Let us go back to 1828, in Geneva, Switzerland. Jean Henri Dunant grew up in a household where compassion was not a trait but a virtue. His father, Jean-Jacques de Dununat, and his mother, Antoinette de Dununat, were devout Christians who spent the majority of their time among society’s needy and less fortunate.
But Henry wasn’t exactly a brilliant student. He didn’t seek higher education in a conventional sense. What he had, though, was a sharp sense of organizing and a big heart. During his teenage days, he became involved in charity work and joined the YMCA, a new Christian movement. He was a natural leader. People listened to him when he spoke.
As he grew older, Henry tried his luck in business. He moved to Algeria to start a company trading grain. He was ambitious but inexperienced. Soon he realized that in a hard way as his business didn’t go as planned. Still, in 1859, while managing his ventures, he traveled to Italy to meet Emperor Napoleon III. He was planning to get some support for his struggling company.
However, upon Henry’s arrival in northern Italy, he found himself near the little town of Solferino. Such a town has just experienced one of the bloodiest battles of the nineteenth century. Imagine thousands of men on a battlefield lying wounded, dying, or already dead. There was chaos everywhere. The wounded had no one to care for them. Henry was horrified. He was not a doctor, nor was he a soldier. But he could not just walk away from the suffering of people. He gathered local villagers, brought them supplies, and turned nearby buildings into makeshift hospitals. He extended help to anyone in need, no matter what side they were on. For him, humanity came first, not politics.
When he returned to Geneva, he couldn’t stop thinking about the sufferings of the victims. The images haunted him. Yet, they inspired him. He wrote a book, A Memory of Solferino. In it, he described the horrors of war and proposed an idea: What if countries had neutral organizations to help the wounded during conflicts? What if international laws protected medical workers and their equipment?
His notion garnered the interest of others and as a result, the International Committee of the Red Cross came into existence in 1863. The Red Cross wasn’t about politics or winning wars. It was about saving lives and protecting humanity. A year later, the Geneva Convention was signed. For the first time, nations agreed on rules for how to treat the wounded and protect medical workers during war.
Sadly when Henry’s vision flourished, his personal life fell apart. His business failed putting him into huge debt. He lost everything—his home, his reputation, and his friends. For years, he wandered Europe, living in poverty.
Even during his darkest days, Henry didn’t stop dreaming big. He talked about the need for peace between nations and even proposed ideas for international courts to resolve disputes. Some of his thoughts were way ahead of his time, like the idea of disarmament and a world library. But mostly, he was forgotten.
In the year 1895, the account of Henry Dunant came to light once again. A journalist found him in a remote village in Switzerland and reported his great achievements. And just like that, the world remembered Henry Dunant. The world recognized his efforts and visions. In 1901, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the first person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Can you picture the scenario? A man, who had endured long years of sheer poverty and utter dejection, was suddenly hailed and idolized as if he were a great hero.
In Heiden, Switzerland, where he lived in a rest home for the last years of his life, he died on October 30, 1910, and his last lines were: “Where has humanity gone?”
Today, the Red Cross stands as a living legacy of Henry Dunant’s dream and reaches practically every nation, serving millions in disasters, wars, and emergencies. His story reminds us that one person, with a clear vision and courage, can create a ripple that changes the course of history.
Dunant’s life was not without struggles, and more so than most of us will ever know. But throughout it, he never strayed from his belief in goodness, kindness, and humanity. And for that, the world will always remember him.
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Writer
Fardeen Bin Abdullah
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE