We are all aware, to some extent, of the conflict in Syria.
Images are so much more powerful than words. The photographs of Aylan Kurdi, the two year old whose tiny body was washed up on the beach and Omran Daqneesh, the five year old sat in the back of an ambulance having been pulled from the rubble of what was once his home have not left me.
Aylan’s parents will have known the risks of travelling by sea to escape Syria yet they did it anyway. How awful must your life be to make a decision like that? Omran’s family stayed and by some miracle they all survived but 450,000 people (of which 50,000 are children) haven’t. Half a million people have been killed since the conflict started.
For those that are alive, the situation is desperate. There’s not enough food, there’s not enough medical aid, there’s not enough educational materials and poor sanitation and hygiene facilities mean that disease is rife.
Nine MILLION people have fled their homes because they have no other choice. That’s a million more people than live in London. It’s the worst crisis of our era and I feel so strongly, that as a fellow human, I have a responsibility to do something. It’s more than that, I want to do something. I want to help.
The Syrian Civil Defense, known commonly as the White Helmets, is a group of volunteers, who act as first responders in the Syrian civil war. Established in 2013, the group’s charter is simple: to carry out search-and-rescue operations to save the maximum number of lives.

The group has rescued more than 60,000 people—a feat that earned them the Right to Livelihood Award, commonly known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize,” in recognition for their “outstanding bravery, compassion and humanitarian engagement in rescuing civilians.” It has also put them in contention for the Nobel Peace Prize.