Each time I visit the Red Cross museum, they have changed up the exhibits. Some of the core remains, but there are often new displays. I've been very impressed with how they work to make their work very human and not about numbers. Throughout the museum there were close up (almost life sized) digital images of people who had experience trauma of some sort. You would sit in front of them and they would start telling you there story in a simple, straightforward first hand account. Very moving.
The exhibits were divided into three themed sections. One was about disaster preparedness, and the work they do to try to improve preparedness for better and more effective response time to disasters. There was an interactive game that everyone got into, getting ready before a hurricane hit an island. It involved a lot of work with local actors and volunteers. My students noted that for every 1 "expert" that was involved, 5 local workers were needed. I thought it emphasized the partnership process of humanitarian relief work very well.
Another section was historical and talked about the roots of the organization in advocating for rights of combatants and POWs. It had some of the millions of records on file from WWI and WWII. These were all index cards for every POW reported captured, or every soldier listed MIA. They worked to notify family members of the status of their loved one and make sure all prisoners were being treated according to the Geneva conventions. They had a mock sets of documents that you could file through to learn more about particular soldiers with the prompting of the audio guide. It was mind boggling to think of all the handwritten work that was done to track individuals. To see each of the different handwriting on the cards, etc.
This was one of the original flags used in the late 1800s after the organization was founded.
I've always known that the Red Crescent was used in Islamic countries to avoid offense with the Cross, but I had no idea that Iran had its own red lion, or that at new red diamond had been adopted (in 2002?) to be used in Israel.
Much of the work the Red Cross has done has been to visit prisoners to confirm their just treatment. The organization has struggled to figure out where the line is with being neutral and not publicly shaming governments so that they can have access to prisoners, and calling out violators of int'l norms. The museum had a display about the organization's "Moral Failure" in WWII, with documents that indicate that the organization was more aware of what was happening in the concentration camps than they admitted to at the time, and it chose not to speak up public ally.
All of these items are art work made by prisoners being held that were given to Red Cross workers. They are mostly made of very simple materials.
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