million’ by donating a pound, or whatever they could afford – small donations quickly add up.

Expansive distances

After six months of hard training, bike enthusiasts Michael Coleby and Joe Greenway set off on an epic journey last Saturday. They are cycling over 1,000 kilometres from Bedworth, via the British Red Cross headquarters in London, to Geneva. Before setting off, Michael said: “It has been a busy few months preparing the logistics of the trip and I am excited about the hard work being put to the test.”

Huge challenges

Janet Meehan, 40, is terrified of heights. So what could motivate her to brave a 10,000 foot fundraising skydive? As a Red Cross delegate, Janet has travelled to crisis zones such as Pakistan and Tunisia. She said: “I’ve seen first hand how the Red Cross responds around the world to bring rapid support in disasters, and I also see every day the good work done here in the local community by the volunteers and staff based at my Reading office.”

Whether you do something big yourself, or get involved in something even bigger, every pound counts. It all adds up to help us make a huge difference, both in the UK and abroad. It’s not too late to get involved in Red Cross Week 2012 – find out what events and collections are coming up near you.

Find out more about fundraising ideas

Read more about how we help people

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Tags: fundraising, red cross week
Posted in Fundraising and events, UK

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Never let it be said that the British Red Cross is backwards in coming forwards when it comes to getting its message across.

To officially launch the organisation’s new Pupil, Citizen, Life-saver campaign, supporters marched straight into the House of Commons yesterday and started – literally – getting ‘hands on’ with the MPs whose support they need.

The Red Cross is calling on the government to ensure first aid and humanitarian education are included as a core part of the national curriculum. The organisation has reached 347,000 children and young people in the past five years and plans to reach 800,000 by 2015.

At the parliamentary launch more than 20 cross-party MPs came along to find out more, and meet pupils and teachers from schools that already successfully use Red Cross resources.

Quite a few even rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into some first aid training, while others pondered the sticky dilemma of how they’d respond if faced with a natural disaster.

The vast majority of Britain’s teachers (83 per cent) and parents (98 per cent) want first aid to become part of the curriculum – but currently just 18 per cent of primary schools in the UK offer pupils the chance to learn these skills.

Sir Bob Russell, MP for Colchester, is a parliamentary ambassador for the campaign. He said: “It’s great that children as young as five can learn first aid. The Red Cross’ teaching resources are clearly aiming to empower pupils rather than just inform.”

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Posted in First aid, UK

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This is a guest post by Henry Makiwa, British Red Cross senior media relations officer, who recently went to Burkina Faso. There, he revisited Sorhow Mohamed. Two months ago, Sorhow’s family was already struggling for food – now they have almost run out. 

It’s high noon in Tin Akoff village in north-west Burkina Faso. Temperatures are shaving 50 degrees celsius on the thermometer. Not a cloud hangs in the skies, not a bird dares to come out, and scatterings of cattle and goats hide in the shade of leafless trees.

Everything here is serene and quiet, except for some hushed chatter of two sisters who watch over a feeding toddler – while shooing off a troublesome goat that’s constantly attempting to eat from the same bowl as the minor. 

From the entrance of his small dome-shaped hut, 71-year-old Thiombiano L’Oudalan beckons us in. This grass-thatch and canvas structure – a whole twenty-four square metres of it – is home to Thiombiano, his wife Sorhow Mohamed and their eight children. 

Fighting for the family 

Sorhow is not at home today as she is at a village women’s networking group, discussing how they may best support their families during the current challenging times. 

Thiombiano says: “She is very resourceful. She doesn’t give up – she never tires of fending for her family. 

“We have been fortunate to get the Red Cross vouchers so we have had some grains and rice for food. What you see the child eating outside, however, is the last bowl of rice in this house.” 

Bad harvests 

Residents of the small village of Tin Akoff in the Sahel region of northern Burkina Faso are predominantly farmers. They live off their land, growing the staple grains such as millet and sorghum every rainy season. 

Thiombiano tells us that the last rainy season was “unkind” and crops failed, resulting in food shortages for his family and 15.6 million other people across west Africa. 

He explains: “Last year the situation was bad but it has never been as bad as this year. First was the drought and then the locusts came and ate everything left on the fields. 

“For a while during this drought, we have relied on selling our livestock at the local market – we hardly have any animals left anymore. The price of food at markets has risen dramatically by two or three-fold in certain circumstances. We are in grave danger and we do not know what to do,” 

Nothing left to give 

The Red Cross has completed the first phase of its support to 1,100 vulnerable families in Tin Akoff. Each family has received ten food vouchers to be exchanged for bags of rice, cooking oil, salt and sugar at local markets and shops. 

However, the Burkina Faso Red Cross is struggling to fund further work in Tin Akoff, Oudalan and Soum. According to Alid Adigrass, the Burkina Faso Red Cross president for the Tin Akoff, it is uncertain when the area will get more support. He says: “We don’t know when the next distribution will be under these conditions. It’s really bad. 

“Families have been getting vouchers – which are like a currency to buy basics from local merchants – while mothers of young children have been getting cereals from Red Cross stocks. These are now running out which is why we desperately need the international community to give us a helping hand.” 

The British Red Cross has launched an appeal to help the vulnerable in the Sahel region of west Africa. This appeal will help support people in the region now, and reduce their future vulnerability. 

Since we last visited Sorhow’s family, the situation has got considerably worse. Help us stop the situation deteriorating even further for millions of people. 

Donate to the West Africa Food Crisis Appeal

Read more about Sorhow and other people affected by the food crisis

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Tags: Burkina Faso, food crisis, food insecurity, Sahel, west Africa, West Africa Food Crisis Appeal
Posted in Emergencies, International

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This week, people up and down the country are dedicating their time and energy to raising money for the British Red Cross.

These dedicated fundraisers never stop dreaming up imaginative ways to bring in donations – which is just as well, because every penny they bring in is hugely important.

Every year we help people in crisis, both internationally and in the UK. Every pound donated to Red Cross Week is vital in supporting this work.

How your money could help

Perhaps you’re organising a game of office bingo? Sell tickets for 80p apiece and each one is enough to help a child affected by the war in Sierra Leone reintegrate into school. Imagine how many children you could help by getting your whole building involved.

Let’s say you put on a bake sale at your university and charge £2.50 for a slice of your famed marshmallow-topped devil’s food cake. That one slice has raised enough to buy a foil blanket for someone who has survived an emergency in the UK.

If you’re a sporty type, perhaps you’re taking on a challenge for Red Cross Week. Whether running, swimming, cycling or jumping out a plane, just £5 in sponsorship money could feed one critically malnourished child for a week.

Clearing out your cupboards? That old ill-fitting summer dress could sell for £10 in a Red Cross charity shop, enough to train one vulnerable person in the UK to save lives in an emergency. Your unloved frock could mean the difference between life and death.

There are a million ways to get involved this Red Cross Week, and whatever you do – and however much you raise – it’s enough to help someone, somewhere, in crisis.

It’s not too late to get involved in Red Cross Week 2012 – find out how.

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Tags: charity shops, disaster response, Emergencies, fundraising, International, Red Cross Appeal Week, UK
Posted in Fundraising and events, UK

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