From Kampala’s busy streets to the highlands of Lesotho, Pink Cross and Pink Crescent volunteers are proving that first support is greater than a talent — it is a lifeline.
Within the bustle of Kampala’s streets, bike taxis – generally known as boda-bodas – weave between vehicles, carrying tens of millions of Ugandans day-after-day. Accidents are frequent, and too usually, treasured minutes are misplaced earlier than medical assist arrives.
However one thing is altering. Riders like Luyambi John, a boda-boda driver from Rubaga division, now carry not solely their passengers but additionally lifesaving information.
“We do not often know how one can assist our buddies who become involved in street site visitors accidents,” John admits. “However the coaching confirmed us how one can give cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and name the Pink Cross ambulance. Now, I really feel I can save a life.”
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This transformation is not any accident. It’s the results of Uganda Pink Cross Society’s dedication to innovate and discover new methods to share first support expertise and be certain that lifesaving expertise are not the protect of execs.
Over the previous three years, Uganda Pink Cross has skilled greater than 18,000 boda-boda riders via the SAFE STEPS marketing campaign, a novel program that merges street security consciousness with first support coaching. In a rustic the place bikes are each very important transport and a number one reason for street accidents, the strategy is as sensible as it’s visionary.
However Uganda’s ambition doesn’t cease on the roadside. In 2025, it launched the First Assist Blended Studying (FABL) platform, a cutting-edge app designed with Belgian Pink Cross. This platform combines self-paced on-line research with sensible periods in 51 branches throughout the nation, aiming to coach 2,500 new first aiders by the top of 2025.
“At URCS, we firmly consider that first support needs to be accessible to all,” insists Secretary Normal Robert Kwesiga. “It’s a life-saving talent that strengthens emergency response and builds safer, extra resilient communities.”
And in school rooms throughout Uganda, the seeds are being sown even earlier. Greater than 6,400 college students have taken half in “On a regular basis First Assist” quizzes and trainings, turning curiosity into confidence, and making certain the following era of Ugandans grows up not solely studying math and science, but additionally how one can save a life.
However this is only one instance of the various modern methods African Pink Cross and Pink Crescent Societies are serving to individuals act with confidence within the face of disaster. On World First Assist Day (12 August), we spotlight just a few case research, from Lesotho, to Chad to Cameroon.
Lesotho: Security on the street, safety at house
A thousand miles to the south, within the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, a unique journey unfolds. Right here, the Lesotho Pink Cross Society (LRCS) has struck a robust alliance with native taxi associations. Drivers, as soon as seen solely as transporters, are actually changing into first responders on wheels, skilled to stabilize passengers or pedestrians injured on the street.
On the identical time, LRCS is reaching into households and villages. Home helpers, individuals with disabilities, and rural volunteers are receiving coaching designed to suit their realities — sensible, related, and instantly usable. To bolster these expertise, simulations and consciousness campaigns are organized, revealing gaps and constructing confidence.
In a rustic the place winding roads and distant villages can delay ambulances, these efforts be certain that assist is rarely far-off. The lesson is evident: first support thrives when it grows each within the taxis of the capital and within the kitchens of rural properties.
Chad: From learners to lecturers
In Chad, the story is one in all multiplication. With the help of trainers from the Belgian Pink Cross, volunteers from completely different native committees accomplished an intensive training-of-trainers program.
The Nationwide President of the Chad Pink Cross, talking on the closing ceremony, reminded them: “These expertise should not stay with you alone. They’re to be handed on. Coaching should turn out to be a program shared by all committees.”
The brand new strategy ensures consistency and professionalism: certificates will now be issued centrally by the Pink Cross Secretariat Normal, guaranteeing that whether or not one is skilled in N’Djamena or within the smallest village, the requirements — and the boldness — stay the identical.
Right here, the main focus is on making a ripple impact: one skilled volunteer turns into a coach, and shortly a whole group is aware of what to do when emergencies strike.
Cameroon: Planting the seeds early
In the meantime, in Cameroon, the Pink Cross has chosen to start out younger. For the previous six years, throughout each faculty vacation, youngsters and youngsters collect for hands-on first support coaching.
This yr alone, greater than 150 younger individuals took half. They practiced inserting a classmate within the restoration place, realized how one can cease a bleeding wound, and found that saving a life isn’t past their attain.
The aim isn’t solely to show strategies however to instill confidence and reflexes which will in the future flip a baby right into a hero.
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A continental thread
Although the contexts differ — Uganda’s bustling boda-boda drivers, Lesotho’s taxis and households, Chad’s multiplying trainers, Cameroon’s vacation school rooms — the thread is identical. First support is changing into woven into the very material of African communities.
Throughout the continent, Pink Cross and Pink Crescent volunteers are breaking obstacles:
Know-how is making coaching extra accessible. Partnerships are increasing attain into high-risk sectors. Youngsters and youth are being empowered early. Volunteers are evolving into trainers, multiplying influence.
Collectively, these efforts are redefining what it means to be ready.
As a result of each second counts
Emergencies strike with out warning. A crash on a freeway. A faint in a classroom. A fall in a kitchen. In these moments, the primary individual on the scene isn’t a health care provider — it’s a neighbor, a driver, a baby.
Africa’s Pink Cross and Pink Crescent Societies are making certain that when that second comes, the primary palms to achieve out will know what to do. And in doing so, they don’t seem to be solely saving lives — they’re constructing a continent the place resilience begins in each house, each avenue, each faculty.
