WEBVTT

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My name is Gardenia.

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Six years ago,
I was a student in Damascus.

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Today, I am a member
of Syria civil defense

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also known as the White Helmets.

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The White Helmets
is a volunteer organization

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made up of community first responders

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who have pledged to serve their community

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inside Syria with neutrality,
impartiality, and humanity.

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Gardenia is not my real name,

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and I'm sorry I can't show you
my face today.

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White Helmets, their friends and families

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are being targeted daily
inside Syria by the Syrian regime,

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so I wear this helmet
for their protection.

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The story of the White Helmets
begins in March 2013,

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two years into the Syrian uprising.

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By that time, the Syrian regime

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was conducting around 50 airstrikes a day
against civilians, targets in Aleppo -

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with heavy artillery and aerial attacks -

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and in Daraa, Damascus,
Damascus countryside,

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Hama, Homs, and Idlib.

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They were using barrel bombs
to destroy marketplaces,

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small businesses, hospitals,
schools, and residential neighborhoods.

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This is an example

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of the kind of damage
that a barrel bomb can cause.

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It is difficult to convey the scale
of this terror on the ground.

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The localized effect of a barrel bomb

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is the same as an earthquake
measuring 8 on the Richter scale.

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To give you an idea of what that means

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the terrifying earthquakes
in Italy in January this year

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measured around 5.7,

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so imagine that, 50 times a day.

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Whole buildings would collapse,

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the people living and working
there would be crushed,

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and any survivors would be
trapped beneath the rubble

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with no prospect of being rescued.

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Families, neighbors,
and civil society volunteers

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would rush to help,

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but without the necessary training
and equipment to help those trapped,

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they were helpless.

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Hundreds of people were dying each day.

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In 2013, the Syrian regime
gave civilians a choice:

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leave these areas or be killed.

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For most of our communities,
leaving was not an option,

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but nor was waiting to be killed,

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so in northern Aleppo,

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a group of carpenters, bakers,
builders, and taxi drivers

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choose to take matters
into their own hands.

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After receiving

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a week of training
from an international NGO

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and a small equipment pack,

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they returned to the community
and began to conduct rescue operations.

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Two days later, they save
a family of four from the rubble.

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This was the beginning
of the White Helmets.

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Four years on, we are now
over 3,200 trained community volunteers

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working in 120 teams across Syria

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in the areas outside
the control of the regime.

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We have saved the lives
of 87,500 people ...

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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We have saved the lives of 87,500 people,

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and by this stage of the conflict,

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have more experience in responding
to bomb attacks and airstrikes

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than any other organization in the world.

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Our teams are trained
in a wide range of different skills.

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They include community warning
and preparedness,

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urban search and rescue, and firefighting,

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emergency medical service,
and other technical skills

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such as marking and clearing
explosive remnants of war.

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Although our teams are initially set up
to provide rescue services,

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we quickly realized
that our existing skills

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together with the equipment
and training we received

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enabled us to do much more
for our communities

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than just rescuing them after an attack.

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When we weren't pulling
people out of the rubble,

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we could use our skills

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to provide medical services,
educate the community,

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reconnecting electricity, water,
and reopen roads, hospitals, and schools.

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We use the equipment
we received for doing many things,

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we use our fire trucks
to distribute drinking water

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in areas of need,

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and we used our rescue diggers
to respond to floods and snow storms.

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In some cases,

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we have even been able
to protect infrastructure.

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For example, when the Syrian regime
used incendiary cluster bombs

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to destroy the harvest in Homs
in 2016 to starve the population,

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we stationed White Helmets teams
around the fields

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to put out the fires and protect the crops

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which were a vital source
of food for the people.

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In short, the White Helmets
have become the Swiss Army knife

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for community service delivery in crisis.

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We have seen how much can be
achieved with how little;

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that, when that investment

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is made directly into the community
for the benefit of the community.

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The diversity in our backgrounds
is critical to our success

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and our shared training has provided us

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with a common language
as well as a flexible tool kit

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for delivering the needs
of the community as they evolve.

