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Contact:
Rose Marie Harris
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 - There is need to expand the Red Cross Movement
to help plan and guide post disaster programmes geared towards the improvement
of the overall livelihood of the population.
In an address to mark World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day Thursday May 08,
2003, Governor General Her Excellency Dame Pearlette Louisy is of the firm
belief that now is the time for red cross volunteers to move beyond what she
termed the “blood and bandages image” in order to make the organisation more
proactive and more strategic in its programming.
“Regrettably we seem to have decided that the Red Cross is just another youth
movement, something to occupy their minds and energies. A Red Cross event or
programme attracts but a few adults. But if we are going to turn the Red Cross
Society around, we must find more dedicated and sustained adult leadership to
manage its programmes and projects. Members of professional organisations must
see a role for themselves in a 21st century Red Cross Society,” the Governor
General explained.
Dame Pearlette identified Architects water and sanitation engineers and
community planners as indispensable to post-disaster rehabilitation efforts;
health professionals as the backbone of the medical side of the humanitarian
world; social workers, counsellors, trauma specialists are needed to deal with
the mental wounds and psychological trauma of violence of many of today’s
victims.
“We need a collaborative approach to the relief of suffering and pain, we need a
new type of humanitarian worker; we need to upgrade our first aid and emergency
training and services. Above all we need to strengthen our local Red Cross
Society not only to enable it to respond to our needs at home but also to help
the International Movement to sustain its position as the world’s largest and
most effective humanitarian network.”
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