10

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.

​The image of a group of women heading out to the makeshift camps in Bangladesh, their Red Cross t-shirts visible beneath their lightweight headscarves, remains in the mind of Denyse Bourgault. Bourgault was on the ground in the Cox’s Bazar district as a psychosocial support (PSS) delegate from the Canadian Red Cross to help those who crossed the border fleeing violence in Myanmar.

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.

A tiny baby, wrapped tightly in blankets, his face just peeking out, sleeps tucked up against his resting mother, under the watchful eye of his grandmother. It’s a scene that plays out all over the world, but in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh on Nov. 25 this story nearly had a different ending.

Amid swirling dust clouds and gnarly thorn bushes in the dry, arid landscape of northern South Sudan, a water point is enveloped with women’s laughter. A group of women catch up during their morning errand to collect nearby water. It hasn’t always been like this in Pacyic village. Before the water point was rehabilitated by the Red Cross, women and girls would trek more than two hours by foot to the river side three times a day, often risking their safety and security for a few litres of water.

For International Women’s Day (March 8), we’re bringing together a collection of stories depicting remarkable women who have made a contribution to Red Cross efforts whether through international aid, volunteering with us or putting our programs, such as bullying and violence prevention, into action.

Even in the heat, the woven bamboo siding on the Canadian Red Cross mobile medical clinic in Kutupalong camp keeps it cool inside. Sherry Humphrey, a registered nurse, sits next to her translator on a short red stool as the pair works out why Halima came to the clinic.

The giggles of excited children could be heard over everything else. A couple of the observant kids outside one of the Canadian Red Cross mobile clinics in Kutupalong camp, spotted team leader Patrice Gordon sorting through a bag with toys. It didn’t take long after she stepped out into the bright sun, for a small swarm of these little, dusty bodies to flock around her.