A New Zealand firefighter who spent months training Syrian civilians in bomb rescues and emergency first aid has spoken of the bravery of those prepared to put their lives on the line during the country's brutal conflict.
Residents and members of the White Helmets, search for victims amid the rubble of a building following a reported air strike in the northwestern town of Harim in Idlib province, on 29 September 2017. Photo: AFP
The Syrian Civil Defence organisation, known as the White Helmets, requested help from New Zealand because of the work urban search and rescue teams did following the Christchurch earthquake.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs helped coordinate a secondment for a NZ Fire and Emergency worker, who travelled to Turkey and Jordan in November last year, to help the NGO Mayday Rescue with the training.
NZ firefighter trains Syrians for bomb rescues, praises bravery
Mike - who RNZ has agreed not to name because of fears he could be targeted for his work - said the Syrians he met during his four month training programme were every day people, keen to get stuck in and do whatever they could to help.
"Butchers, bakers and candle makers sort of people, just genuine people of the community ... most of them have no experience at all in emergency services or emergency service work but are just compelled to help people immediately post-conflict."
Their training focused on rescuing people from the wreckage of bombed buildings as well as fire fighting and first aid.
He said the volunteers were dealing with some horrific scenes in their home country.
"You can see it has an effect on these guys, that they are traumatised to a certain extent.
"I can only imagine - it's a daily basis that deprivation and requirement to go and assist seriously hurt people in the capacity that they're doing."
But he said morale in the training sessions remained strong, with everyone keen to put their new skills to use.
"I thought there would be a lot of people that were hesitant about going back, but that wasn't the case at all."
Most of the volunteers just wanted to get on with their lives.
"War brings out the worst in people as well as the best."
He said tragically some of the people who completed the training had since been killed in the conflict.
The White Helmets were nominated for the Nobel Peace prize this year but some reports have linked them to terrorist groups.
The former New Zealand government said its support for the White Helmets was not a sign New Zealand was taking a side in the conflict, and that the civil defence organisation was apolitical.
Mike Seawright is from the New Zealand based aid agency Relief Aid, which works in Syria, and said the White Helmets had helped rescue two of their staff.
"Literally the White Helmets were digging them out with hands and picks after repeated attacks against their own infrastructure and they were left with very little."
Speaking to RNZ from the Middle East, Mr Seawright said the conflict in Syria had been going on for so long that many Syrians felt forgotten.
He said while New Zealand was no longer on the UN Security Council, it still had a role to play in trying to end the war.
"Let's keep diplomatic pressure up, because nothing will change without the war finishing.
"And at the same time, let's keep people alive by providing direct humanitarian support, because if there's no one left to enjoy the peace then peace is for nothing."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it contributed around $100,000 to the training project.
In a statement, the ministry said the programme was a success and while no decisions had been made on providing further assistance to the White Helmets, it was open to considering more support.