Volunteers of the Gambia Red Cross Society in the Lower River Region recently converged on the Soma Mini-Stadium in Jarra West to commemorate World Red Cross Day on the theme “Youths on the move”. The celebration commenced with a match past that started at Mansakonko Area Council up to the mini-stadium where a large crowd gathered to mark the birthday of the founding father of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movements.

Speaking at the occasion, the deputy governor of the region, Abou Njie, described the day as important and commended the volunteers for remembering the founder of the movement. Njie said the day serves as a moment of joy, as well as a reflection on the efforts, struggles and commitment put up by the Swiss national and founder of the Red Cross Movement, Sir Jean Henry Dunant during the battle of Solferino.

While encouraging the volunteers to continue with their humanitarian endeavours, Deputy Governor Njie enjoined them to further participate in nation building especially in the areas of disaster risk reduction and mitigation, as well as preparedness and responses to calamities in the country. He also hailed the Gambia Red Cross Society for complementing the efforts of the government in its quest to build a better nation.

The dissemination coordinator of the GRCS, Bakary Gassama spoke at length on GRCS’s role in complementing the Gambia government’s efforts in reaching out to the vulnerable in the society. He disclosed that the GRCS has already spent over a D1 millionon disaster relief items distributed to victims affected by the recent disaster across the country. He further disclosed that GRCS has already launched a multi-million dalasi water project meant to dig boreholes and pit-latrines for the communities in CRR and URR.