Red Cross Museum

Stepping into the courtyard of the Musée de la Croix Rouge there are two white tarps above your head. They have two signs of the Red Cross on them –one a cross and one a crescent. In front of you are faceless, nameless stone figures. They’re hooded and bound. Half of them are under the tarps and the other half…they aren’t under such protection. When it rains, when trouble comes, not all of the faceless, nameless, ethnically ambiguous people will have cover, not all of them will have protection. There is only so much good the Red Cross can do in the world, only so many they can save. (And here at the Musée de la Croix Rouge you see how it all started.)

Seeing the figures, seeing representations of people having their human rights violated, was difficult to say the least. No one, no matter their position in life should have their human rights taken away. Walking through the Red Cross and discovering the history behind the organization was uplifting; knowing that there was a person strong willed enough to start up an organization that helped everyone and anyone no matter their ethnicity or nationality was humbling. But knowing that there was/is a reason to start up an organization like that is heartbreaking.

The Red Cross started as an organization to help the wounded in wartime, to help soldiers survive. Now, as years have passed the Red Cross has grown and helps other human disasters. From earthquakes to prisoners of war, hurricanes to civil wars, the Red Cross tries to help.

Towards the end of the tour the museum has a box. It is a concrete box that is approximately 14ft by 8 ft and fits seventeen people inside of it. There is no room to sit or move, no room to breathe or to hear yourself think. Seventeen people were stuck inside of this box for too long; I stood in the box with fewer than seventeen people for less than ten minutes and I couldn’t breathe. People shouldn’t go through that. And yet they do. Everyday somebody out in the world is suffering from a having one of their human rights dishonored.

Whether your skin is light or dark, your work is honorable or dishonorable, your home is near or far; the Red Cross tries to help people. We are all citizens of the world and we all deserve to have our rights respected.