Stories of life — part one
Stories of inspiration, strength and kindness from around the world. Meet our volunteers, aid workers, staff and the people they support through tough times.
Mozambique
Silvestre is blind and can’t see the day-to-day struggles of his community, but he says his heart hears what they say and he can imagine their suffering. The 78-year-old comes from Changanine, in Mozambique, where a severe drought has caused people to pass out from hunger and thirst. Thanks to the drought resilient seeds he has received from Mozambique Red Cross, the father-of-four literally has hope in the palm of his hand. (Photo: IFRC/Aurélie MArrier d’Unienville)
Sierra Leone
Tracy spent weeks fighting the ‘disease of love’ in Sierra Leone. Ebola earned the nickname because most people it affected were caring for others who already had the disease. The Australian aid worker says many of those she worked alongside at the Red Cross-run Ebola treatment centre had no medical background. “They are simply people who want to help … as a registered nurse with 15 years’ experience, I can honestly say they give some of the most kind and considerate care I have ever witnessed.” (Photo: IFRC/Lisa Pattison)
Uganda
“When we arrived there was nothing here, just mud…and a week and half later we started producing water,” says Conrad, who’s helping get clean water to a Ugandan refugee camp. “The plan is to reach an output of a million litres per day. We’re not usually such a big team … But here there are just so many refugees, and the numbers keep rising and rising every day.” Conrad works for Red Cross, he’s one of 44 local and international workers setting up a water treatment plant on the Nile; the water is then trucked to the nearby camp. (Photo: Tommy Trenchard/Panos/IFRC)
Philippines
“Even kids need to be prepared. If they know how to give first aid and what to do when there’s a typhoon… it will save lives,” says Cheenee. Philippine Red Cross built the high school she teaches at after the deadly Typhoon Ketsana. Before that there was no local schooling beyond elementary level. Cheenee goes to Red Cross volunteer training to avoid being caught off guard and to prepare her community and school for disasters. “You never know when a disaster is going to strike.” (Photo: IFRC/Sam Smith)
Northern Territory, Australia
Dylan Lewis lost two of his footy team members to suicide. “No one saw it coming and no one really picked up on any signs. When it happened so suddenly, you just wished that maybe they’d reached out to someone a bit more.” For Dylan this was the impetus to do something big. He gathered a few others — teammates, community members and Red Cross — and set up a program to teach people how to identify those at risk of suicide and give them the tools to help. (Photo: Australian Red Cross/Dilini Perera)
Queensland, Australia
“My first memories as a child was my mum and dad operating a young drop-in space in the city during the 50s and 60s … I just grew up with the idea of working with young people.” Bob Cunningham has spent half his life helping young people who don’t have a place to call home; these days he’s a youth worker at Red Cross’ Brisbane Night Café for young people experiencing homelessness. “The whole atmosphere at the Night Café is not one of desperation but rather full of hugs and greetings as they become closer and closer — like a family.” It’s a place young people can go for more than just a free meal or a hot shower. (Photo: Australian Red Cross/Lara Cole)
South Australia
“I thought bushfires only happened to other people,” says Pauline. While her property wasn’t as badly damaged as some during the 2015 fires in Adelaide’s Sampson Flat it took three months to repair the damage. Three months working day and night — while she and her husband held down full-time jobs. “We weren’t prepared emotionally or psychologically.” It took more than a year, with support from Red Cross, neighbours and others, to get back to her old self. “Your mental state is something people take for granted until you have to deal with a disaster.” (Photo: Australian Red Cross/Lara Cole)
Ethiopia
Rivers have dried up, cattle are dying, crops haven’t been sown and people have used up whatever stockpiles of food they had. “Before we were able to eat three meals a day … but now even eating once a day is very difficult. There is nothing at all. And if it continues like this indefinitely, our lives, my children’s lives, my livestock’s lives are at risk.” Yonas volunteers with Ethiopian Red Cross Society, helping get water to drought-affected families. His family is suffering too. (Photo: Kathy Mueller/Canadian Red Cross)
South Australia
“The change I had was through sport, through boxing, stick fighting and kick boxing. The routine, the release of endorphins, being around a great supportive community, they were the things that showed me there was something worth more than all the negative stuff I was doing.” Anton turned his life around after he was arrested for dealing drugs. These days he works with us mentoring young people in the criminal justice system. Using physical exercise he runs a program to help them with anger management and to improve their decision making, self-esteem and self-discipline. (Photo: Australian Red Cross/Lara Cole)
Timor-Leste
If you’ve had to trek hours each day to find fresh, clean water, taking back home as much as you carry, you might already know Stuart. He helps people get access to this most precious of life’s essentials. “The communities here (in Timor-Leste) identified both safe water and toilets as key to improving their quality of life.” Instead of hours, it now takes closer to two minutes for people to get fresh water in communities Stuart has worked in. Photo: Australian Red Cross/Conor Ashleigh)
Uganda
“These refugees are our neighbours and they’re suffering, so I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. That’s why I decided to volunteer,” says Robert. He works with Uganda Red Cross, near the Uganda and South Sudan border, counselling young refugees who are alone. “When the soldiers come everyone runs in different directions so there are so many people who have lost their families. The unaccompanied minors arrive here desperate and crying. They want to know where their parents are. We give them counselling and tell them there is a solution for every problem.” (Photo: Tommy Trenchard/Panos/IFRC)
Afghanistan
“There are a lot of left over mines from the Soviet times so when a heavy rain comes in children go out to the fields to play and then they pick up metal scraps to play with or sell,” says Dorsa, of the year she spent working in Afghanistan. ”Unfortunately the mines explode and then they have severe damage to their faces and bodies. That is the most difficult thing, to see children like that … I really hated getting phone calls from the regional hospital in Herat.” Dorsa is one of our aid workers.
Sierra Leone
“I hadn’t dreamt of becoming a nurse. I hadn’t pictured myself dressing wounds by lamplight with a little red cross embroidered over my heart. I thought I might be a cartoonist, or a teacher,” says aid worker Amanda. She has worked on frontlines of everything from the Boxing Day Tsunami to the 2014–16 ebola outbreak. “There was a “no touch” rule between people when it came to ebola — no handshakes, no hugs, no casual pats on the shoulder — but it very quickly became clear to me that we couldn’t touch anything at all. Ebola has a three-week incubation period and we had no idea who was infected at any time.”
Queensland
“I slept rough on the streets of Brisbane for three and a half months but I came off the streets a couple of years ago. Now I’ve changed my life around. I took up creative writing. I take solace from my writing and doing my art. I love going to Red Cross Jeays Street Community Centre. There’s always someone around if you need someone to talk to. I enjoy going in and having a laugh with the boys. You’ve got to have a laugh. At Jeays Street I can sit back and relax and I’m still here.” — Lesley, artist, writer and recovering alcoholic.
Somalia
“The word famine is not used lightly,” says aid worker Jess. She’s recently returned from East Africa, helping some of the millions of people facing starvation and disease. “We saw families offering refuge to the displaced and offering handfuls of rice to their neighbours even if that’s all they had themselves. People were banding together and offering up whatever they could to help… each other through. As much as I want to urge that this is an extremely desperate situation, the people of Somaliland themselves are not desperate. And despite needing assistance they are not reliant on aid they are reliant on each other.”
Want to read more stories like these? Check out Stories of Life — part two.