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As a female member of the White Helmets,

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I have experienced
the diversity firsthand.

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Women have been part
of the organization since the beginning,

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and we, too, are diverse.

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In our ranks, we have mothers,
teachers, students, accountants,

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journalists, and many other professions.

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Although we remain a minority
in the organization,

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our numbers are growing

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helped by increasing the recognition
and unique and valuable role

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that female several defenders

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can play in serving their own communities.

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For example,

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through community awareness campaigns
and providing medical services,

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we have enabled access

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to otherwise close gender,
and community, and cultural groups.

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We offer a unique conduit

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for humanitarian
needs assessment, and engagement

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far beyond Syrian civil defense,
civil defense limits.

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At first, women were an anomaly,

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but over time, we were accepted
by the whole communities.

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We are no longer
the hidden victims of the war.

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We are respected and honored

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for serving our communities,
for saving lives,

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and for giving hope to those in despair.

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Where are we now?

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Our core mission

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is to save lives
and deliver essential services,

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but the work of the White Helmets

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has an impact far beyond
the communities we serve.

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We established ambulance networks

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which support local clinics
and international organizations

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including Médecins Sans Frontières
and other NGOs.

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White Helmets have facilitated
the delivery of humanitarian aid

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and have conducted
emergency repairs in ceasefire areas

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enabling the return of displaced families.

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We are the main organization clearing
unexploded munitions inside Syria.

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We provide daily cessation of hostilities

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to the Office of the UN Special Envoy.

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We document chemical weapons,

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cluster bombs, and other banned weapons

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which are reported
by Human Rights Watch and others.

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One hundred and sixty five
of our volunteers have been killed,

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and over 480 have suffered
life-changing injuries.

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Our work has frequently referred to

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as the most dangerous job
in the world, in this state,

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in a war that has claimed

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the lives of 450,000 civilians

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with over 50% of families displaced.

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Our greatest contribution

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has not been to save 87,500 lives

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but to give hope
where previously there was none.

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Hope, by its nature, looks forward.

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We hoped and imagined
that the conflict would end sooner,

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and we would lay down our tools
and return to our normal lives.

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Today, we know

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that what it has happened
to our country will not be undone,

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and for most of our volunteers,
there are no homes to return to.

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Our vision now

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is that what we have rebuilt
in the past four years

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will play an essential role

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in the reconstruction, recovery,
and the reconciliation of our country.

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We hope that the teams
that are today using their tools

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to break through the rubble,
searching for survivors,

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will, in the future, use those same tools

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to rebuild houses, roads,
and local community infrastructure.

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One day, fighting will end.

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When that happens,

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the greatest challenge

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is not to rebuild roads
between communities

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but to rebuild trust between them.

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Trust has been destroyed inside Syria,

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trust in the government who claimed

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it had a responsibility
to protect its civilians,

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trust and the desire or ability
in the international community

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to take an action on their behalf,

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and trust in our fellow Syrians to behave
towards one another with humanity.

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We owe our success to date

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to the trust placed in us

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by the desperate communities we serve.

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This trust has been earned by our actions

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through the legitimacy,
and representativeness,

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through the credibility of our members,

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and the humanitarian values they embody,

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and through the clear mission
of the organization:

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save lives and serve the community.

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In the same way, White Helmets
have brought hope in hopelessness.

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Our vision is to help restore trust
where there is none.

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Every single one of us
has taken an oath to save lives

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regardless of political,
religious, or sectarian affiliation.

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We have rescued combatants from all sides

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including regime soldiers,
Russian soldiers, Hezbollah,

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opposition fighters, and even ISIS.

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The devastation of war
does not distinguish between its victims,

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so peace should not distinguish
between its beneficiaries.

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The future needs more White Helmets,
ordinary people like us,

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who, with the training, can volunteer
to rebuild the fabric of our society.

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I look around at who these people will be;

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most of them were children
when this war started.

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At the time, they used to play soldiers;

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today, they play White Helmets.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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(Cheers)

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(Applause)