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Fatima Olympia is a nurse with advanced training at Nhamatanda District Hospital in the labour and delivery ward. When Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique, it brought destruction across the area, including to the hospital. In response, the Canadian Red Cross, with the support of the Finnish Red Cross, set up an emergency hospital in Nhamatanda to support the District Hospital. With about 300 babies born a month, here is how we're improving outcomes for mothers and babies.

On June 20, World Refugee Day, the Canadian Red Cross launched its new interactive, online resource, Forced to Fight. Designed for teachers and students between 13-18 years old, Forced to Fight helps explain International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and humanitarian issues by allowing the user to experience what it is like for young people living in situations of armed conflict around the world.

For Shelley Cardinal, working for Indigenous communities started when she was a child and learned of the abuse her father at residential school. The more she learned, the more she wanted her life work to contribute to addressing the harm done to Indigenous communities and help to build capacity and begin to move along the pathways of healing. 

During wildfire season it is important to keep informed through trusted, verified sources, monitor weather, listen to local authorities, and prepare to evacuate if needed. Keeping your car fueled and essentials packed for the whole family is a good start. But what can you do around the house to prepare your home?

Use these tips from FireSmart Canada to prepare your property for wildfires. 

Tucked away at the back of the Nhamatanda hospital grounds, sits a small, faded-yellow house. Following the cyclones in Mozambique, access to healthcare presented a challenge for the people staying there - expectant mothers who now have easy access to care. 

Do you imagine drowning to be splashy and loud, with arms flailing and screams for help, as perhaps seen in a movie? If you thought you could hear if a loved one was drowning, you would be sorely mistaken. The reality is that someone could be drowning a few feet away from you and you wouldn’t know it – because drowning is often silent.

Meet Jason, a Canadian Red Cross volunteer who uses his technical skills to focus on logistics. Volunteers like Jason play a critical role in making sure responses to disasters run smoothly, and the supplies that are needed get where they need to go. 

Cor Zandbergen has been helping people his entire life. In 1971, as an 18 year old, he joined the Volunteer Fire Department and Ambulance Service in the town of Mackenzie, B.C. Since then, he’s been an active volunteer with the Vancouver Police Department, Vernon Search and Rescue, and of course the Red Cross. In fact, you would have to try pretty hard to find a time when he wasn’t volunteering to better his community.