Red Cross Posts Five Aid Workers

In June, five New Zealand Red Cross aid workers are being posted overseas to work in a range of locations including Jordan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Ossetia and Fiji. They are:

Jodye Tomalin, from Whitianga, is being posted to Jordan as a security delegate, for ONE year, with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Currently on leave from the police force, Ms Tomalin was the first female security delegate in the history of the International Federation (the membership organisation that New Zealand Red Cross belongs to and which coordinates international operations). She is likely to leave New Zealand on 19 June.

Louise Humphreys, from Auckland and Canterbury is being posted to Pakistan, for six months, as a ward nurse with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This will be her first mission for New Zealand Red Cross. She has previously worked for Medair in Sudan as a health coordinator, in Sri Lanka as a shelter manager, and in Kenya as a logistics coordinator. She is likely to leave New Zealand on 14 June.

Florence Nightingale Medal recipient Joyce Hood, from Auckland, is scheduled to return to South Ossetia (South Caucasus) for six months as a nurse with the ICRC on 16 June. A registered nurse since 1964, Joyce did her first mission in 1999. Since that time she has worked in Timor-Leste, Kenya, Sudan and Afghanistan. Between missions, Joyce works as a practice nurse at a private accident and medical clinic in Manukau.

Rosemary Fenton, from Wellington, is being posted to Suva, in Fiji, for one year where she will work in the Pacific Delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as a community-based health and first aid delegate. She is currently on leave and will return to New Zealand briefly before departing later this month. She has just returned from three years in Timor-Leste, where she was a health delegate.

Cheryl Campbell, from Clinton, is being posted to Jaffna, Sri Lanka, as a physiotherapist with the ICRC for six months. She previous worked as a physiotherapist in India and Afghanistan. She is likely to depart on 25 June.

In 2010, New Zealand Red Cross marks 50 years of sending aid workers overseas for disasters, conflicts and development work.

ENDS