As part of the world's leading humanitarian agency, the Canadian Red Cross plays a significant role internationally in providing relief and essential services to those in communities torn apart by conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies.
The Canadian Red Cross has been working with our partner the newly formed South Sudan Red Cross since 2010 when it was then known as the Southern Secretariat of the Sudanese Red Crescent.
The Canadian Red Cross is currently working with the South Sudan Red Crescent to implement a 3-year food security and livelihoods project. Through this project, some 22,000 beneficiaries will increase their capacity to address food (security) needs, through sustainable interventions, thereby minimizing their risk to food shocks. Farmers will learn evidence-based agro-ecological approaches, households will solidify their resilience to food shortages through the adoption of alternative food production practices and livelihood diversification like home gardens and beekeeping. This will be supported by the rehabilitation of existing water sources to meet the needs of the population.
Yet, despite the Canadian Red Cross' tremendous work, it often comes down to one crucial, fateful moment that can be the difference between life and death for someone in need - a lesson that one Red Cross field team stationed in South Sudan recently took to heart.
A stroke of fate
One day, a Red Cross field team working at a site in Chukudum, Eastern Equatoria State - one of 10 states in South Sudan - was traveling to Torit, when something grabbed their attention.
Two vehicles that had been driving in the opposite direction stopped them and warned that there had been a shooting up ahead. Worse still, the passengers informed the Red Cross team that someone had been killed. They claimed that they had been too afraid to check the site, but were certain that something terrible had occurred.
Undeterred, the team headed to the site, determined to learn more and provide help to those who may be wounded. Yet, when they reached their destination, the site offered little glimpse of the dangerous situation the roadside travelers had described. That is, until the team made a fateful discovery - a man laying in the bushes with a gunshot wound, alive, but in critical condition.
Providing critical assistance
Fearful for the man's life and what could happen if another moment was wasted, the Red Cross team transported him to the nearest clinic at Camp 15, which was located several kilometres away. While they rushed to the clinic, the team's program planning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting functions (PMER) Advisor, Luay Basil, leapt into the back seat and comforted the injured man.
Once the team reached Camp 15, the man immediately received care. After stabilizing him and giving him an intravenous tube at the clinic, he was sent with his wife and a nurse to Torit Hospital. Later, the United Nations transported the man to the Juba Teaching Hospital, where he underwent critical surgery to insert a drainage tube into his chest.
The role of the Red Cross
It was only after the Red Cross team had helped the injured man that they learned his story.
They discovered that the man had been on his way with five others to Chukudum to attend a workshop. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary on the trip, yet, when the car the group was traveling in broke down along the road, they were suddenly accosted by several armed men who threatened them before eventually opening fire.
While the driver of the vehicle and four other men escaped unharmed, the injured man was not as fortunate. Without the intervention of the Red Cross team, which acted quickly to save his life, he may not have survived the perilous incident.
How you can help
emergencies and disasters can strike at any time, but with the vital programs offered by the Canadian Red Cross, affected people can gain the assistance that they need to overcome crisis situations.
Without the presence of the Red Cross in conflict-ridden areas like South Sudan, vulnerable women, children and others in need could lose access to lifesaving aid. To show your support, please donate online or at your local Red Cross office today.