Uniforms under the rubble: the story of two Colombian Red Cross volunteers in Quibdó

Uniforms under the rubble: the story of two Colombian Red Cross volunteers in Quibdó Vanessa has volunteered with the Colombian Red Cross for eleven years. The morning she most wanted to go out and help was the only day when she was unable to do so. From her neighbourhood in Quibdó, she could see that the emergency was already being addressed. She knew exactly where she needed to be. "Mum, I want to put on my uniform and go and help," she told her mother. Her mum said no. Vanessa is 24 years old and has spent half her life volunteering. She has walked for an hour to reach the branch office, boarded boats to deliver aid to communities that are inaccessible by road and seen neighbourhood children run to hug her as soon as she arrives in her uniform. On 10 August 2026, when a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia, she was exactly the person the city needed on the streets. Yet she stayed home. The cost of that uniform To understand why it hurt to stay home, you have to know what that uniform had cost her. One day, the Red Cross came to their school in the Futuro No. 1 neighbourhood with an educational team. Vanessa and her younger sister Marlyn went over to ask who those peo