“We are very happy to live this new life. Our children get to attend school and we are not moving from one place to another. We have finally settled here and this is our land.”

It is shortly after noon and Namibia Red Cross volunteers and staff are on their way to Omatako village in western Tsumkwe, Namibia, to distribute seeds. About 150 San residents await them and more villagers are walking towards the distribution point.

A nomadic people for centuries, these San villagers now live a very different life. Their village has real homes, a primary school, a small clinic, crop fields and livestock such as goats and cattle. The people are among the 2,000 vulnerable households targeted by the Red Cross seed distribution operation. Other groups to benefit are orphans, vulnerable children and home-based care clients.

The Namibia Red Cross volunteers and food security staff distribute four kilos of maize seed, 20 kilos of fertilizer and 20 grams of vegetable seed per household. This is enough to feed over 50 people and to keep some of it for the next season. It also allows people to sell some of the harvest to buy other basic products.

“I am really honoured to witness this chapter of evolution in our lives,” says San Chief, John Arnold. “As a San person facing food insecurity, the seed will help us defeat hunger.”

His words are echoed by other villagers. “I can’t wait to start planting,” says Ngugas Kambembe. “The rain has been good to us and I have a lot of work ahead of me to make sure my children and my community get enough food.”

The seed distribution clearly makes a real difference to the lives of the villagers but it would not be possible without the commitment and dedication of the Red Cross volunteers.

“We use theatre to teach people about first aid and how to prevent or live with HIV/AIDS, polio, meningitis and malaria.”

“As a Red Cross volunteer, you should be used to seeing things like this but sometimes tears run down your face without you noticing,” says Oscar. “It’s a human reaction… Sometimes what you see is overwhelming.”

Oscar has been a Red Cross volunteer in Maradi, Niger, for more than 20 years. He’s tall, thin, wears big glasses and his face lights up when he smiles.
Oscar joined the Red Cross “because of its humanity” and he takes every opportunity to recite the organisation’s seven guiding principles.

In August last year, he worked at a supplementary feeding centre offering assistance to people affected by the drought and locust invasion, which destroyed crops in this West African country. Poverty is chronic in Niger and the infant mortality rate is one of the highest in the world. Many families were forced to sell their animals and means of subsistence because of the crop devastation.

An estimated 20 per cent of children under the age of five in Niger were moderately malnourished. Oscar’s task was to show their mothers how to use Unimix, an enriched food made of soya, corn and vitamins mixed with oil that will hasten recovery and prevent diseases.

“It is very important that they understand how to use it,” he explains. “They need to know how much their child needs every day and that the water used to mix it must be boiled beforehand to prevent the children becoming more sick.”

With support from the International Federation, the Niger Red Cross provided supplementary feeding and basic health services to 24,500 children and their families in four of the most affected areas. In Maradi, the Red Cross aimed to support 6,000 moderately malnourished children under five.

“You find 20 people in a house where five used to live. Sanitation and latrines are just not there. With the rains, there could be disaster.”

In March this year, an outbreak of cholera in Southern Sudan stabilised but there were fears that the epidemic could still spread and move to the north of the country. This fear was based on the onset of the rainy season and an increase in the flow of people returning to their homes following the year-old peace agreement.

In situations like this, Red Cross/Red Crescent volunteers are invaluable in helping to counter the spread of disease. In this instance, the Sudanese Red Crescent provided affected areas with chlorine tablets to purify water, oral rehydration salts and hand soap to improve hygiene.

Equally important, Red Crescent volunteers were stationed at water collection points such as boreholes and wells dispensing chlorine tablets with each jerry can of water.

They also visited people in their homes promoting better hygiene, urging people to wash food, baby bottles and utensils, and reinforcing the need to cook all food thoroughly.

“The incredible reduction in measles mortality in the last four years has been so dramatic that it is an unprecedented public health historical event.”

Anton Chilufya is a volunteer with the Zambia Red Cross. He was among the first in his country to involve himself in the fight to eliminate measles at a community level. His work involves visiting families in his neighbourhood every month, checking that everyone, particularly young children, are healthy.

Children in Zambia, as in many other African countries, face poor health conditions. They are at risk from measles infection, particularly since one child can infect others both at home and at school.

One of Anton’s objectives is to persuade parents to have their sons and daughters immunised against measles. Then he takes the children on his bicycle to the closest vaccination centre, often some distance away. Such help is vital to parents, whose responsibilities on the land and with other children made it difficult to leave home.

Anton’s commitment to his community made him a key partner in the fight to eliminate measles. He is one of thousands of Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers throughout Africa who have been active in recent years supporting the Measles Initiative.

Launched in 2001, the Measles Initiative aims to vaccinate 200 million children and prevent 1.2 million deaths over five years. As of 2005, the Initiative had mobilised more than $144 million USD and had helped 33 countries in Africa. The aim this year is to expand the programme into Asia, particularly India and Pakistan.

The goal is to reduce global measles deaths by 90 per cent by 2010 compared to 2000 levels. If this is to be achieved, volunteers like Anton who are dedicated to making a difference within their communities are a vital link.