Red Cross Blogs

Posts tagged ‘UK’

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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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It’s official – we are living longer than our ancestors.

On Saturday April 7 the World Health Organisation dedicated its annual World Health Day to issues caused by an ageing population. In the UK alone there are currently about three million people aged 80 or elderly – and by 2050 that number is set to climb to eight million. 

While a bright future of cakes and presents is obviously something to look forward to, an ageing population brings big challenges – particularly if everyone is to have access to quality health and social care.

The British Red Cross is already delivering the support that many more of us will need as life expectancy rises. Our social support makes a massive difference in communities across the UK – often to the lives of elderly people. Our volunteers pitch in with everything from wheelchair loans for people just out of hospital to a transport service that gets people out and about, and can also pick up shopping and prescriptions or offer a relaxing massage. And sometimes they make a big difference just by popping in for a cup of tea and a chat.

So how do we make a difference?

Tackling isolation and loneliness
Two million elderly people struggle to get to their local corner shop, post office or supermarket, according to research published last month. The Red Cross can help elderly people like Beryl, who lost her confidence after a nasty fall and stay in hospital, get out and about with its care in the home service. A volunteer helped her get back into her normal routine – Beryl said she didn’t know what she’d have done without the Red Cross.

Getting people back on their feet
Elderly people are more likely to need operations and hospital care. When Derrick came home to recover after surgery, the daunting task of looking after him proved tough for his wife Margaret. The Red Cross medical equipment service eased the pressure by lending Derrick a wheelchair, while Margaret was able to get “wonderful advice” and share her worries with a sympathetic volunteer.

Advice and practical support
Rachel found herself in desperate need of support after suffering years of domestic violence. Red Cross volunteers from the care in the home service helped her claim benefit payments she was entitled to, gave her a hand with day-to-day tasks like shopping and supplied some much-needed reassurance. The results were life changing.
While our ageing population brings challenges everyone should think about, British Red Cross services can help people be at their best regardless of how many candles were on their last birthday cake.

Don’t believe me? Ask the elderly people who were given a helping hand by the Red Cross – then decided to pass on the favour by becoming volunteers themselves.

Visit the Red Cross website for more information about the care in the home, medical equipment, therapeutic care and transport services.

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Today is World Water Day, a campaign designed to bring much-needed attention to the link between water and food security. Not enough water to go round? That’s something even England – famed for its rainy days and grey skies – can appreciate.

Much of south-east England is currently in drought, and news headlines predict that it will get worse as summer peaks. There will be hosepipe bans. Lush green lawns will turn yellow. The roses will curl up their petals and die.

Large areas of the Sahel – a stretch of sandy, semi-arid scrubland on the edge of the Sahara – are also in drought, with the crisis set to peak over coming months. Yet, while both the Sahel and the UK are described as being in drought, they face very different situations.

Firstly, more than 13 million people are already facing severe food shortages in the Sahel. Secondly, the area of west Africa that is affected by drought is huge. It is – in every sense – a much bigger problem.

Miles apart

But, regardless of size, it is highly unlikely that drought would affect a Bedfordshire hamlet in the way it is impacting on communities in the Sahel. Water shortages alone are not the cause of food insecurity in west Africa.

Although drought is part of the problem, many other factors contribute to people’s vulnerability. While the annual hunger season is a fact of life for communities in west Africa, this year is different. Higher food prices, regional insecurity, pest problems and reduced income from remittances are pushing the region into food crisis.

The more often this happens, the more vulnerable people are to it happening again. Food insecurity makes people vulnerable to malnutrition and ill health. Being unwell and lacking energy makes it hard to earn a living.

Even if England was hit by a drought of a similar severity to that in the Sahel, the effect would not be the same. Food insecurity in west Africa is a complex, cumulative problem which cannot be solved by simply turning on a tap.

Our West Africa Food Crisis Appeal will help support people in the region and reduce their vulnerability. When the crisis worsens this summer it will put lives and livelihoods at risk. Help us stop the situation deteriorating for millions of people.

Donate to the West Africa Food Crisis Appeal

Watch a video about our water and sanitation work

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For our fire and emergency support service (FESS) volunteer, no two call-outs are ever the same. But some are just that little bit more different than others.

