Exciting live demonstrations and a general feel good atmosphere permeated the square in front of one of the most popular shopping arcades on the island last weekend as the Malta Red Cross celebrated Red Cross Day. The aim of this event was to generate awareness amongst the Maltese public about the Red Cross and the Society has received some great feedback. Red Cross Day celebrations kicked off at 11am on Saturday and came to a close at 7pm. From live sea and land rescue demos as well as first aid demos, some live music and a kids corner with a zip-line and face painting, this was one of the biggest events the Malta Red Cross has ever organised for the public locally.  The Society has also used the occasion as a soft launch for their Mobile Clinic. Going by the name ‘Cetta’, the decommissioned bus will be converted into a fully-fledged Mobile Clinic and communication control centre. Although this vehicle is not as yet ready for unveiling in her full glory, the Society has opted to put it on display to give the public an idea of what the project consists of.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Learning network, in partnership with the University of Illinois College of Education’s Scholar research project, is pleased to announce a pilot short course about IFRC’s policy and principles around migration.

• Number of participants: 15 Red Cross Red Crescent Staff and/or Volunteers from National Societies and Federation Secretariat.
• Application deadline: Sunday, 19 May 2013.
• Length of the course: 25 hours over an eight-week period from June to July 2013.
• Requirements: Understanding of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement; fluency in English; reliable access to the Internet.
• Cost: There are no fees or costs for this course. All resources are freely available online.

To apply, please fill out the form below and send your CV (or a brief résumé) by email to the IFRC Migration Unit at migration.unit@ifrc.org

What is the course about?

The pilot distance learning project on migration aims to:

• Introduce participants to the specificities and vulnerabilities of migrants irrespective of their legal status;
• Raise awareness on the 31^st International Conference Migration Resolution, the IFRC Migration Policy and the 2012 World Disaster Report (WDR) on forced migration and displacement;
• Build capacity of RCRC staff and volunteers by providing guidance on how to use the Policy and how to best address specific migration issues;
• Familiarise participants’ understanding and knowledge of Migration in an urban context. As part of the peer-to-peer evaluation participants will improve understanding of the impact and linkages of urbanisation, vulnerability and migration.

Learning objectives

At the end of the course participants will:

• Have a good understanding of the IFRC policy framework on Migration and how it applies in a urban context;
• Understand how this policy framework could and should be used in practice.

Who can participate?

• Interested, motivated and committed Red Cross Red Crescent Staff or Volunteer wanting to learn about the IFRC approach to Migration;
• Prior experience in a migration context is preferred but not essential; participants should be able to read, write and understand English.

What will participants need to do?

Participants will need to dedicate an estimated 25 hours over an eight-week period from June to July 2013. Over these 8 weeks, participants will be asked to develop a short case study on an issue related to migration in an urban setting. Learners will draw on selected resources supplied by IFRC to inform their thinking in developing the case studies.

For additional information, please contact the IFRC Migration Unit at migration.unit@ifrc.org

Red Cross Red Crescent Learning Network: Supporting the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and its learning communities globally and locally through the development and delivery of relevant, cost-effective, world-class, online learning opportunities based on Red Cross Red Crescent insights and experience

One Turkish RC staff member was killed and three were injured in an attack in Somalia (TRC)

One local staff of the Turkish Red Crescent was killed and three were injured in an attack that took place in Somalia, where the Red Crescent is currently present to provide humanitarian aid.

To relieve human suffering in Somalia, the Turkish Red Crescent (TRC) humanitarian aid continues to work under very difficult circumstances. A two-vehicle convoy carrying the Turkish Red Crescent team working in the region was subjected to an attack in which a member of the local staff lost their life, while the vehicle was heavily damaged. Another three staff members, Kenan Kongur, Murat Demirbaş and Fatih Çelik, who were inside the vehicle during the attack, sustained minor injuries after being struck by pieces of shrapnel.

