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For Andrew DeGruchy, volunteering is a part of his life. The 30-year-old has been a volunteer firefighter and Lieutenant with Cold Lake Fire-Rescue for eight years. When evacuees from the La Ronge, Saskatchewan area were sheltered in Cold Lake, he got a first-hand look at the work Canadian Red Cross volunteers do; and that prompted him to become part of the disaster management team.

Where in the world did people receive help from the Movement in 2016? A new report published by IFRC can tell you exactly where. The report gathers data from 190 National Societies worldwide, and offers insights into humanitarian and societal trends such as spontaneous volunteering; how volunteer numbers rise and then stabilize following a major disaster, and how indicators are affected by sociodemographic factors such as population size and the Human Development Index.

By 9 a.m., fog has burned off and I am already looking for shade as we begin the hour-long walk through the makeshift settlement in Kutupalong. We are headed to the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society mobile clinic. After many trips, we know the trail reasonably well, only occasionally needing the local volunteers to guide us through new market areas or construction sites, which seem to appear everyday along the route. We are from different worlds - Bangladesh, Myanmar and Canada - yet we chat easily about the work day to come. What was chaotic and overwhelming a few weeks ago has become familiar – it is easy to forget that this great sprawling village is one of the largest camps of displaced people in the world.

The day after Christmas in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan this year was chilly: -35C chilly. Carmen, Jordy, one-year old Otis and the family cat decided to enjoy a fire in their fireplace to warm up. They didn’t know that a squirrel had been hoarding pinecones in their chimney. Their living room quickly filled with smoke and soon the roof of their old home was in flames. 

This would be a challenging response, but it was also a response that the DRC Red Cross had been trained for as part of the Capacity Strengthening for Emergency Response in Africa initiative – now it was time to put their training into action. 

Canadian Red Crosser Dr. Mausam Bohara shares her experience working on the ground in Bangladesh, providing care for people who are fleeing violence in Myanmar. 

Uganda is currently facing one of the world’s largest refugee crises. As the host country with the largest refugee population in Africa, Uganda hosts an estimated 1.3 million refugees from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi. New arrivals come every day, of which the vast majority are women and children.

On a stifling and humid afternoon in November, Julekha ‘Juli’ Akter sat on the floor of a small tent for families in the transit camp for vulnerable people arriving in Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar. The 18-year-old Bangladesh Red Crescent Society volunteer held the hand of an elderly woman, never breaking eye contact as the newcomer tearfully explained her journey.