Travelling the World as a Red Cross/Red Crescent Volunteer- Canadian Red Cross

Travelling the World as a Red Cross/Red Crescent Volunteer



	Mourad processing a family message at the Canadian Red Cross.

Mourad Graidia is a Canadian Red Cross volunteer who epitomizes the universality of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. After working with the French Red Cross and Algerian Red Crescent, Graidia joined the Canadian Red Cross as a volunteer in October 2002 when he moved to Hull, Quebec.

Graidia spends one day a week away from his full-time studies at Université de Québec en Outaouais to volunteer with the Restoring Family Links (RFL) program at the Canadian Red Cross national office.

Initially it was Graidia’s skills in Arabic translation that brought him to work with the RFL program. “At the beginning of the war in Iraq last March, the Red Cross called me to help translate some of the family messages they had received in Arabic,” says Graidia. He helped translate dozens of these Red Cross messages, often the only contact family members have with each other during times of war. Since the beginning of major hostilities in March 2003, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Iraq has collected and distributed more than 21,640 messages.

Graidia now helps with tracing requests and family messages. “Working with the RFL program is very interesting,” adds Graida. “Sometimes tracing cases can be a husband or wife looking for each other as they have been separated due to war. When family members wish to find each other and they have nowhere else to turn, they look to the Red Cross for help. It’s through coordination between National Societies like the Canadian Red Cross and the ICRC that we are able to reunite displaced people.”

Graidia also occasionally volunteers at the Ottawa Branch. In fact, he spent his first Canada Day in Ottawa, working as a Red Cross first aid volunteer at the Parliament Hill festivities.



Mourad with refugee children in France.

In 1992 he joined the Algerian Red Crescent after a personal experience made him realize the importance of first aid training. When his nephew had been injured, everyone had panicked. Once trained as a Red Crescent first aider, he worked at first aid stations at special events, including the Algerian national holiday.

Graidia began volunteering with the French Red Cross in 1999 when he moved to that country to study law. One of his most memorable experiences was a three-week stint helping some 1,000 Iraqi refugees who arrived in Marseille by boat. “Immediately the Red Cross was called into action to set up a camp and provide services to these refugees—many of whom arrived weak and sick after their long journey,” recounts Graidia as he proudly shows a hand drawn picture one of the refugee children gave him.

“Being part of the Red Cross/Red Crescent is a way that one can contribute to society,” remarks Graidia. “It is also like being part of family.” And Morad is part of a family of millions of volunteers who are the backbone of Red Cross/Red Crescent programs in 185 countries around the world.

Travelling the World as a Red Cross/Red Crescent Volunteer

Mourad processing a family message at the Canadian Red Cross.

Mourad with refugee children in France.

Updated June23, 2006