With smiles as the motivation!

Photos and texts by: Janne Waagboe and Åsta Ytre of the Jamaica Red Cross

Red Cross has become a part of their life. Mrs Mc Donnough Foster and Mrs Saranathan are two of the many committed link club patrons, that eager for the voluntary work they are doing as members of the Jamaica Red Cross. For the two of them, we surly can say that the Red Cross has become a part of their personality.
Mrs Nicolette Mc Donnogh Foster became a link patron in 1998, and is on what she calls “a 24-hours duty for Red Cross”. As the Red Cross has been incorporated in her life, she tries to follow the seven principles in everything she does.
Mrs Lakshmi Saranathan has been involved in Red Cross’ voluntary work since she was a little girl in India. In three countries, on three continents, the Red Cross has benefited from her willingness to help.

At Glenmuir High School in May Pen Mrs Saranathan tells her student that helping others is helping yourself; “It gives you mental satisfaction”. As a young girl Mrs Saranathan used to read a lot, and in this way she got to know what the Red Cross does for vulnerable people. She was inspired to join the Red Cross and achieved her own experiences of helping others. As a teacher, Mrs Saranathan has worked in India, Ethiopia and now in Jamaica. Teaching has been one of the mediums through which she spread her passion of helping others. In Ethiopia she brought her students to places where people struggled with poverty, so that they themselves could see the need for people to help each other. In Jamaica the RC patron continues her work of teaching people the importance of caring for others.

Mrs Mc Donnough Foster became a member of the Red Cross at St Joseph Teacher Collage because she loves to serve people. In the Red Cross link club, she met other students with the same interest. There are many clubs to choose amongst in schools, but Mrs Mc Donnough Foster found that the Red Cross link club, beside the main activity of helping, also integrated all the activities of the other clubs. The Red Cross link club does: arts, first aid, hiking, sports, camping, HIV/AIDS sensitisation and other activities. Mrs Mc Donnough Foster got very passionate about the voluntary work that the Red Cross does, and became a patron for the Red Cross link club when she started working at St Aloysius Primary School.

As Mrs Saranathan believes in sensitising her students, Mrs Foster stresses the importance of involving children early in the organisation. In the link club the children learn the values that the Red Cross works for, and in this way the children develop an attitude to serve. They learn the importance of caring for other people and helping people in need. Through the activities done by link clubs in school, the Red Cross youths learn through action. They learn the importance of helping vulnerable people, by meeting people in need and experience the joy of doing something for others. – The Red Cross makes you a better person, says the young patron with enthusiasm.

Mrs Saranathan has been the chairman for the youth section in Clarendon since 2002, and beside meetings at national and parish level, she meets with the about 50 link club members weekly. The Red Cross youths at Glenmuir organize and accomplish fundraising with the help of the patron. With the funds in hand, the youths have been helping flood victims with food and clothes. Orphanages in the community also benefit from the young RC youths willingness to help. An important part of the help is the social time the youths spend together with the children at the home.

Mrs Mc Donnough Foster is the proud patron of the about 300 link club members at St Aloysius in Kingston. -As a Red Cross member we don’t discriminate, so everyone who has the interest can join the link club, and in this way the link club grows bigger, she says. Many children show interest for what they are doing in the club.
She and the four other Red Cross patrons guide the Red Cross link club, while the leaders of the club are the members from grade 6. Like Mrs Foster, who developed leadership skills as a chairman for the link club at the teacher college, the 6th graders are now developing theirs.

The link club at St Aloysius has adopted Matt. 25-40, an orphanage for children living with HIV. This means that the club is in close contact with the home, paying visits and providing things they are in need of when possible. Through this contact the link club members learn what it means to live with HIV/AIDS, and get to understand the harm of discrimination. “What if it was me living with HIV,” a little girl said to her mom who was sceptical about letting her daughter visit the children at Matt. 25-40. This got the mom to change her mind. Through the parent’s approval of their children joining the link club, the Red Cross has a better chance of reaching the children. Through the children, the Red Cross reaches the parents with the principles and the values.

The two patrons both recommend being a link club patron. –It gives me so much, Mrs Saranathan says. – When I am in a bad mood, I find happiness in helping.
Mrs Mc Donnough Foster also loves what she’s doing as a Red Cross member. - It is so motivating to see the expression in the face of the ones we help. We give a smile, and a next smile appears in someone else’s face. The smile spreads, and that is all I need to keep going!