International (Page 25)

Corrie Butler, a Canadian Red Cross aid worker, recently travelled to Nepal to document recovery two years after the earthquake. Here, she shares the stories of five women in Nepal changing lives two years later.

​“I remember the exact day – it was 17 June 2015,” says Samita Tamang. Only one month after the second earthquake hit Nepal, Samita underwent surgery in her remote community of Dhunche, in the District of Rasuwa, Nepal.

Two Canadian aid workers, perioperative nurse Dianne Hyra-Kuzenko from Winnipeg, and anesthesiologist Louis Fraser from Calgary are part of an ICRC surgical team providing critical medical care for war-wounded people in Iraq.

A series of record-breaking downpours in Peru engorged rivers and caused the worst flooding in decades to hit the country.  Almost 800,000 people have been impacted, and over 176,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed.  The waters also triggered landslides which wiped away people, crops, and buildings. The Red Cross is actively scaling up its response to flooding, mudslides and other issues caused by the rains. 

A medical outreach team is a team of four trained healthcare staff headed by a clinical officer and comprised of a nurse, a midwife and a vaccinator. Equipped with motorbikes, medicines, vaccines and basic diagnostic tools, the teams enter communities to provide primary healthcare curative and prevention services to remote populations.

In late February, boreholes were handed over to the Wun-Ajok community in South Sudan. These boreholes are part of a Canadian Red Cross program to improve survival for mothers, children and babies, and are the first sources of water in these areas. 

In early March, we had the great pleasure of hosting Nelly Tangua Tangayani, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Red Cross, and Touré Nènè Traoré, from the Mali Red Cross. They spent a week with our Communications team to discuss our respective practices and strengthen their communications capacities.

 “Although women and children have particular vulnerabilities following a disaster, they are also extremely resilient,” says Esmé Lanktree, Program Officer for Emergencies and Recovery for the Canadian Red Cross.