John and Gloria: Reunited against the odds
| Against all odds, a husband and wife were reunited after four years, thanks to a British Red Cross leaflet left at a church in Rwanda.
No one knows how the leaflet, which advertises the refugee service’s women’s groups in greater Manchester, found its way to Rwanda. | | |  | |
| However, when John* saw the picture of a woman dancing on the front, he immediately recognised his wife Gloria*, whom he hadn’t seen since they were separated in Uganda four years earlier.
John flew to Manchester and found out about the Red Cross’ international tracing and message service (ITMS), which uses the Red Cross’ contacts around the globe to put families back in touch after they’ve been separated by a conflict or disaster.
Family reunion
John asked ITMS development officer Wei Lynn Ng to help him get in contact with Gloria. Although the photograph is used on many publications to advertise services all around the UK, a Manchester volunteer named Edwina Baher remembered that Gloria had used the Red Cross’ refugee services in 2004.
Wei Lynn said: “We do get local successes sometimes but this case was amazing due to the journey that John – and the leaflet – had taken and the fact that we were able to match them up so quickly. Without Edwina’s amazing memory, it wouldn't have happened so quickly.
“The couple have been back to see us and they are thankful for what the Red Cross has done. They think the entire thing was a miracle.”
*Names have been changed
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