For International Women’s Day today, we want to highlight stories of women who have gone above and beyond to provide care and assistance. Throughout history, women have played an
important role in the Red Cross movement here in Canada and
abroad. Today, we’re celebrating Canadian women who are making a difference in the world with the humanitarian work they do whether it's responding to disasters, providing lifesaving assistance in challenging situations or helping improve the lives of some of the world's most vulnerable people.
Take a look at how these inspiring women are making a difference through their work with Canadian Red Cross:
Canadian Red Cross aid worker Dr. Lynda Redwood-Campbell has travelled across the world to provide healthcare to remote and vulnerable areas. Here, she discusses her recent work in Haiti where she was part of an IFRC assessment team which was among the first to reach many storm-battered towns and villages and had a key role in supporting the health response that followed: “
Every doctor and nurse I met in Haiti was a hurricane survivor.”
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As a pharmacist, Canadian Red Cross aid worker Tamara Bournival has gone to the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan, to Nepal following recent earthquakes and to Haiti last year to help in the earthquake recovery. With a long history of travelling and humanitarian aid, Tamara believes it’s important to give back to those in need. Here, she discusses what inspires her humanitarian work and how she works to
give back.
Layal Horanieh recently spent 18 months in South Sudan as a Canadian Red Cross communications coordinator and discusses the unprecedented humanitarian challenges she encountered there.
Despite all challenges she’s encountered over her 10 years of missions for the Red Cross, Layal insists the work she does is worth it as she shares her
experiences from South Sudan.
A physician from Montreal, Dr. Danielle Perreault was in the midst of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, working at the Red Cross Ebola treatment centre in Kenema to help some of the thousands affected by the virus. Here she discusses how the support of community and colleagues helped keep perspective in her
mission to fight Ebola in Sierra Leone.
Dr. Mariam Kone is a health advisor for the Canadian Red Cross with a focus on health programming in Africa. She has previously worked with the IFRC and MSF and has extensive experience in maternal, child and newborn health. She shares details of how the Canadian Red Cross is working in a community-based approach to
improve the health outcomes for women and children, specifically in South Sudan and Mali where the Canadian Red Cross is currently present.
Working internationally to improve food security, Canadian Red Cross worker Pam Riley discusses how sharing new farming techniques and tools can help build communities and relationships. While on a two-year mission to help in agricultural
projects in South Sudan, Pam saw how important these relationships are to building communities and fostering international partnerships - and even had a baby named after her.
Patrice Gordon is a British Columbia nurse practitioner and went to Sierra Leone as a Red Cross delegate to work at the Red Cross Ebola treatment centre in Kenema, as well as to Nepal to help after the earthquakes there two years ago.
Here she explains what it was like to help during the Ebola outbreak, including meeting one special boy, in
Helping people to hope; Canadian nurse writes from Ebola treatment centre.
Maya Helwani, a regional representative for the Middle East and North Africa for the Canadian Red Cross, discusses our work in the Middle East and how appreciative she feels in meeting brave volunteers and staff to provide vital care, such as supporting births and fighting malnutrition in Syria:
We continue to work to improve the lives of more than 13 million women and children through our
Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) programs in 24 countries. Learn more about how we are
helping mothers and babies through this program.