Following the first part of the treatment of the injured Red Crescent personnel given in Şifa Hospital in Somalia, they were brought to Ankara by an ambulance aircraft of the Ministry of Health. The three injured staff members were welcomed by the President of the Turkish Red Crescent (TRC) Ahmet Lütfi Akar, the Director General Ömer Taşlı, the Blood Services General Director Nurettin Hafızoğlu, the Deputy Director Generals Yüksel Mahir Araz and Hasan Sivrikaya, the Coordinator for Governing Services Deniz Şölen and other Red Crescent colleagues and friends.

Watch the video showing the TRC staff being transported to Turkey.

70 year-old Jahanara Begum carries her relief package received from the Bangladesh Red Crescent back to her village. Maherin Ahmed/IFRC

She was standing in line. By her body language, I could tell she was in a hurry.  Fully veiled in a black burqa, she maintained her distance from the rest of the crowd who were mostly men. As she reached the front of the queue, she asked the Red Crescent personnel to show her where she should place her fingerprint to acknowledge that she had received her relief supplies.  Before I could approach her, she was gone.

I asked the people gathered around the distribution site whether they had seen which way the woman had gone. A man pointed towards her direction, and I sprinted after her with my notebook. As I came close I called out “chichi ektu daran” (aunty please wait!). She stopped and turned around. Her name was Jahanara Begum. She was 70 years old and a survivor of the deadly tornado which had cut through dozens of rural villages in Brahmanbaria district in Bangladesh last Friday, March 23^rd. Over the course of fifteen minutes the tornado claimed the lives of 31 people and affected over 1,200 families.

Jahanara hails from a nearby village and had walked to receive the family kit handed out by the Red Crescent. Seeing that she was struggling to carry the heavy relief items she just received, I asked her why she had not come with any other family member. She replied in a soft voice. “Now that I have nothing, anything I get is a help. Two of my grandchildren died in the tornado, and three of my children are in hospitals in different cities – one in Brahmanbaria, one in Comilla and another in Dhaka.”

Only Jahanara survived somehow. “Azrael himself came down and took away our lives, now I am a bastuhara (homeless)”, she said. I was humbled when she calmly explained how her life had changed in a few short seconds. She said that she needed to go to the different cities as soon as possible to take care of her three children who were clinging on to their lives. But there was no mode of transport around, and first she had to carry the heavy carton back to the barren ground where her house had once stood a few days ago.  I stood still with shock and admiration. I revered the steely strength beautifully camouflaged under the wrinkled skin of a petite 70 year old woman. In my eyes, Jahanara Begum was not a tornado survivor but a valiant warrior.

Valerie Amos, UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, meeting the President of Turkish Red Crescent Ahmet Lutfi Akar and the General Director Ömer Taşlı in Ankara on 14 March

Interviewed together with Red Crescent representatives – the President Ahmet Lutfi Akar, the General Deputy Chairman Nihat Adıgüzel, the General Director Ömer Taşlı and the Coordinator for Government Services and International Relations Deniz Şölen – Amos also said that, by improving information management, the Turkish Red Crescent will be able to work more efficiently. “In the absence of political solutions, it will help us to reach more people and to continue our work in partnership.”

The meeting came at the end of Amos’s two-day visit to Turkey, which was intended to draw attention to the humanitarian impact of the conflict in Syria, including on those who have fled to neighbouring countries like Turkey or who urgently need critical aid in hard-to-reach northern areas. The day prior to the meeting, on 13 March, the UN USG paid a visit to Kilis camp in southern Turkey, one of the 17 camps hosting a total of 13,439 temporarily protected Syrian citizens.

“We appreciate your work towards the same goals. We would be honoured to cooperate with you and other partner organization,” said Ahmet Lutfi Akar. He said that, since the first people started to appear at the border, the Turkish Red Crescent, through the action of its local branches, has been supporting families fleeing from the war in Syria. However, he said, the most critical group are those who stayed behind, whom the Turkish Red Crescent is also assisting thanks to the support of the donor community by delivering relief supplies at six points on the Turkish-Syrian border.

