- May 8, 2023
- Posted by: Red Crescent Society of Kazakhstan
- Category: News
Every year on May 8, the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day is celebrated. This holiday was established in honor of the Swiss public figure and humanist Henri Dunant. This is a kind of tribute to people who are engaged in providing medical and humanitarian assistance to people in need.
This holiday has its own interesting history.
On June 24, 1859, Henri Dunant witnessed a battle between the Austrian and Italian-French armies in northern Italy near the town of Solferino. As a result of military operations, about 40 thousand people were killed and wounded. The scale of the tragedy struck Dunant. Returning to Switzerland, he proposed the creation of a society to assist wounded soldiers, as well as the adoption of a convention on the protection of the wounded and medical personnel on the battlefield. The Geneva Society for the Promotion of the Public Good organized and financed a special commission in February 1863. It consisted of 5 people, three of whom were doctors. This commission became the basis of the International Committee for Assistance to Wounded Soldiers. At the beginning, the organization’s activities extended exclusively to participants in wars, wounded in battles. Soon, assistance began to be provided to the civilian population. In Kazakhstan, this society was established in 1937 and today is called the Red Crescent Society of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Currently, the International Committee of the Red Cross has permanent missions and carries out its activities in various countries, including in many “hot spots” of the world. His work in providing humanitarian and medical assistance to victims of conflicts has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prizes three times.
On this festive day, large-scale humanitarian actions are held, as well as meetings of workers and volunteers of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. If you have friends or acquaintances working in the Red Crescent offices, congratulate them on their professional holiday. The Red Crescent supports the blood donation program, so if you want to be useful to society, go to the Blood Center and become a blood donor. Perhaps your blood will save someone’s life. In addition, if you wish, you can become one of the volunteers who take part in the implementation of humanitarian programs of the Red Crescent of the Republic of Kazakhstan. To do this, contact the local branch of the RCS RK of your city or region.
Every year on May 8, the Red Crescent of Kazakhstan celebrates the International Day of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. This year we also organized an event dedicated to the professional holiday of the OKP RK. Aktobe branch of OKP closely cooperates with both government agencies and the corporate sector, with schools, hospitals, universities and colleges, etc. This year, Kazpost approached us with a proposal to hold an information and charity event on the basis of Kazpost.
On May 04, 2023, employees and volunteers of the branch held an information campaign in Kazpost JSC for its employees and visitors, RCS RK presented a presentation on International Humanitarian law, voluntary gratuitous Donation, and also demonstrated a master class on First aid. They explained for what purposes the funds collected from charity fees are spent. We conducted an interesting quiz game to improve knowledge about the Red Crescent, presented various memorable prizes to the most active and distinguished employees, participants of the information and charity event.