International 24

Jenna Atchison is a nurse from Ottawa. This year, she traveled to east Africa to work in a cholera treatment centre. Jenna took a moment to share her experience with us. 

Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, all countries with varying degrees of instability; all countries in which travellers expose themselves to a certain amount of risk; and all countries in which Colleen Laginskie has worked.

Bashiir sits upright on his cot inside a crowded cholera ward. “It is the first time I am sitting like this in a long time,” says Bashiir. “With my illness, I could not sit, I could not stand. For three days and three nights, I was vomiting. My entire body was aching. Those were black days.”
 Bashiir is at a treatment centre in eastern Africa for acute watery diarrhea/cholera set up by the Canadian Red Cross, with support from the Government of Canada.

After fleeing violence and conflict in Rwanda over 20 years ago, Jean-Damasc̀ene Hakizimana and his mother have been reunited through the Red Cross Restoring Family Links program. 

Canadian Red Cross aid worker Dr. Kim de Souza shares her experience working in the Mediterranean Sea, aboard The Responder. In the four weeks she spent aboard, Kim provided medical care to rescued migrants who had endured treacherous conditions at sea. 

Combatting acute watery diarrhea/cholera requires knowledge, skill, equipment, medicine, and most importantly: good, clean water. But how can that be accomplished when an increase in cases of acute watery diarrhea/cholera is seen in a developing country experiencing a severe drought?

It’s World Refugee Day on June 20^th and to mark it, we’re highlighting some of our stories from this year on the challenges and successes of those who had to flee their homes.

When faced with the challenge of reaching people in remote communities sometimes the best option is also pretty low-tech. Here’s how the Red Cross is delivering healthcare, with the help of bicycles.