Red Cross Stories (Page 9)

Last week, a group of incredibly talented individuals gathered in Ottawa to attend a week-long Red Cross training session known as IMPACT, short for International Mobilization and Preparation for ACTion. This training includes team building exercises and mock scenarios, all which prepare aid workers to be deployed to the field.

The end of this month marks the second anniversary of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. To honour all we have experienced in the past two years, we have pulled together a compilation of remarkable blogs from the Ebola outbreak.

On March 8^th, for International Women’s Day, we wanted to share a couple stories of inspiring women who have made a difference in their Malian communities and, with the help of Red Cross programs, have helped save lives and improve livelihoods.

Louise-Julie, a volunteer for nearly 25 years, once again stepped in to support the Red Cross during the Syrian Refugee Arrival response. Louise-Julie spent the holidays with the big Red Cross family. She is there at the Welcome Centre nearly every day, where thousands of refugees have been arriving since mid-December.

Chelsie is the Red Cross Pink Day Youth Ambassador for 2016 in Saskatchewan and is committed to sharing her story of bullying that she endured in high school. She sat down with our communications team for a question and answer session to discuss.

A few years ago, Mohamad left his home in Syria and settled in Egypt, as a refugee. On December 9, he landed in Montreal and became a permanent resident of Canada. He was welcomed by a group who sponsored him, one of the members being Danielle Leblanc, a past employee and international delegate with the Canadian Red Cross.

“My experience with bullying no longer affects me,” says Emma McGaffney, who went through teasing, name calling and exclusion in elementary school that got even worse in middle school. Fortunately, Emma was introduced to the Canadian Red Cross’ Beyond the Hurt program by her grade 9 teacher, Joni Blaxland.

A former Iranian solider and long-time volunteer, Mahmood Jafari, now calls the Canadian Red Cross his family.

After leaving friends and relatives behind in 1997 to migrate to Calgary, his lonely transition was made easier after he met two former Red Cross staffers, Peter Worsley and Vince Bodnar, who encouraged him to volunteer. Although Mahmood suffered a serious injury in Iraq that left him in a wheelchair, he agreed Red Cross would be a good way to help others.