Henry Dunant
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Henri Dunant‘s life (May 8, 1828-October 30, 1910) is a study in contrasts. He was born into a wealthy home but died in a hospice; in middle age he juxtaposed great fame with total obscurity, and success in business with bankruptcy; in old age he was virtually exiled from the Genevan society of which he had once been an ornament and died in a lonely room, leaving a bitter testament. His passionate humanitarianism was the one constant in his life, and the Red Cross his living monument.
What can leaders learn from Henry Dunant
- Have a good foundation
- Be passionate about what you do
- Never give up
The Visionary
His ideas changed the world!
- 1847 co-founder of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance
- 1852 founding of the YMCA Geneva
- 1855 founding of the World Alliance of YMCAs in Paris
- 1856 founding of a colonial society in Algeria
- 1863 founding of the ICRC / Red Cross
- 1874 founding of a world library (UNESCO)
- 1897 facilitated the founding of the Green Cross (equality for women)
- 1901 awarded the first-ever Nobel Peace Prize
- 1903 awarded the honorary doctorate in medicine
I was aware that I was only an instrument in God’s hand. Henry Dunant
He discovered his calling!
“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in
the way you should go.” ISAIAH 48:17
- ORPHANS
His mother always invited orphans to play in their park. After they played she gave them food and cared for their physical needs. The christian faith of Henry lead him to be passionate about people left out of society.
“I was a stranger and you invited me in.” MATTHEW 25:35b
- CHAINS
Henry took a trip with his father to Paris where he saw slaves in chains. This moved him because he knew what the bible says about people in prison.
“I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” MATTHEW 25:36
- HUNGRY PEOPLE
During his life he was always around hungry people. His heart led him to care for the hungry with passion.
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.” MATTHEW 25:35
- SOLFERINO
His father wanted Henry to go to Napoleon to get him to sign a document for making business in Algeria. He went to the battlefield of Solferino and saw a horrifying seen. 38,000 wounded, dying and dead remained on the battlefield! No one was helping so Henry rounded up all people in the area to help with the wounded. He returned and never got Napoleon to sign the document. This got him in trouble with his father. His mother suggested that he should write a book. This is what he did. He wrote the book “A Memory of Solferino”
Henry Dunant’s sad years
Henry Dunant was harassed:
- He was excluded from the Red Cross
- He was expelled from the YMCA
- He was abandoned by his best friends
- He was avoided by his relatives
The highest acknowledgement!
After he was forgotten for 30 years and lived poor in a little mountain town his story got publicity and people sent him money. In 1897 Henry facilitated the founding of the Green Cross (equality for women). In 1901 he was awarded the first-ever Nobel Peace Prize. In 1903 he even got awarded the honorary doctorate in medicine. He never studied to be a doctor in medicine.
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me!’” MATTHEW 25:40
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Hello. I recently researched about Henry Dunant and I found that there are inconsistencies in what some sources claim about him. Raised calvinist and active member of the YMCA, he was undoubtedly moved by the Christian teachings just as he stated in several of his writings.
In his most famous writing “A memory of Solferino” (1872), he worte this:
“In one of the Cremona hospitals, an Italian doctor had said: “We keep the good things for our friends of the Allied Army, and give our enemies the bare necessities. If they die, so much the worse!” and he added, to excuse these barbarous words, that he had heard from some Italian soldiers who had returned from Verona and Mantua, that the Austrians allowed the wounded of the Franco-Sardinian army to die uncared for. A noble lady of Cremona, Countess…, who had heard the doctor’s words and had been devoting herself to the hospitals with the utmost zeal, made haste to show her disapproval by declaring that she gave exactly the same attention to the Austrians as to the Allies, and made no difference between friends and enemies. “For, she said, “Our Lord Jesus Christ made no such distinctions between men in well doing.”
Nevertheless, (contrary to what he showed in many of his past works) some say that in his testament he opposed Christianity and had became an agnostic. I’ve found very few sources that claim this, and I have seen an excerpt of what supposedly what his testament, which seems very bitter.
I do not know what to think, and I don’t believe in deceitful atheists nor historians. On the other hand, Christianity Today claims he was a Christian to the last.
I think that one probability is that someone twisted or invented such “testament” and later claimed it was his….BUT if that testament was really his, then he stopped being passionate about what he did and he gave up. I guess it’s something God only knows, because I can’t have any trust in historians.
Interessting!