International 17

By 9 a.m., fog has burned off and I am already looking for shade as we begin the hour-long walk through the makeshift settlement in Kutupalong. We are headed to the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society mobile clinic. After many trips, we know the trail reasonably well, only occasionally needing the local volunteers to guide us through new market areas or construction sites, which seem to appear everyday along the route. We are from different worlds - Bangladesh, Myanmar and Canada - yet we chat easily about the work day to come. What was chaotic and overwhelming a few weeks ago has become familiar – it is easy to forget that this great sprawling village is one of the largest camps of displaced people in the world.

The people of Eastern Ghouta have had to endure weeks, months and even years of fighting.
I had the opportunity to visit two of the camps that are now hosting thousands of people who are not only hungry and in many cases sick, but also tired. Tired of living in conflict. Tired of not being able to live a normal life.

Six months ago, Hurricane Maria hit Dominica hard. The Category 5 hurricane brought torrential rain and winds of up to 250 kilometers per hour. Nearly the entire island was destroyed. Today, those impacted by the storm are working with the Red Cross to rebuild and recover. 

This would be a challenging response, but it was also a response that the DRC Red Cross had been trained for as part of the Capacity Strengthening for Emergency Response in Africa initiative – now it was time to put their training into action. 

During two panel discussions – “Reporting from Conflict Zones” and “Reporting from the Middle East” – journalists Ray Homer, Lisa LaFlamme, Laura Lynch, Grant McDonald, Zein Almoghraby, Sylvène Gilchrist and Tara Sutton described their experiences working in some of the world’s most dangerous areas.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has launched an augmented reality application that immerses you in the reality of war through the eyes of a child.

Canadian Red Crosser Dr. Mausam Bohara shares her experience working on the ground in Bangladesh, providing care for people who are fleeing violence in Myanmar. 

Uganda is currently facing one of the world’s largest refugee crises. As the host country with the largest refugee population in Africa, Uganda hosts an estimated 1.3 million refugees from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi. New arrivals come every day, of which the vast majority are women and children.