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In East Africa, tens of millions of people are in dire need of food as a series of disasters from climate change, conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, a locust invasion, and longstanding vulnerabilities have converged into a humanitarian crisis. Time is running out to avert starvation. Unless urgent action is taken, the continued drought in East Africa could come to resemble the one in 2011, which killed about 260,000 people in Somalia.

In 2019, Hurricane Dorian destroyed the homes of some 70,000 people in the Bahamas. Learn how a Red Cross humanitarian worker helped those in some of the most vulnerable situations rebuild using an innovative and empowering approach.

It’s been called the “shadow pandemic.” As millions of people around the world continue to deal with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including lockdowns and changes to regular services, incidents of sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) have increased worldwide.

The Canadian Red Cross is working to enhance the capacity of the Mali Red Cross in developing and implementing programs to help communities become stronger, healthier, and more resilient. This led the Canadian Red Cross team in Mali, in partnership with the Mali Red Cross and the MHSD, to launch a component of a project for people with disabilities.

“I just remember night after night for what seemed like weeks this was always a news item, this war in Biafra. The fighting, the starving children, the displaced people,” Pat Laberge says. “I also remember the Red Cross and that the Red Cross was helping.”
It wasn’t long before she pointed at the television and blurted out that this was what she wanted to do with her life. She was going to be a humanitarian. She was going to join the Red Cross. And she did.

Jules Zanré, a Montrealer originally from Burkina Faso, has spent the last 10 years improving access to health care for mothers, newborns, and children in many rural communities of Mali.

Lucia Lasso is one of two full-time Head of Emergency Operations with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which means she’s almost always thinking about disasters. But even when she’s not actively engaged in an operation, she spends her time thinking about how the Red Cross can respond to emergencies more effectively. This includes encouraging other women to aspire to positions of leadership.

One of the first things I noticed about Joe Higgins is that he gets excited about everything. That unbridled enthusiasm has served him well throughout his 35 years of coaching wheelchair basketball. It was his enthusiasm that convinced me to join a virtual training session he was running with a few athletes from Cambodia.