The children's joy is contagious as they cheer on their idol: "Kaisa is tougher!" On the final day of the Kontiolahti Biathlon World Cup event, enthusiastic little skiers from the Kitee reception centre are waving Finnish flags among the thousands of spectators.
The Syrian conflict has been raging on for seven years, and it shows no sign of abating. However, people living in Syria are not losing their humanity.
In Syria, millions of people are in need of help due to the violence that has continued for nearly seven years. The International Red Cross is appealing to all the parties in this conflict to protect civilians.
A friend survey conducted by the Red Cross shows that volunteer friends help people trust themselves, others and society more. Volunteer friend visitor activity can effectively prevent loneliness and social exclusion.
Toini Niskonen has been working as a volunteer in Lempäälä for several years. She first met Maija-Liisa while taking out the bins, as Maija-Liisa lives in the building next to Toini’s block of flats.
Large-scale power outages in the beginning of January demonstrated the strength of the Red Cross volunteers’ aid in Kainuu. The situation was worst in Suomussalmi and Hyrynsalmi.
The multicultural day centre in Helsinki is visited by a dozen or so undocumented people every day. Inside, visitors can drink a cup of coffee or tea, enjoy a bowl of warm soup and chat with the day centre’s staff or volunteers. Advice and help is at hand for difficult situations.
World AIDS Day is on Friday 1 December. Currently there are about 600 people with HIV in Finland who are unaware that they have been infected. Various organisations play a significant role in the fight against HIV when the goal is to make contact with those individuals whom public healthcare cannot easily reach.
In the autumn of 2015, tens of thousands of asylum seekers coming to Finland needed food and a roof on their heads quickly. Managing the exceptional situation required exceptional measures from the Red Cross as well as from other actors. What costs were incurred by the government-funded reception operation carried out by the Red Cross?
The autumn of 2015 was a challenging time for the Red Cross workers and volunteers in Finland. Emergency accommodations for asylum seekers had to be established at a few hours’ notice, and there could be as many as three reception units set up in one day. How does the Finnish Red Cross assess the past two years?
The first Finnish Red Cross aid workers will be flying to Bangladesh tomorrow at the earliest. The Disaster Relief Fund has granted 500,000 euros to managing the refugee crisis.
The Finnish Red Cross opened a new Kontti Second Hand Department Store in Itäkeskus, in Helsinki, on 4 August. Even though the weather was rainy, the opening attracted a large crowd of Helsinki citizens.
The Amiri family, from Afghanistan, fled war and death, but were separated on the way. With help from the Red Cross tracing, the father and the eldest son were able to contact each other, but the mother and the youngest child are still missing.
The Finnish parliament will cast their final vote on the government’s motion on the stricter conditions of family reunification. A total of 17 non-governmental organisations are appealing to the MPs to abandon these cruel and short-sighted new conditions. The organisations include refugee organisations, human rights groups and children’s rights organisations.
The start of the “Summer Rubber” sexual health campaign and the festival season were celebrated at the traditional YleXPop event in Lahti on Saturday. This year, the event also featured a sexual health kiosk that provides the opportunity to pass a condom skills test or to ask any sex-related questions.
The asylum seekers living in Vantaa wanted to help Finnish people in return, and so they signed up as volunteers for the Finnish Red Cross. This friend group, jointly formed by the local branches in Tikkurila, Western Vantaa and Korso, visits an assisted living facility every week.
The office of Amnesty International in Finland, the Finnish Red Cross, the Finnish Refugee Council, the Finnish Refugee Advice Centre, Finn Church Aid, Save the Children Finland, the Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters, and the Finnish Somali League have criticised measures which would make it more difficult to reunite families.
Many young people spend their Christmas alone, against their will. Every year, young people with nobody to spend the holidays with gather at the Red Cross Youth Shelter’s Christmas on-call service. For some, home might be too uncomfortable. At the Shelter, the young can spend their Christmas in a safe environment and discuss their worries with reliable adults.
Ban Ki-moon visited a reception centre maintained by the Finnish Red Cross and called the Finnish reception centre system a great example of efficiency.
Finnish language skills are often emphasized as a key factor to adapt in Finland’s society as a foreigner. Jana, Juan and Dani share their struggle and success with the language and give tips to those still learning Finnish. They also send greetings to Finns: please be more open and supportive towards persons learning the language – it is neither simple nor impossible.
The Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Elhadj As Sy, who visited Finland in October, was impressed by how Finland cares for asylum seekers. He reminds everyone that humanitarian work needs more support during difficult times.
The Hunger Day collection has already raised over 3.8 million euros this year The result is the best of all time. The funds are used to aid the victims of conflicts and disasters around the world and in Finland.
Over 20,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Finland in a short time. The Finnish Red Cross accommodates over 12,000 asylum seekers at the moment, and thousands of volunteers have helped them along.
The International Red Cross is in the process of setting up an isolation clinic to fight the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone. The Finnish Red Cross is currently recruiting aid workers to work at the clinic.
The Finnish Red Cross will contribute EUR 100,000 from its Disaster Relief Fund to the aid operation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
A video made by the Finnish Red Cross provides insight into the work of the Red Cross Society in Ukraine. The video was made at the request of the Ukraine Red Cross Society and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
The increasing number of people fleeing their home in northern Iraq is adding greater pressure to already crowded shelters. The Red Crescent estimates that there are more than 400,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Iraq, where the water resources, scarce before the latest crisis, are dwindling in the current heat wave.
The Finnish Red Cross has received numerous questions about how best to help the afflicted people in both in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. At the moment, the most efficient way to get help to those in need is via the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. The collected funds are used for emergency relief and acquisition of materials for people who have lost their homes.
The devastating floods in the Balkans make people in Finland want to help. Last weekend, Bosnians and Serbs living in Finland started small-scale collections and a bigger collection effort is planned for the end of this week.
Motherhood is in no danger of becoming less common in the Central American state of Honduras. Many girls become pregnant when they are teenagers and typically have several children. The Red Cross visits rural villages and offers information on contraception and infectious diseases, encouraging women to give birth at the health centre rather than at home.
At the end of April 2014, a new camp for Syrian refugees opened in Azraq, Jordan. The Finnish Red Cross is part of a joint aid operation that has built a hospital for the displaced people who are to occupy the camp.
Guadalupe village in the Philippines is alive with the pounding of hammers and the buzz of saws. Here, in the northern reaches of Panay Island, new houses are being built, with the support of the Finnish Red Cross, to replace those destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan.
Micaelle Macabinquili, a young Filipino mother, gives a gentle push to her baby girl, babbling happily in a swing. Rainne Micaelle was the first baby born at the Finnish Red Cross health clinic in Balangiga in November, after Typhoon Haiyan.
Two aid workers from the Finnish Red Cross are involved in an operation to halt the spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa. Healthcare adviser Tiina Saarikoski is working in Liberia, while nurse Leena Railimo-Saares is stationed in Guinea. The operation aims to get the Ebola virus under control.
