Times Of Swaziland: DID YOU KNOW? RED CROSS  CAN FIND YOUR LOST RELATIVE

DID YOU KNOW? RED CROSS  CAN FIND YOUR LOST RELATIVE
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BY SIBONGILE SUKATI on 12/01/2018 00:46:00


MBABANE – Are you looking to reconnect or find a long lost relative anywhere
in the world and do not know where to go?
This should no longer be a challenge as the Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross
Society has a programme that finds relatives or missing persons at no charge.
Just last year, the Restoring Family Links (RFL) successfully closed 15 cases
where some families were reunited while others got closure after learning that
their relatives had passed on in Swaziland.
RFL’s Tracing Coordinator Andreas Dlamini said from the 2017 case files, three
of them where still outstanding.
He said the programme was an old one and probably not well advertised, but said
it was able to find missing people and reunite them with their families.
The unit is under the Red Cross with its offices situated in Manzini.
Giving a brief background of RFL, Dlamini said it was founded way back in 1859
during the war between France and Austria when the founder of Red Cross wanted
to help the families of soldiers who were either killed or injured during the
war to locate their relatives.
“Although Red Cross specialised in first aid, the tracing and RFL unit was
formed,” said Dlamini.
He said many people were misplaced not only by war, but by natural disasters
such as famine or drought and as a result people would leave their relatives in
search of better opportunities.