Red Cross Blogs

Archive for the ‘Volunteering’ Category

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The International Committee of the Red Cross recorded over 650 such attacks between mid-2008 and late 2010 in 16 nations it examined. In total, 1,834 people were killed or injured in these attacks.

On Monday (24 April), charity heads, academics, and healthcare experts and practitioners from around the world gathered in London to discuss the ICRC’s Healthcare in danger campaign.

As speakers at the conference shared their personal experiences of attacks, it became apparent those who are directly injured or killed are only the first people to be affected.

Devastating effect

Dr. Unni Karunakara, president of Médecins Sans Frontières International, explained how his organisation has had to suspend services in its recently opened maternity hospital in Khost, Afghanistan, after an explosion in the hospital compound last week. Since opening in March, the hospital had already delivered 600 babies.

As Professor Sir Michael Marmot argued in his presentation – citing Afghanistan as an example – lack of security affects both the healthcare system and general levels of health. According to Marmot, while only one in 46,500 women in Europe die during childbirth, the figure in Afghanistan is one in ten.

So you can imagine what happens when a maternity hospital has to close. And this is the affect of just one incident out of the hundreds occurring each year. In insecure regions, people are already extremely vulnerable and the loss of a healthcare facility can be devastating.

Dedicated healthcare volunteers and staff

Direct attacks on buildings, vehicles and staff are the tip of the iceberg – people’s access to healthcare can also be disrupted by administrative obstruction, discrimination and general insecurity.

All this boils down, as Geoff Loane, ICRC UK head of mission, said, to the wounded and sick not being able to get the care they deserve.

Despite the difficulties and dangers, volunteers and staff of many organisations worldwide continue to put risk their lives to save others. This video shows the courage and vulnerability of Libya Red Crescent volunteers working on the front lines to deliver healthcare:

While violence in Libya is no longer so severe, healthcare workers in many countries are still at risk. Despite this, volunteers and staff from the Red Cross and many other agencies continue to put themselves in danger to help vulnerable people access care. For instance, Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers face huge risks daily to support people in areas of unrest.

Find out more about the Healthcare in danger project

Read how we’re helping people in challenging security situations in Syria, Kenya, Niger and Mali

Watch videos of Carolyn Miller, Doctor Vivienne Nathanson, Doctor Unni Karunakara and Professor Sir Andrew Haines, who all spoke at the conference.

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Forget about Ryan Gosling – move over, Emma Stone. According to our very scientific research*, it appears the key to having a successful and sizzling Valentine’s Day is getting your paws on a Red Cross volunteer.

Not convinced? Just take a look at the following evidence, which clearly demonstrates how having a Red Cross volunteer as the special man or woman in your life will unfailingly spell out romantic bliss:

Good with money
With half the country drowning in debt and maxed-out credit cards, Red Cross fundraising volunteers are a good bet. They regularly start a day with empty pockets, then – by virtue of shaking buckets or abseiling off a building – end up with hundreds of pounds.

Fabulous mouth to mouth
Lots of people rate themselves as good kissers but, other than first aiders, how many people do you know who spend hours practising on a plastic dummy to perfect their technique?

Magical massage
Pity the masses who, asking their partners for a romantic Valentine massage, either get an annoying tickle or kneaded like a human-sized lump of bread dough. Therapeutic care volunteers are carefully trained to provide the perfect soothing massage. Ah, just a little to the left…

Sensible shoppers
Many men fear their partner’s return from the clothes shops, anticipating the filled bags and empty purse. Not so the lucky chap who lands a Red Cross retail volunteer. Despite helping to raise millions each year, she knows all about value and spotting a bargain.

Not couch potatoes
Many women resent being sports widows, silently fuming while their loved one sprawls on the sofa scratching his backside and watching hours of fascinating football ‘punditry’. However, event first aid volunteers get their sports fix by actually attending the fixtures and helping people. And that, girls, means you get the sofa, telly and fridge contents all to yourself for a relaxing afternoon. Cheers!

Brilliant detectives
The one fly in the ointment, unfortunately. No matter how hard you might try to lose your parents-in-law, any half-decent Red Cross volunteer with links to the tracing and message service will probably be able to find them again.

So, we hope you agree, on the whole the case is irrefutable. Ryan can keep his washboard stomach and Emma is welcome to her charms. If you want a truly special Valentine’s Day, make sure you spend it with a Red Cross volunteer.

*We asked four people in the office.

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Guest post by Heather Fitzke, British Red Cross youth delegate to IFRC General Assembly in Geneva, November 2011.

“It is often said that young people are the future of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, but I feel that is only part of the story. Young people are the Movement’s driving force here and now, and are the world’s best hope for real and lasting behavioural change at the community level and beyond.”
- Bekele Geleta, IFRC Secretary General.

Making the Right Impact
This quote may seem like a beacon of praise in a sea of downright gloomy reportage on young people. Young people are often presented as THE problem, or as passive victims of a sinking financial and social system from which there is no hope of recovery.

As a volunteer for the British Red Cross I know that there is another side to this story.

In the UK around 6,000 volunteers under 26 dedicate their time and talents to helping the most vulnerable in their communities. Our volunteers take action when they see someone in a crisis and, rather than accepting the status quo, they are being the change they want to see in the world.

The importance of volunteering was a dominant theme throughout the General Assembly in Geneva last month, which I was lucky enough to attend as the British Red Cross youth delegate. Volunteerism is the cornerstone of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and each National Society is only as strong as its volunteers.

