By: Ndey Sowe
The Gambia Red Cross Society on Saturday commemorated World Red Cross Day (WRCD), held at their head office in Kanifing.
World Red Cross Day is an annual event commemorated on 8 May globally. The theme for this year’s celebration is “UNSTOPPABLE”.
Speaking at the ceremony, Jatto Sillah, President of Red Cross Society, said World Red Cross Day is a day set aside to inspire, facilitate and also promote humanitarian activities that are carried out by the Red Cross movement.
“The idea behind this year’s celebration is to celebrate the strength and reach of our global network and the contribution of our staff and the around 17million volunteers through the theme unstoppable,” he said.
Sillah also said as more and more lives are being ruined, livelihoods affected, the humanitarian needs correspondingly increase. He said it is always the Red Cross volunteers who first respond on the ground when issues arise.
“I therefore encourage all volunteers and staff to sustain the momentum by volunteering new skills to benefit the communities,” he said.
Alasan Senghore, Secretary General for Gambia Red Cross Society, said the theme for this year is apt, especially within the context of Covid-19 where lives and livelihoods were affected by Covid-19.
Senghore went on to highlight some of the tremendous achievements they have accomplished during the pandemic.
He said: “Two thousand, three hundred institutions were fumigated. Over nine hundred thousand people got the message of Covid and its precautions.”
He added two thousand; two hundred and sixty-one sanitization stations were established across the country. He said their ambulance service transferred eight hundred and thirty-one cases and that they also supported the most vulnerable in the societies.
Senghore also said CRS does not only deliver during Covid-19, but also on development and humanitarian service.
Isatou.M. Bah, Gender focal person CRS, said: “For Gambians, GRSC is just a humanitarian institution that only talks about first aid operation or disaster response not knowing that in our operations we consider gender and diversity.”
Bah said they gave their responses based on needs, but they do this by capturing the gender and diversity aspects which is key in terms of humanitarian response.
