Volunteers commemorate World Red Cross day with general cleaning in Bor
May 11, 2015 (BOR) – South Sudan’s Jonglei state commemorates World Red Cross day on Monday during which dozens of volunteers took part in cleaning in dedicating the day to the organization’s services of saving lives in the country.
At least 50 volunteers were deployed to Bor civil hospital during the general cleaning exercise that ensured safe environment for the sick people, doctors and visitors.
“Today our volunteers are making cleanup campaign in Bor civil hospital as dedication for the humanity. During the crisis, Bor civil hospital became one of the vulnerable [sites] that is why we dedicated this day to clean the hospital. This cleaning is dedicated to the sick people in the state,” Daivd Gai, the state director of Red Cross in Bor, told Sudan Tribune on Monday.
The World Red Cross day is commemorated annually on the 8 May, but officials said because of logistical reasons, the occasion in Bor was postponed to 11 May.
Gai hailed the Red Cross for its interventions in provision of medical services to the sick in the state, saying it had been playing a great role during the ongoing crisis.
South Sudan Red Cross had been among the leading agencies that served thousands of lives in Fangak, Pigi, Pibor, Bor and Akobo of Jonglei’s counties from both natural and man-made calamites and disasters.
For instance, from June 2011 to December 2012, Red Cross and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) evacuated wounded people from the war field to areas where they could access medical services, including Bor civil hospital.
Gai said his voluntary team was an auxiliary voluntary force providing extra labor to ensure clean environment in the state.
“We are not trying to the take the job of the hospital’s staff, we are just axillary hands, we are only helping to clean up the surrounding where the sick people are. We picked up everything that is dirty in the compound, to make sure that those who come to hospital will breath in a good environment,” he said.
The volunteers, he further explained, had not only been deployed to clean up the hospital in Bor, but also educate the patients with the messages of hygiene and sanitation. Physiological counselling was also given to people affected or infected by long term illnesses in the hospital.
He further added that his team also had expertise who could help in treating the emergency cases in the hospitals.
(ST)