They were joking about being treated like saints but it did seem like they had performed a miracle, getting a slew of equipment for firefighting and lifesaving across Europe to Macedonia. By "they" I mean Bruce and his colleague (far right and left in the photo above) who are members of a group named Operation Florian, which provides training and equipment for improving firefighting worldwide. These guys drove literally for days, including 15 hours in Serbian customs, from England with gear for fire departments throughout Macedonia. Happily, they also managed to bring 5 CPR dummies for Red Cross Bitola!
Red Cross Bitola met with me a few months ago about their need for new CPR dummies to do trainings on CPR and first aid in the local schools. Their dummies were broken and Red Cross is essentially the only CPR trainer in the area, so the students had no opportunity to learn and practice this important skill. I wanted to know that the Red Cross was serious about this project, so I asked them to write a proposal outlining their needs and their plans for trainings and I was pleasantly surprised when they did so. After a little polishing, I sent the proposal on to Bruce.
Bruce and I first crossed paths in Sveti Nikole as he worked with the firefighters there and I had language classes above the firehouse. Then we were both at the young men's leadership camp last summer, where instead of fire equipment he brought young Brits who shared camping with the guys. Knowing of his work with Operation Florian, I thought Bruce might have ideas about how to fulfill Red Cross' need. He didn't make any promises but it seems there was divine intervention that made the dummies materialize.
Red Cross was ecstatic about the new dummies and their gratitude is what made Bruce say he was going to be named a saint. Giving so much of his time and energy to supporting the people of Macedonia, I would say he's well on his way to sainthood.
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