 On 9 November 2012, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched an Emergency Appeal for 32 million Swiss Francs (26 million Euro) to support the Turkish Red Crescent – which is currently responsible for the provision of food and non-food items to the temporarily protected people in the camps – in strengthening its relief activities in support to up to 170,000 people over the coming months. To access the appeal, click here.

It is rather eerie to be the only vehicle on the four lane M1 motorway. It is officially closed from Budapest and westward to make sure that no more cars will get stuck, but the police are allowing our Red Cross car to get through.

There is nothing and nobody. No traffic obviously, and nobody is venturing out as the gusty cold winds are causing snowdrifts. The initial fascination of having the entire highway to yourself is soon replaced by a somewhat unnerving feeling.

Just like in the movie Vanilla Sky, where Tom Cruise was all alone on Times Square, only here there are no billboards. Except for an enormous one in the snowscape, 200 metres from the road informing us that the next burger bar is only 27 kilometres away. Comforting.

Bődey János

We are joined by two cars from the Hungarian Red Cross, one van with food parcels for those who are stuck ahead on the highway and the other a special vehicle with six wheels and no heating, which we will all squeeze into if the other Red Cross cars get stuck – like 6,000 other vehicles blocking the roads in the more mountainous part of the highway. All caught by surprise by the sudden return of winter.

Coming from a country where unpredictable weather is the norm – where the hottest summer weeks can be in April and one can still get hail in May – I am used to not believing that winter is really gone until June. But here in Hungary, it is different. Spring arrived with sunshine three weeks ago and a return of snow is almost unimaginable. Despite forecasts of some snowfall, thousands of Hungarians had planned to get away during an extended weekend as Friday was a public holiday. A weekend that was supposed to be a nice spring break ended up being a winter nightmare for many.

Reaching Tatabanya where Hungarian Red Cross has four of their six shelters, I meet a family which had spent 22 hours in their car before being evacuated to the shelter. The daughters are playing badminton and the parents are keeping their spirits up after abandoning their second attempt to go to Salzburg in three months.

Four Thai exchange students are also taking the situation in their stride. Based in Paris, they were traveling to see other parts of Europe and got stuck in a bus between the beautiful cities of Budapest and Vienna.

The Red Cross six-wheeler is called over to assist a truck get started. The driver looks tired but having been pulled free and after some food, water and a goodbye kiss on the cheek by one of the volunteers, he cheers up.

Outside Tatabanya only one of the four lanes are open and we drive slowly along an 18 kilometre-queue of trapped vehicles. Most drivers and families have been evacuated, some truck drivers have decided to stay, and one has even set up a satellite dish for TV outside. The phrase, “my truck is my home,” came to mind.

100 kilometres from Budapest is the end of the road for us. The local Red Cross branch just a few kilometres away would like to meet us, but the special police have ordered us to turn back. We wait for an hour – at another burger bar which seems to be having their busiest day of the year. The convoy from Austrian Red Cross is not far away and will reach the local branch from the other side within an hour.

We drive back looking at all the dark trucks and the drifts of snow. Some appear to be up to three metres high as gusts of wind are still blowing powder across the highway.

I am surprised to see people in the camp I had met on my last visit a month ago. After six weeks, I thought like the majority of those displaced by January’s floods, they would have returned home.

A month ago, the camp was heaving with life, full of people and noise. Today it is quiet and desolate, people look tired and their tents and shelters, albeit temporary, have a look of permanence.

A large group of women quickly forms around me. The elderly sit on the ground while the younger women, mainly mothers, stand to jiggle or breastfeed their small babies slung over their chests.

One woman who is visibly upset starts to speak. The floods scared her, she says. The force of the water, the speed at which it rushed and how quickly it crept is described in detail. She indicates on her legs how quickly the levels rose, first at her ankles, her knees, her thighs, and when she left it was up to her waist.

