Red Cross Nagaland to mark World Red Cross Day with public walkathon
This year, the Indian Red Cross Society, Nagaland State Branch, is choosing to move beyond the usual formal functions and ceremonial gatherings that traditionally mark World Red Cross Day.
Instead, on May 8, commemorating the 198th birth anniversary of Red Cross founder Henry Dunant, the organisation will host a walkathon titled “Walk for Humanity,” an initiative designed not only to honour Dunant’s legacy but to create wider public awareness about humanitarian responsibility in a world increasingly marked by conflict, crisis and social disconnect.
Indian Red Cross Society, Nagaland State Branch General Secretary Akhale V Khamo said the decision to adopt a more public-facing program this year emerged from the urgent realities unfolding both globally and closer to home.
“We always observe formal meetings and functions to remember his work, but with all the crisis and conflicts across the world, we thought this time we will do something different,” Khamo tells MT.
For Khamo, the walkathon is not simply an event. It is an attempt to remind people that the Red Cross represents far more than symbolic observance.
She explained that the organisation’s work stretches from assisting war victims, reconnecting separated families, and serving those affected by man-made and natural disasters, to acting as a neutral humanitarian body that exists beyond political, ethnic or territorial divisions.
“Red Cross has no boundaries,” she said.
Reflecting on the organisation’s presence during the Manipur crisis, Khamo recalled how Red Cross workers, alongside their counterparts in Manipur, extended humanitarian assistance to displaced families living in relief camps.
“When Manipur was in total chaos with people in refuge camps, homeless, along with the counterparts in Manipur, we were there with relief materials, kitchen sets, Dunlop and bed sheets and whatever needs we could provide,” she said.
Khamo noted that despite the scale of Red Cross work, many people still remain unaware of the organisation’s broader humanitarian role. This, she said, is one of the reasons the State Branch is actively encouraging public participation this year, including school children, youth and senior citizens.
“There are many that are not aware of Red Cross Society. Therefore, we would love to encourage public participation,” she said.
In a message directed particularly at younger generations, Khamo expressed concern that technological advancement and modern lifestyles may be distancing society from compassion and civic responsibility.
“In this high-tech world, I think we have lost a lot of humanity in us. We have to come back. The message is to come back, have responsibility,” she said.
She stressed that humanitarian service does not always require large-scale intervention, but begins with a willingness to stand for others in everyday life.
“We need to be there for one another in our own little way, in the side of humanity. It is everyone’s responsibility,” she said.
Meanwhile, in Mokokchung, Indian Red Cross Society district General Secretary Dr S S Akaba Longchar said the district unit will holding meetings to decide how it will participate in the larger observance.
Dr Longchar highlighted that the Mokokchung district branch’s work has consistently centered on vulnerable communities, including old age homes, children’s homes, and villages such as Chungtia and Chami, where assistance has included food supplies, medicines, rice, milk and financial support.
Speaking on the district’s broader responsibilities, Dr Longchar said the unit also extends support to victims of landslides and fire incidents, while regularly conducting emergency first aid training and organising blood donation camps.
He added that Mokokchung currently has approximately 250 Junior Red Cross Society members from schools in and around the town, along with around 30 senior members under the leadership of the Deputy Commissioner as chairman and Chief Medical Officer as vice chairman.
For both the State and district units, the message remains rooted in the same principle: service without discrimination.
Dr Longchar said the Red Cross exists to inspire people to serve humanity “without any differentiation” and from a place of neutrality.
As Nagaland prepares to mark World Red Cross Day, this year’s “Walk for Humanity” appears positioned not merely as a commemorative exercise, but as a wider call to rebuild compassion, responsibility and humanitarian consciousness in everyday society.
