Breanne England, a staff member of the Canadian Red Cross in Ottawa, has spent much of the summer managing the response to the Horn of Africa drought. Now, she’s in the region to see firsthand the extent of this humanitarian crisis and how the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement is making a difference.
She took a few minutes to share some thoughts before leaving for her deployment that will take her to Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya over the next few weeks.
The Quispamsis, New Brunswick native may be only 29 years old, but she already has a wealth of experience in h
umanitarian work. She has been to other parts of the world affected by disasters, including a deployment to Pakistan last summer in response to severe flooding in that country. She also previously lived in Uganda.
Breanne and a small team from the Canadian Red Cross are taking part in field visits to assess the Red Cross movement’s response, which includes providing health care, food and clean water. One of the team’s goals is to identify gaps or areas where the Canadian Red Cross could get involved for longer term recovery. She’s especially eager to work with national Red Cross societies in the region and meet local volunteers to learn more about programs they’ve developed to help communities deal with this crisis.
Breanne’s advice for other young people who want to get involved in humanitarian work: “start volunteering at home.” As a student, she volunteered with the Canadian Red Cross’ disaster management and humanitarian issues programs, and served on the Red Cross regional council. In recognition of her volunteer work, she was named Young Humanitarian for New Brunswick in 2007.
You can follow Breanne on Twitter: Bre_England.