Most of the women are single mothers, the only income earners for their families and they are currently unemployed. They need to return to Chokwe to work, but they can’t afford the transport.

The women ask if I have been back to Chokwe. They begin to wince and hold their noses. They tell me it is dirty and unsafe. Be careful of the water and malaria there, you will get sick they say.

The sickly sweet smell of rotting rubbish hits me as I drive into Chokwe. The worst affected low-lying part of the town looks much the same as it did a month ago, broken homes and covered in mud.

Sitting under a tree with the Sitoe family we talk about the challenges they now face. The sound of flies buzzing above us is deafening. The pages of my white notebook and my white shirt are quickly covered in brown fly spots.

While we talk, their youngest daughter falls asleep on a bamboo mat. Hundreds of flies land on her small frame. Her mother covers her with a piece of kanga cloth, her feet sticking out.

I ask the family what they need. They politely say they would like mosquito nets. At night, the flies go and deadly malaria mosquitoes arrive; the nets they had floated away in the floods.

The Sitoe family’s dream is to have a strong house made of bricks – strong enough to withstand flooding. But right now their priority is to rebuild their mud home, protect themselves from malaria and feed and care for their children. The Sitoes survived the floods, now their challenge is to continue to survive.

This guide explores the 10 policy principles related to migration and the IFRC’s 2011 Migration resolution to raise awareness on the specific vulnerability of migrants globally. The guide can be accessed via the Red Cross Red Crescent’s (RCRC) Learning platform (www.ifrc.org/learning-platform) – those who register will find it recorded in their Learning passports, along with all other courses taken (see instructions below).

This guide can also be viewed from mobile, tablet and desktop computers, using this link.

The guide is the first Red Cross Red Crescent Learning network educational resource to leverage new technology standards and techniques donated by IFRC’s long-time partner e-Mersion. It scales and adapts learning content across small telephone, medium tablet and large desktop computer screens. This is especially important in developing country contexts where, in many places, the majority of people accessing the Internet only do so from mobile devices.

Instructions to access the educational guide on IFRC’s Learning platform: To access the guide, please log onto the Learning Platform at www.ifrc.org/learning-platform (registration is free and open to all). Type “migration” (without the quotes) in the search box at the top right-hand corner of the home page. You can also click on the ‘Learn’ button, then ‘Browse for Learning Opportunities’. Then click on the Educational guide on principles related to migration link to register it in your Learning passport. Then click on the “Launch” link that appears in the far right column. Whilst there, we encourage you to browse and take other Learning platform courses too.

Recently, I met a woman named Merlyn Inongan. Since her home was damaged by Typhoon Bopha, she is living in a ‘tent city’ in Compostela Valley, on the island of Mindanao, established by the Philippines and Swiss Red Cross.

Meryln speaks both dialects used in Compostela Valley – Bislayn and Manday. And with these valuable linguistic skills, she is now working as a community-health volunteer for the Philippine Red Cross.

Each morning, Meryln provides an essential link between the Red Cross and her community. She shares information with her friends and neighbours, promoting health education messages and explaining how the Red Cross is conducting relief and food distributions. She also keeps people informed on what support they can expect to receive to rebuild their homes in the weeks ahead.

“There is a sense of relief when I speak with my community members”, Meryln explains. “They appreciate being listened to, that we take the time to talk and explain our plans for the future. The information is critical for our well-being.”

Meryln is a trusted source of information to many people in the tent city. Not only because she lives among her community members, but because she can provide them with valuable information and communicate with them directly in languages they understand.

“Training for this position with the Philippine Red Cross makes me feel very useful, and I am happy to contribute as a volunteer”, she says. “Many of us are still traumatized by what we experienced when Typhoon Bopha hit our town, but we know things will get better and we will recover from this crisis.”

For more information on the IFRC’s beneficiary communications programme please see http://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/beneficiary-communications/

For more information on the IFRC’s work in response to Typhoon Bopha please see http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/news-stories/asia-pacific/philippines/