Suburban
The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society this week commended the organisation’s staff and volunteers who are working tirelessly to ensure humanitarian work continues in the wake of pandmics and natural disasters.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
The organisation observed the “World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day” on Tuesday Golden Conifer in Strathaven, Harare where it took time to honour its volunteers for the sterling work they are doing.
The global establishment dedicated the day to its staff and volunteers of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement that are reaching and supporting people affected by Covid-19, floods, food insecurity, access to first aid and basic, quality but affordable health care and other humanitarian crises.
In her remarks delivered by the chief director in the Ministry of Defence, the guest of honour Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, thanked the Red Cross for its outstanding humanitarian work.
“We join the rest of the world belatedly in commemorating World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, a unique event where we gather and celebrate the power of humanity. Amid so much hardship, loss and uncertainty, we need to celebrate the acts of kindness we continue to see daily and encourage people around the world to believe in the power of kindness. I want to reaffirm that indeed here in Zimbabwe, the Red Cross is working with vulnerable communities, giving help, commitment, energy and time. Big or small, seen or unseen, every individual act of kindness matters,” said Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri.
“The past few years have been marked by multiple crises that have spared no one and have hit the most vulnerable the hardest. From the Covid-19 pandemic, to the climate crisis and the multiple disasters we have seen, the past years have been challenging to say the least. In this complex time, we need more than ever to ground ourselves and return to the root and meaning of the Red Cross founding humanitarian principle, ‘Humanity’. To do so, we would like to focus on one simple and invaluable value, the best form: Kindness. This impetus to care for others is the impulsion that is at the origin of the Red Cross and Red Crescent idea, it is what brings hope even when it is hard to see a light,” she said.
Guests following proceedings at ZRCS celebrations.
Red Cross Society volunteers risked their lives since the outbreak of Covid-19 by helping communities with food hampers, temporary shelter, personal protective equipment, medical equipment as well as providing water and sanitation services.
In Zimbabwe, alongside the challenges of the Covid- 19 pandemic, the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society staff and volunteers have been supporting communities facing food insecurity and battling cyclone induced floods by providing water and sanitation services, building capacity for emergency preparedness and response, raising awareness on non-communicable diseases in schools and tertiary institutions, providing information on youth sexual and reproductive health rights, running schools safety programmes, providing first aid and health care services as well as PPEs for frontline health workers and medical equipment such as ventilators.