Called out on Christmas Eve (which in itself isn’t exactly usual), our volunteers were faced both with freezing residents – and a houseful of snakes and reptiles.

Husband and wife duo Martin and Andi Hinder were called out to Andover, Hampshire in the dead of a fearsomely chilly night to find a fire-damaged block of flats, six fire engines and a shivering group of eight twentysomething residents.

Andi recalled: “The occupants told us they were very cold and could do with a cup of tea.”

Besides offering warm shelter in their FESS vehicle – along with extra clothing and food – the couple helped with practical necessities such as contacting insurance companies.

Martin continued: “Later, another occupant arrived, who had been out earlier. She was extremely distressed about her pets, which were still in the building – they included two rats, two snakes and two other reptiles.

“She asked that – if she was unable to stay in her flat that night – would we transport the pets to a friend’s house nearby? Local taxis had, understandably, already refused.”

Not in the least bit fazed by the request, the duo started investigating ways of making this Noah’s Ark scenario come about – and were eventually pointed to the fire service’s animal rescue team.

Luckily, the residents were allowed back in their building two hours later so Martin and Andi didn’t have to get elbow deep in reptiles. But it says a lot about their indomitable approach to FESS volunteering that they didn’t think twice before offering to help. All in a night’s work…

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Some of the most frequently – and casually – misrepresented groups are gypsies, travellers and Roma people. One person who knows all too well the prejudices these groups face is Mick Quigley.

Mick is a case worker on the British Red Cross’ Circles project, which supports gypsy, Roma and traveller communities living in Birmingham. At the moment, almost all the people supported by the project are from the Roma community.

Alongside our work with refugees and asylum seekers, in some areas the Red Cross offers support services to other vulnerable migrants who, for a variety of reasons, have found themselves in difficulty while in the UK.

Since Romania joined the European Union (EU) in 2007, you might assume the situation of Roma migrants had improved. Mick explains that the opposite is true: “They were better off as refugees.” Many Roma are persecuted in their own countries, but as part of the EU they are no longer entitled to refugee status – or to any of the support which comes with it.

Everyday problems

Unfortunately, many Roma find further discrimination upon arrival in England. Mick reels off countless stories of loan sharks, racist receptionists, biased interpreters and impromptu evictions. However, the biggest challenges his clients face are less dramatic but no less devastating.

Many Roma live with grinding economic hardship, compounded by language difficulties and illiteracy. They do not know how to get their children enrolled in school or how to sign up for a doctor. Poor diet leads to ill-health and problems such as diabetes. Many Roma get taken advantage of if they do try to get help.

Almost all of Mick’s clients are single mothers. Some travelled to England alone; others came here only to have their partner leave. These women are left with large families to support and benefits are often the only way they can feed their children.

Mick told me that getting the financial support these women are entitled to can be difficult. However, seeing Mick – a well-informed, English-speaking professional – trying to sort out a client’s housing benefit over the phone, I begin to appreciate just how challenging it really is. As Mick puts it: “If they’re giving me the runaround, imagine what it’s like for someone with limited English.”

Devastating effects

One of Mick’s clients is Nadia, a single mother with five children. She knows just how easily problems with benefits agencies can occur. Using an interpreter, she tells me: “They asked me different questions and I didn’t know how to explain. And because we couldn’t understand each other they just stopped the benefits.”

“They didn’t give me any kind of explanation, they just told me there was a problem and they had to stop it.” Nadia’s voice breaks as she recalls walking with her oldest son: “He was telling me ‘I’m hungry’. It was winter, the snow was big and thick, and where he could find clean snow, he was eating it.”

Luckily, with the help of the Red Cross, Nadia’s situation has improved: “They helped me very much, with basically everything. My kids are going to school now; I have food on the table; I have a house; I have everything because of them.” Her son is also doing well: “Yesterday I was at the award gala at the school and my oldest son received an award. I was the proudest mother ever.”

While Mick is proud of the progress Nadia has made, he knows there is still much more work for the Circles project to do: “There’s always going to be this need. For every one family we get sorted, there are three waiting behind.”

Read more about Nadia’s story

Read the story of Roxanna, who was also helped by the Circles project

Find out more about our health and social care work

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