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The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.

Much like in Canada, the weather over the past few weeks in Syria has included snow, freezing temperatures and at times heavy rain. Despite the cold weather, Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers continue to provide much needed assistance, including distributing blankets, tarps and other relief items to help families stay warm and providing emergency medical care.

Social worker Lindsay Jones has just recently returned home to Ottawa after working at the Red Cross Ebola treatment centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone. She was there to provide psychosocial support to patients being treated for the virus. She’s been describing her experiences on her blog and recently in this CBC interview. We share this excerpt.

It was the largest Red Cross response ever to a single country. The Red Cross helped one in two Haitians, about five million people. After the 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, individual Canadians and governments generously donated $222 million to the Canadian Red Cross to support the tremendous emergency and recovery efforts. 

While much of the attention around the current Ebola outbreak has been on treating patients, combating the fears, stigma and myths associated with the virus is another important component of the Red Cross response.

The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.

I’ll admit it. I’m not much of a hiker. If I had to choose, I would pick reading a book on the beach to hiking mountains any day. But I just came back from hiking through the mountains for seven hours in Honduras and even though my legs are sore, I wouldn’t trade that experience for the world.

Winter brings an opportunity for more outdoor activities; however, it can also bring extreme weather with blizzards, storms and very cold temperatures. Be prepared to stay safe and warm all season long.