The British Red Cross policy of enabling young people to volunteer across all our services makes us almost unique within the Federation. And it meant that I was interrogated by youth delegates from other National Societies who were fascinated by our distinctive structure!

I was more than happy to oblige and told them about all the different ways that young people contribute to the British Red Cross.

Opportunities for young people
Young people are involved in first aid, emergency response, health and social care, refugee services, peer education, preparing for disaster, retail and fundraising projects such as Dance: Make Your Move. Young people can develop essential skills through internships and work experience, and participate in decision making at all levels through initiatives such as SMT Takeover, Red11, and Red100.

As Ashanta Osborne, Chairperson of the Federation Youth Commission, stated in her closing speech: young volunteers “need an enabling environment to be involved in service planning and decision making” to maximise their contribution towards our joint humanitarian goals

This is why the Youth Commission has been mandated to support and improve the regional youth networks, so that we can share ideas and come up with solutions to the problems we encounter in the course of our volunteering. For example, the European Union Red Cross Youth Network (EURCYN), which is made up of over 30 countries, has written a position statement on migration which will be used to inform work with vulnerable young migrants in Europe.

Connecting for Change
The position statement could not have been written without the dedicated young volunteers who have developed innovative and effective programmes to respond to the risks and vulnerabilities that young migrants face. By using their creativity and connections through social media the network has come to a powerful consensus on what the issues are and how to address them at the EU level.

Social media goes further than facilitating partnerships. It is also used to “inform, inspire and educate” (Bekele Gelata General Assembly 2011) young people all over the world, and is a powerful tool for us to pass on our humanitarian message.

So, go on a Facebook friending spree or Twitterthon and share your ideas, experiences and views with other Red Cross volunteers, and together we can spread our message of humanity and peace across the world.

Find out more about volunteering for young people.

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Guest post by Sarah Cotton, Public Affairs and Communications Co-ordinator, ICRC UK

I am currently on the train on the way back from a great trip with the Youth Advisory Panel to Edinburgh. For those of you who don’t know, the Youth Advisory Panel comprise 150 enthusiastic young British Red Cross volunteers who seek to make the British Red Cross better by ensuring their own views and perspectives are heard and appreciated by others within the organisation.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been lucky enough this year to extend its strategic partnership with the British Red Cross to encompass this impressive group of 15-25 year olds through Louise Halpin – ICRC Red11 Project Volunteer 2011. While the rest of us have been toiling away at our day-to-day jobs and tasks, Louise has been busy organising a fantastic event for her peers in bonny Scotland. The aim has been to better inform the British Red Cross Youth Advisory Panel about the work of the ICRC and whisk them away for a night to consider the future of humanitarianism via an ICRC organised TED event.

The adventure started yesterday afternoon, when 15 young advisors (plus me) met in the Beehive Inn in Edinburgh to watch TEDxRC2: Multiplying the Power of Humanity (www.tedxrc2.com). This TED event brought together 8 inspirational speakers in Geneva as a side event to the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, which takes place this week with all National Societies, the ICRC, IFRC and all state signatories to the Geneva Conventions. The event featured the founder of the Somali Red Crescent and Somali mid-wife: Edna Adan Ismail, Norwegian Foreign Minister: Jonas Gahr Store and Political Cartoonist Patrick Chappatte – to name just three.

Notwithstanding a couple of technical glitches, the group were suitably inspired by this fascinating show, which was watched via live web-link to the event in Geneva, to indulge in some post-TED analysis. In groups we discussed each talk in order to draw examples and lessons which could be learned by the British Red Cross to develop humanitarian inspiration for the future. For more about these ideas… watch this space!

This morning there was no rest for the good humanitarian, as the group assembled ready to tramp up the hill to Edinburgh Castle. Once there we were free to appreciate the heritage of a magnificent Scottish landmark, before heading to the ICRC Humanity in War photographic exhibition, stationed in the National War Museum deep within the Castle grounds. The Humanity in War exhibition is a collection of photographs from the ICRC’s archive that shows moments of humanity in that most-inhumane environment – war. The exhibition has been available to view at Edinburgh Castle since this February and will remain there for just another few months before it moves on to Northern Ireland and Canada in 2012. The British Red Cross were instrumental and inspirational in bringing the exhibition to Scotland and we are very grateful to them for making it happen.

One final highlight of our jaunt to Scotland then followed as the group assembled in a very posh conference hall in the Castle to link up with ICRC UK Head of Mission: Geoff Loane, via skype. Geoff gave the group an overview of the role of the ICRC across the world and then answered some pretty tough questions! These covered what the current ICRC response to the situation in Somalia consists of, how the ICRC and International Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement work together with National Societies in the field, and whether a principle of independence sometimes obscures a principle of humanity.

Having grilled Geoff about the ICRC’s role and now being fully fledged ICRC supporters inside the belly of the BRC, the YAP were left free to wander round Edinburgh and contemplate a truly fantastic 24 hours.

Thank you once more to Louise Halpin for all your help arranging this event and if any one of you would like any more information about the ICRC, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! scotton@icrc.org

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TEDxRC² is a worldwide event on 27 November 2011 that aims to multiply the power of humanity and start a global conversation about tomorrow’s humanitarian challenges and opportunities.

The event brings together seven diverse and inspiring speakers from inside and outside the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. These include author and relief worker Fiona Terry, editorial cartoonist Patrick Chappatte and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

You can take part by watching the live webcast on Sunday 27 November, 15:00-17:00 GMT (below)

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