Guest post by Kathryn Dunmore, Red Cross blogger
In this photo, Conrad Sauvé and Hossam Elsharkawi from the Canadian Red Cross are pictured with SARC staff and volunteers in front of one of the new mobile health clinics.
Here Conrad Sauvé is participating in a workshop and learns about one of the scenarios that the volunteers were involved in.
Pictured here are SARC volunteers in the emergency operations centre in one of the first aid centres (EMS/ambulance) in Damascus.
In the first aid centre, there is a wall dedicated to volunteers who died and provide people the opportunity to write their condolences and comments, as Conrad Sauvé is doing in this picture.
Conrad Sauvé was able to talk with first aid volunteers in Syria.
Conrad Sauvé, Canadian Red Cross Secretary General and CEO, and Hossam Elsharkawi, Director of Emergencies and Recovery for International Operations, were in Syria last week to learn, first-hand, about the work of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) in that country.
In Syria, local Red Crescent volunteers and staff with support from the Red Cross movement continue to work around the clock to help affected individuals, including repairing sanitation facilities and providing families with food and non-food items, such as hygiene kits and fresh water. The conflict in Syria that began more than three years ago has left nine million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance.
The Canadian Red Cross is committed to enhancing the humanitarian response to the crisis. Thanks to contributions from the generous individuals and the Canadian government, the Canadian Red Cross has provided medical supplies and services through the Syrian Arab Red Crescent within Syria. The Canadian Red Cross has also provided food aid, along with other relief supplies, humanitarian experts, and funds.
Canadians who want to help provide urgent life-saving assistance to Syrian families can
donate to the Canadian Red Cross Syria Crisis Appeal.
See the full gallery of pictures from the Canadian Red Cross mission into Syria
here.
Photo credit: Kathryn Janzen, Canadian Red Cross