Emergency 38

Two weeks ago, our world looked a bit different. We were providing psycho-social support at a transit camp for refugees near Munich in Germany as part of a Canadian Red Cross team assisting the German Red Cross. There we witnessed the best of humanity, the resilience and the courage of refugees, as well as the devastating effects of conflict in home countries, and the consequences of trauma during migration.

While Germany continues to take in thousands of refugees fleeing violence in their countries, the German Red Cross welcomes them into reception centres and camps. Canadian Red Cross staff member Esther Laforte, Deputy Director, Disaster Management in Quebec, was deployed to a camp in Erding, Germany, to support the German Red Cross' refugee response efforts.

The sun is rising over the camp in Idomeni, Greece, on the border with Macedonia. It’s nearly impossible to keep count of the buses that have been arriving one after another over the last few hours. Each bus has around 50 passengers — refugees and migrants — who undertook a perilous journey in the hope of a better life. Among them are women, men, newborns, elderly people, sick children, pregnant women, people with disabilities…

​The Red Cross opened a field hospital on Saturday in the small village of Idomeni, Greece, close to the border of Macedonia, in order to provide support to refugees arriving in, and transiting through the country. Already 500 patients have been seen to date. The hospital, which has a child-friendly space, will provide basic health care, as well as psycho-social services.

Aziq, his wife, his two school-aged children and his 6-month old baby travelled overland from Syria to Germany in search of protection and safety.  They were among the first-recorded refugees to arrive in what the German Red Cross has established as a “buffer camp”, where refugees register and apply for asylum if intending to stay in Germany. After they have taken these steps, they may make their own way elsewhere in Germany, or go on to one of 300 smaller camps throughout the country. 

Here are some of the ways we’re helping respond to the refugee crisis and why it’s part of our mission to help protect humanity in times of crisis.

The Canadian Red Cross is shipping 20,000 relief items (cots and blankets) to support the German Red Cross response to the refugee crisis.

It may seem contradictory that Canadian Red Cross aid worker Nicolas Verdy first got a degree in anthropology, and then went on to study computer technology, but for this Montreal native, it is proving to be an ideal basis for his humanitarian career.