The Belgian Red Cross-Flanders is looking for volunteers to help refugees searching for missing relatives
During the first six months of 2023, the Belgian Red Cross-Flanders already helped 152 people – mostly refugees – in their search for lost relatives. That is the highest number since 2017. The organisation is looking for volunteers who want to commit at least 6 hours a week to help find the missing relatives.
The Belgian Red Cross-Flanders has been contributing to the "Restoring Family Links" project of the international Red Cross movement for more than 85 years. With this service, the Red Cross offers free assistance to people all over the world – mainly refugees – whose relatives have gone missing.
In 2018, the Belgian Red Cross-Flanders handled 174 "cases" in an entire year. Since then, that number has risen every year, so that it has now almost doubled. This is a logical consequence of the increasing number of people on the run.
In order to continue helping all these people, the Belgian Red Cross-Flanders wants to open a branch office for their "Restoring Family Links" department within a few weeks. The exact location has not yet been determined, but it will certainly be somewhere in the region between Bruges and Ghent. For this project, the organisation is already "looking for volunteers from West and East Flanders who are willing to work at least 6 hours a week to help track down the missing persons,” explains Marijke Peys, Head of Restoring Family Links of Belgian Red Cross-Flanders.
For further information, please read this press release (in Dutch).